Whole Grain Gingerbread Muffins

Hi guys!  I hope y'all are getting back into the swing of things after Thanksgiving.  If you feel like you've been eating too many of these but you still have a sweet craving, today's recipe is perfect for you!

Let's admit it:  pumpkin and peppermint get all the love in the Christmas season; they have a certain spiciness and sweetness that makes them so appealing.  But besides in cookies, gingerbread doesn't come up a lot in the baking repertoires of many home cooks.  It's a crying shame!  In addition to having a distinct sweetness and spiciness, gingerbread has an earthy, complex quality.  Besides ginger, there are 4 other ingredients that play key roles in giving today's muffins a nice gingery kick.

1.  Cinnamon

Unlike ginger, cinnamon has a certain sweet quality to it, which rounds out the acidic ginger.

2.  Cloves

I'm going to be completely honest here and admit that I know very little about cloves because I rarely cook with them.  However, cloves are earthy and pungent, adding more complexity to the otherwise fierce ginger.

3.  Molasses

This is probably the most crucial ingredient in gingerbread.  If you see a gingerbread recipe without molasses in it, let me assure you that it is a bad recipe.  Molasses is sticky and sweet but earthy and nutty.  This adds more layers of flavor to the ginger

4.  Pure Maple Syrup

I put this last because it is not absolutely essential in every gingerbread recipe; I am only using it because I try to avoid refined-sugar.  Like it's refined counterpart, brown sugar,  pure maple syrup is cloyingly sweet and has some caramel notes to it too, making a little go a long way in complementing the ginger.

These muffins are a bit dense, but when you spread them with cream cheese and a smidgen of pumpkin butter, they make the perfect holiday breakfast or lightened dessert.

If you want to see the original recipe, which I tweaked slightly , click here.

Stay tuned for a post on another holiday favorite-  pumpkin cheesecake!

Gingerbread Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, sifted
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and cooled to warm
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk (any works)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Grease a muffin tin and set aside.

3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt.  Set aside.

4.  In a large bowl, add the butter, maple syrup, molasses, egg, yogurt, and milk, whisking together until smooth and well-combined.

5.  Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

6.  Fill the muffin tins almost to the top with the batter.

7.  Bake the muffins for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

8.  Enjoy, storing at room temperature for 3 days or freezing at least a month.