Gingerbread Muffins

The spicy aroma of these moist dark brown muffins are a perfect holiday or festive treat. Sweetened with molasses and spiced with ginger, allspice, and cinnamon.

Overview

Gingerbread muffins are a delicious treat that combines the warmth and spices of traditional gingerbread in a compact and portable form. These moist and mouthwatering treats feature a rich, dark brown color and a sweet, slightly spicy aroma. Which makes them a great addition to the end of the year holiday celebrations.

The recipe itself is very straightforward. In terms of special equipment considerations you will need a food processor. However, if you have a hand or stand mixer you certainly can leverage those appliances in making this recipe as well. The one ingredient that may be difficult to track down is vegan sour cream. We discuss options and two brands in the section that follows.

Baking Notes

Vegan Sour Cream

This recipe calls for one 8 oz. container of vegan sour cream. It seems like more and more options are becoming available at the local grocery store. If you strike out at the supermarket then taking a visit to a local health food store may be a reasonable next step. Two brands that we have personally used and recommend are:

• Kite Hill Sour Cream
• Tofutti Sour Cream

Tofu Mixture

There are many types of tofu but for this recipe you will want to source silken tofu. Add it and the sugar to a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is smooth. The tofu mixture will act as the egg replacer for this recipe.

Muffin Batter

In a large bowl add the tofu mixture, molasses, canola oil, and vegan sour cream. Stir to combine the wet ingredients. Next, add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, allspice, and cinnamon. Use a silicone spatula and stir until the batter is formed. Then add the raisins and pecans and fold them into the batter.

Baking the Muffins

Preheat the oven to 375ºF and line the muffin pan with liners. For muffin and cupcake recipes I usually use reusable silicone liners. But paper liners will also suffice for this task.

With the liners added to the pan use a spoon to add the batter. Fill each liner 3/4 of the way to give them some room to grow. Repeat this process with the remaining batter with a second muffin pan.

When the oven comes up to temperature place the muffin pans on the center rack and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. When the time has almost elapsed insert a toothpick into the muffins. If it is gooey then add time and repeat as necessary. Otherwise, use pot holders or oven mitts to remove the muffins and place on a wire rack to cool.

Variations and Substitutions

Raisins – in place of raisins you could easily try substituting another dried fruit such as cranberries or blueberries.

Pecans – some other nuts that might be a nice replacement are walnuts or chestnuts.

Storage

Once the muffins have cooled to room temperature you can move them to your storage container of choice. Add sheets of wax paper between the layers of muffins to prevent them from sticking to each other.

The storage container can be kept on the counter or if you want to extend the shelf life you can keep it in the refrigerator. They should keep for several days on the counter and up to a week in the refrigerator before the freshness starts to taper off.

If you like this recipe be sure to check out our other recipes below:

• Sweet Potato Muffins
• Blueberry Muffins
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cupcakes
• Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts