Make a batch of these cozy Gingerbread Muffins on Christmas morning for the perfect holiday breakfast! They're topped with a maple glaze to compliment the warm spices, making these bakery style muffins the ultimate treat!
For more muffin recipes, check out my bakery style Chocolate Chip Muffins and Lemon Poppyseed Muffins!
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If you love gingerbread cookies, you're going to adore this Gingerbread muffins recipe! It's quickly becoming a family favorite and is rivaling everyone's favorite blueberry muffins! Can you believe that?
I've always been a big fan of gingerbread during this time of the year, but this baking recipe in particular is making it's way to the top of my list.
For Christmas morning breakfast, we always have a huge batch of cinnamon rolls, however, I think that we're gonna do things a little different this holiday season. At first bite you'll be hooked from the comforting cozy spices and the melt in your mouth texture - it's such a treat.
Baking up a batch of these muffins really put me in the holiday spirit. While they were baking, my house was filled with all of the warm holiday aromas. It smelled like the north pole - or at least what I'd imagine it'd smell like.
Not to mention, it's a super easy recipe that makes incredible bakery style gingerbread muffins with the beautiful sky high dome top and a super fluffy crumb.
I also added a maple glaze on top for added flavor! This is a holiday recipe you don't want to miss.
Ingredient Notes
- Flour - I used Bob Red Mill's Pastry Flour for this gingerbread muffin recipe. It's what makes them so tender. Pastry flour has a lower protein content which makes for a fluffy muffin that literally melts in your mouth.
- Spices - for that warm gingerbread flavor, we'll be using cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, ground cloves, and nutmeg.
- Leaveners - baking soda and baking powder do all of the work in making these muffins nice and fluffy!
- Sugar - we're using a mix of brown sugar and sugar for flavor and sweetness.
- Buttermilk - buttermilk adds fats and flavor to this muffin recipe. It also reacts with the leaveners to get those dome shaped muffin tops we all love!
- Molasses - what's a gingerbread recipe without molasses? Since molasses has a strong flavor, we're only using a little bit!
- Vegetable oil and Melted Butter - we're using oil to keep the muffins moist and butter to add flavor!
- Sour cream - sour cream actually tenderizes the flour, making it the ideal ingredient in a muffin recipe to make sure that your muffins turn out nice and soft!
- Eggs - eggs bind everything together and also add moisture and lift.
- (Optional) Crunchy Sugar - you can use coarse sugar or turbinado sugar to give the tops of the muffins a nice crunch!
Maple Glaze Ingredients
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Heavy Cream
- Vanilla Extract
- Maple Extract (or maple syrup)
- Pinch of salt
Substitutions
- If you don't have molasses, you can use honey or maple syrup instead. Use the exact amounts listed in the recipe card.
- Use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil for healthy gingerbread muffins!
- No buttermilk? No problem! Here's my guide on how to make your own buttermilk from home (spoiler - you only need two ingredients - milk and lemon juice)
- Dairy-Free / Vegan option - use almond milk and lemon juice to substitute for buttermilk and use your favorite vegan sour cream and vegan butter instead. Substitute eggs for a flax egg.
- Gluten Free option - use your favorite 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour.
Tips
- Be sure to use room temperature eggs, buttermilk, and sour cream. This will help the batter come together smoothly without breaking apart.
- For a thicker glaze, add less milk. conversely, add more if you prefer a thinner consistency.
- Get creative with the glaze! Add a little orange zest or lemon zest and make a lemon glaze instead of maple. Citrus and the comforting spices of cinnamon go so well together!
- Measure your flour properly! Adding too much or too little flour can really throw off the outcome of this recipe. Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate results.
How to make Gingerbread Muffins
- Grab a large mixing bowl and whisk together all purpose flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, sugar, eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and molasses. Whisk for 1-2 minutes, then add sour cream and continue to whisk until mixture is nice and smooth.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Cover the muffin batter with plastic wrap and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Line a muffin pan with muffin liners in every other cup. Add ⅓ cup of muffin batter to each cup. Sprinkle with a little turbinado sugar (coarse sugar) and bake for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 12-14 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the muffin. Allow the muffins to cool completely.
- While the muffins bake, whisk together powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, maple extract, and a pinch of salt to make the maple glaze.
- Once the muffins have cooled completely, drizzle the glaze on top for the perfect breakfast!
Storage
Store these muffins in an airtight container on the counter top for up to 4 days. You can also freeze the muffins in freezer bags for up to 6 weeks.
More Muffin Recipes
- Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Corn Muffins with Cinnamon Maple Butter
Recipe FAQs
Allowing the muffin batter to rest allows the muffins to rise higher. Resting the batter allows for the flour to absorb the liquid, making them fluffier and allowing them to rise higher when they're baking.
Yes, you can make the muffin batter the night before and bake it the morning of.
The muffins will be tough and dry and will probably sink in the middle.
This blog post and recipe were made in partnership with Bob's Red Mill! I received compensation in exchange for this work. My opinions on their products are genuine. Thanks for your continued support!
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Let's stay connected on social media and continue to cook together! Also, if you decide to make this recipe, please leave a star rating on the recipe card and leave a comment below! Tag @BritneyBreaksBread on Instagram and hashtag #britneybreaksbread so I can see your creations! I hope that you love this recipe as much as we do!
Gingerbread Muffins
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- 2 12-cup muffin pans
- Whisk
- Plastic Wrap
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups Pastry Flour (or All Purpose Flour)
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Ground Allspice
- ½ tsp Ground Cloves
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter (melted)
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- ¼ cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 tbsps Molasses
- ⅓ cup Sour Cream
Maple Glaze
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 4 tbsps Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Maple Extract (Or 2 tbsps Maple Syrup)
- 1 Pinch Kosher Salt
Directions
- Grab a large mixing bowl and whisk together all purpose flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, sugar, eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and molasses. Whisk for 1-2 minutes, then add sour cream and continue to whisk until mixture is nice and smooth.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Cover the muffin batter with plastic wrap and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Line a muffin pan with muffin liners in every other cup. Add ⅓ cup of muffin batter to each cup. Sprinkle with a little turbinado sugar (coarse sugar) and bake for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 12-14 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the muffin.
- While the muffins bake, whisk together powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, maple extract, and a pinch of salt to make the maple glaze.
- Allow the muffins to cool completely.
- Once the muffins have cooled completely, drizzle the glaze on top for the perfect breakfast!
Notes
- If you don't have molasses, you can use honey or maple syrup instead. Use the exact amounts listed in the recipe card.
- Use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil for healthy gingerbread muffins!
- No buttermilk? No problem! Here's my guide on how to make your own buttermilk from home (spoiler - you only need two ingredients - milk and lemon juice)
- Dairy-Free / Vegan option - use almond milk and lemon juice to substitute for buttermilk and use your favorite vegan sour cream and vegan butter instead. Substitute eggs for a flax egg.
- Gluten Free option - use your favorite 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour.
- Be sure to use room temperature eggs, buttermilk, and sour cream. This will help the batter come together smoothly without breaking apart.
- For a thicker glaze, add less milk. conversely, add more if you prefer a thinner consistency.
- Get creative with the glaze! Add a little orange zest or lemon zest and make a lemon glaze instead of maple. Citrus and the comforting spices of cinnamon go so well together!
- Measure your flour properly! Adding too much or too little flour can really throw off the outcome of this recipe. Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate results.
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