20 Gingerbread Cupcakes

 

A few things went into the decision to make these cupcakes. First, it's some one's birthday again! Go figure. A certain manager who has recently been harping about how I haven't baked him cupcakes in ages. Second, the Christmas season is upon us and what could be more fitting than gingerbread. I remember the first time I had gingerbread. I was visiting my grandmother's house, after literally travelling over the river (well... stream) and through the woods, to get to her house. It was after Christmas, but she offered my sister and I some gingerbread. We were sitting in the living room in her old, old farmhouse, in the squishiest chairs and my grandma brought us each a pretty plate with a square piece of gingerbread on it with a blob of Cool Whip on top. It was so delicious. If Christmas had a taste, that's exactly what it would taste like. That was easily over 10 years ago but it's crazy how you remember stuff like that. That was my first and last experience with gingerbread, until I picked out a recipe from the vast expanses of the Internet to make it myself.

Since my mom doesn't like gingerbread, I had to pick up a few things for these cupcakes. I grabbed some ground ginger and allspice. And since it's the holidays, there was a big display with all kinds of baking essentials for Christmas baking. I picked up everything in one spot.

As soon as I started this recipe, you could smell Christmas. I opened up the new spices and it put me back in my grandma's living room. It came together really easily, like all cupcakes normally do. The allspice, the ginger, and the molasses, coming together perfectly to make perfect cupcakes. For the boiling water, I just put a mug of water into the microwave for 2 minutes until it boiled and added it to the baking soda in a 2 cup measuring cup. I didn't fill them up the 3/4 of  the way full because the recipe said that it only made 18 cupcakes, and since I'm bringing them to work on a Saturday night, I need a few more than that. If you do though, they come out so pretty. Perfectly domed and perfectly beautiful.

Remember to Leave an Empty
Space to Make It Easier to
Pull the Cupcake Tins Out.

For the icing, I borrowed a recipe from these pumpkin spice cupcakes that my mom had made. When I got the request for the cupcakes, the only specific thing about the request was cream cheese icing.  As soon as I had my heart set on making gingerbread cupcakes, this icing immediately came to mind. I paged through my mom's one recipe binder, searching for these pumpkin cupcakes. I looked and looked and insisted to her that I thoroughly searched every page. I handed her the book and went back into the kitchen. When she called me back into the living room and told me that she found the recipe, she told me then that it was not in the binder like she originally told me, it was on the end table. Thanks for all the help Mom. When all was said and done, I had the perfect amount of icing to top each cupcake off with a big blob.

These cupcakes were surely a hit! Just a few minutes after the initial cupcake feeding frenzy ensued, all of them were gone. I'd say 3 minutes max.

These turned out exactly how I wanted them to. Just as I remember having that first nibble of gingerbread at Grandma's house. The cupcakes were just what I want my cupcakes to be like: not too dense and not too airy. The cinnamon in the icing complimented the spices in the cupcakes. It all came together in a combination that I hope would make my grandmother proud. Maybe I'll leave a few of these out for Santa this Christmas instead of cookies.

Gingerbread Cupcake Ingredients

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c butter
1/4 c canola oil
1 c sugar
1/2 c dark molasses
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda

Gingerbread Cupcake How to

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, and sugar until pale tallow and fluffy. Beat in eggs and molasses until smooth.
4. Put the baking soda into a small bowl or liquid measuring cup (you'll need extra room- it bubbles up), and add 3/4 c boiling water
5. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, beating on low speed just until blended. Add half the water mixture in the same way, then another third of the dry ingredients, the rest of the water mixture, and the rest of the dry ingredients, blending just until combined.
6. Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 25 minutes or until tops are springy to the touch.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese
1/4 c butter
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing How to

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 c at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Fold in vanilla and cinnamon with last 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.
4. Beat until smooth.