Gingerbread Muffins

There's so much to love about these quick and easy muffins. That deep molasses sweetness, just like hot squares of fresh gingerbread. That they're low-fat and low-calorie (thanks to half the butter in typical muffin recipes) yet still keep a moist and delicate crumb. Plus, they're made in a flash with a few pantry ingredients.
But most of all, they just taste good. What's NOT to love?

BZZZZZZ. The alarm buzzed with insistence until groping fingers located the snooze button. Still half-asleep, my mind began to sketch out a typical busy Saturday. Exercise! I promised. Then stops at the grocery, the shoe man, the car wash. A birthday present for a friend, flowers for a neighbor with cancer.

I checked the weather with just-opened eyes. The sky was unmistakably threatening, the wind unseasonably fierce. Was it February or almost June? Those sounded like blizzard winds!

Muffins! I thought. Postponing the day’s busy-ness, I jumped from bed and headed for the kitchen where I knew the pickings were slim. What about that recipe for gingerbread muffins, a family hand-me-down? Surely those few ingredients were on hand?

Thirty minutes later, warm muffins and hot coffee were on the table. Ah, there’s nothing better than a busy Saturday kicked off by muffins-as-motivation.

ALANNA'S TIPS The batter will be quite thin, don't worry, it will bake up just fine. The method of mixing the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients is unorthodox but I've used it successfully with cookies and quick breads for many years. If you like, however, stir the dry ingredients separately before adding to the butter-molasses mixture.
Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.
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GINGERBREAD MUFFINS

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 30 minutes for mini muffins, 40 for regular muffins
Makes 24 mini muffins or 12 regular muffins

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place water and butter in a small microwave dish (such as a Pyrex measuring cup). Heat in microwave in ten-second increments until water boils and butter melts.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg well in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and molasses and mix well. Add water and butter mixture and stir well. Add remaining ingredients. Without touching the wet mixture below, lightly stir together the dry ingredients to combine, then stir them into the wet mixture until just combined. (Over-stirring the wet and dry mixtures will create holes in the baked muffins.) Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 10 minutes for mini muffins and 20 minutes for regular muffins. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Mini Muffin: 39Cal; 2g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 13mg Cholesterol; 94mg Sodium; 5g Carb; 0g Fiber; 0g Protein; Weight Watchers 0 points (and a lesson in portion size if there ever were one)
NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Regular Muffin or Two Mini Muffins: 78Cal; 4g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 27mg Cholesterol; 188mg Sodium; 10g Carb; 0g Fiber; 1g Protein; Weight Watchers 1 point
Adapted from my cousin Diane's muffin recipe published in our family cookbook
LATER NOTES
During the most recent test batch, I stirred finely chopped dried apricots into the batter. Yummy! Currants or raisins would work too.
This column was originally published in print in 2003 and published online for the first time in 2009.

A Menu: Weekend Breakfast

~ Hot Coffee ~
Alex's French Eggs
Baked Bacon
Gingerbread Muffins (recipe above)

more breakfast recipes

More Breakfast Specialties

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My Mom's Pancakes Mexican Gashouse Eggs Five-Week Bran Muffins

More Family Recipes - Thanks, Everybody!

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Your Comments:

I have never made any type of gingerbread before, but it seems logical that it would have some type of ginger in it? (Powdered?)

I don't see ginger listed in this recipe...
Anonymous lotus7 on 6/28/2009
 
I'm a little surprised there is no "ginger" in the gingerbread muffins. Is this a typo?
Anonymous Anonymous on 6/28/2009
 
Hi Lotus & Anonymous, How funny, I'd not noticed that there's no ginger. For these muffins, the 'gingerbread' taste comes from the molasses. That said, if you'd prefer to use ground ginger to substitute for cinnamon, feel free, I think it would be excellent!
Blogger Alanna on 6/28/2009
 
I don't like to mix wet and dry ing. separately, so I've come up with a slightly different solution. I add the salt, baking soda or powder, cocoa powder, etc to the wet ingredients first and mix well, and then add the flour and mix enough to combine. That way, the leavening and flavorings are distributed throughout, and the flour doesn't get overmixed. Easy and one fewer dish!
Blogger Andrew & Terri on 6/28/2009
 
I had to double-check twice to check the date - somehow I associate anything 'gingerbready' with Christmas, you see :)
Lovely-sounding muffins, Alanna!!!
Blogger Pille on 6/28/2009
 
Alanna, I know you don't "guarantee" your weight watchers points calculations, but when I add up the points in the recipe I get 27 which would be 2 points per regular sized muffin. Am I missing something? Thanks for all the wonderful recipes.
Anonymous Anonymous on 6/28/2009
 
Aiii, numbers are funny, aren't they? I suspect that our different techniques yield different results, more likely to happen when the point values are on the cusp. With your way, adding up the points for each ingredient, the natural consequence is to accumulate more points. The software that I use adds calories, fat grams and fiber grams (and all the others) and then divides by the number of servings. So some ingredients might only contribute .75 points, say, rather than the 1 point you likely assigned.

Hope this helps - I much appreciate your question. Mistakes happen, of course, but more than that, I'm just so pleased with the idea that we're all in this together. So truly -- thank you!
Blogger Alanna on 6/28/2009
 
Good morning Alanna,
Just made the muffins YUMMY.
I added ginger about 1 light t. to the mix. This is very similar to the Hot water gingerbread in Boston Cook Book (w/a forward signed Mary J. Lincoln 1884) but lighter texture.
thanks for the points info. That's what inspired me to make them!

Bobbi
Blogger Roberta on 6/29/2009
 
Bobbi ~ You're a woman of my own heart! So glad to know that the ginger works, if I had 30 minutes this morning, I'd be baking another batch myself!
Blogger Alanna on 6/29/2009
 
These sound easy and delicious, perfect for breakfast. I love gingerbread at any time of year. I'll add the ginger AND cinnamon.
Blogger Lisa on 7/01/2009
 
I love your recipes! I have been on WW since April and lost many pounds. I turned to you for easy good recipes to change up my diet from eating the samo, samo. I made the Gingerbread muffins yesterday, which brings me to the question of how you determined that it is only 1 point per muffin, using the numbers you provides for calories and fat, and there is no fiber in them, I came up with a solid 2 points. I did not run the recipe through WW E Tools, as my internet was down from the storm we had here over the past 2 days. I have never checked behind you before, I always just tracked the points given for any of your recipes that I have tried, which have been many. Was this just an error?
Thanks
Eunice
Anonymous Carolina Lady on 11/12/2009
 
Hi Eunice ~ Aren't the muffins great? No, it's not a mistake, it's a function of a low-fat, low-sugar and small portion size. Those mini muffins are mini!

One other tip, especially if you're using a Weight Watchers slide tool. I've found that when I calculate points mathematically, when a serving size is on the cusp between two points, the 'slider' will look like the higher point value even while the math doesn't quite push it over.

Hope this helps, good luck with your Weight Watchers journey!
Blogger Alanna on 11/12/2009