If you're looking for a cozy, spiced treat to start your morning, these gingerbread muffins are exactly what you need. Moist, bakery-style muffins filled with rich molasses, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves come together in a mixing bowl and are ready in 30 minutes.
Soft, fluffy, and sprinkled with coarse sugar for a delightful crunch, these muffins are perfect for a quick breakfast or afternoon snack, especially during the holidays.
Muffin recipes are the best because they're quick to make, are the perfect on-the-go breakfast or snack, and can be made and last for the whole week! We love to create and eat bakery-style muffins with craggily muffin tops - it's the bite we're always going to eat first.
We love to add coarse sugar to the tops for an extra crunchy bite, which you'll also see in these pistachio muffins, fluffy banana muffins, and pumpkin sour cream muffins!
While they can be made anytime, these spiced Christmas muffins are perfect for the holidays when you have a house full of people and need to serve them a quick breakfast.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Cozy holiday flavor - These muffins bring all the familiar, warming spices of gingerbread (like these thin ginger molasses cookies) in a grab-and-go form, perfect for the holiday season or anytime you're craving those flavors.
Quick and easy - With simple ingredients and no special equipment needed, these muffins can be ready in under 30 minutes and are made in a mixing bowl.
Great texture - The addition of sour cream makes these muffins incredibly moist, while the coarse sugar on top adds a lovely crunch to every bite!
Ingredients
- Baking soda. Leavening agent that helps to get those tall muffin tops.
- Ground Spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves). These three spices create the signature gingerbread flavor, bringing warmth and depth to the muffins.
- Neutral oil. Canola or vegetable oil lightens the batter, keeping the muffins moist without being too dense.
- Molasses. The star of these muffins, molasses gives them that deep, dark color and rich, earthy sweetness. Look for dark unsulphured molasses - we love to use Grandma's brand!
- Brown sugar. Adds a hint of caramel flavor and sweetness, balancing out the spiciness.
- Sour cream. The secret ingredient for ultra-moist muffins, it also gives a slight tang to balance the sweetness.
- Coarse sugar. Adds a delightful crunchy texture to the tops of the muffins, contrasting with the soft interior. We typically use turbinado or demerera sugar.
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Molasses choice: Dark, unsulphured molasses will give you the classic gingerbread flavor. To go even darker, use blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap can be too bitter for some, but I personally love it.
- Make them mini or jumbo: For mini muffins, reduce the bake time to 10-12 minutes. For jumbo muffins, increase the bake time by about 5 minutes, checking for doneness with a toothpick.
- Add citrus zest: Brighten up the flavor by adding 1 tablespoon of orange or lemon zest to the wet ingredients. This gives the muffins a refreshing twist and pairs beautifully with the warm spices.
- Swap the sour cream: You can substitute full-fat Greek yogurt or buttermilk for the sour cream to maintain the moisture and tang.
- Extra spice: If you love bold flavors, add a pinch of nutmeg, allspice, or extra cinnamon to boost the spiced profile even more.
- Mix-ins: Add ½ cup chopped nuts (like pecans or walnuts) or chocolate chips for extra texture and flavor.
How to Make This Recipe
One: Whisk together the molasses, butter, oil, sugar, and vanilla.
Two: Add the eggs and sour cream and mix until smooth.
Three: Combine the wet and dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Lumps are normal!
Four: Add the batter to a prepared muffin tin, filling each the whole way to the top.
Hot tip! Use a large trigger cookie scoop to easily and cleanly add batter to the muffin tin.
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Five: Top each muffin generously with coarse sugar (optional).
Six: Bake the muffins following the high-to-low method in the instructions. Cool slightly before removing and enjoying.
Expert Tips
- Don't over-measure the flour. Use a digital scale or the fluff, scoop and level method to measure the flour. Adding too much flour will create dense, stogy muffins instead of light fluffy ones!
- Don’t overmix: Overmixing the batter can make the muffins dense. Stir just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Fill to the top: Fill each muffin well with batter the entire way to the top. This is gives you a nice, domed muffin top!
- High to low baking: Follow the instructions to bake at a high temperature first, then change to a lower temperature. This helps to create extra tall muffin tops.
Recipe FAQs
This could be because too much flour was added or the batter was overmixed. Muffin batter should remain lumpy!
First, check to be sure your baking soda isn't expired. Next, make sure you used the correct amount for the ingredients and followed the correct baking temperatures.
Storage
Store any leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To refresh, pop them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds or warm them in a low oven.
To freeze, wrap the cooled muffins individually in plastic wrap, then place them into an airtight container or freezer bag. Just thaw and warm them up in the oven or microwave when you're ready to enjoy.
More Muffin Recipes You'll Love
What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
Did you make this recipe? Share it with us! Tag @thecozyplum on Instagram & Facebook and leave a star rating ⭐️ below!
📖Recipe
Gingerbread Muffins
Equipment
- 12 hole muffin tin
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- ¼ cup neutral oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¾ cup molasses*
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream room temperature
- ¼ cup coarse sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425℉ and grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices and set aside.2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- In another bowl, whisk together the butter, oil, vanilla, molasses, and sugar. Add the egg and sour cream and whisk again until smooth and combined.¼ cup unsalted butter, ¼ cup neutral oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla, ¾ cup molasses*, ½ cup light brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1 cup sour cream
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold it together until just combined. The batter will be thick.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin tin openings, filling them the whole way. If using, sprinkle the batter generously with coarse sugar, then bake for 5 minutes at 425℉.¼ cup coarse sugar
- After 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350℉ (keep the muffins in the oven) and bake for an additional 14-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
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