The intense and warm flavor of gingerbread, translated into a delicious, soft, moist Gingerbread Muffin recipe with a streusel topping is what memories are made of. A moment of silence is in order as you take a bite. I can’t think of anything more enticing than this combination.
Any time I have gingerbread, it takes me to family gatherings or quiet mornings shared with someone I love with a cup of coffee.
Our recipe for Gingerbread Muffins is so easy you will want to share it. Take a plate of warmly baked homemade gingerbread muffins to a favorite neighbor or special friend and just watch their eyes light up. We walk you through the exact steps to make this easy recipe. Nothing complicated, nothing expensive. Just perfect muffins from scratch without a box mix.
What is Gingerbread?
The star ingredient of gingerbread is ground ginger. Cinnamon has an underlying comforting presence. Molasses rounds out the familiar and intense flavor with a rich, dark sweetness. While usually made into hard cookies to build gingerbread houses, our soft Gingerbread Cookies, Gingerbread Bars, and Gingerbread Bundt Cake use this flavor combination to make these heavenly muffins.
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Ingredients you’ll need for this recipe
Please note, that the printable recipe card has ingredient quantities, complete instructions, and nutritional information. The following is a quick overview of the recipe.
Ginger. Use ground ginger found in the spice aisle. Do not use fresh ginger for this recipe.
Light Brown Sugar. You can use dark brown sugar instead.
Molasses. You can find several different varieties. I’ll share some information that will help you choose your favorite.
Sour Cream. Makes muffins moist and gives them a smooth, tender crumb. You can substitute with plain yogurt as needed.
How To Make Gingerbread Muffins
Combine dry ingredients
Add melted butter
Preheat your oven and prepare your pan to make sure it’s properly heated before baking. Make sure you have everything you need. First, mix your streusel ingredients and set them aside.
Combine dry ingredients
Add butter, eggs, and brown sugar to molasses mix.
Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
Gently mix until smooth.
Then, in a medium mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients. Gently combine the dry and wet ingredients in the large mixing bowl. Fill your muffin pan using a three-tablespoon cookie scoop.
Scoop batter into muffin tin.
Filled muffin tin
Top each muffin with a little bit of streusel and bake them.
Scoop streusel
Top muffins with streusel
To get bakery-style muffins, we shock them with a short blast of hot oven temperature and then reduce the temperature to finish baking them. Your muffin tops will be crunchy but the interior will be soft and fluffy. Let the Gingerbread Streusel Muffins cool for about 5 minutes in the pan and then remove them to finish cooling on a wire rack. Muffins can also be eaten warm.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best variety of molasses to use?
Molasses is a liquid that adds moisture and a darker hue to your recipe. There are basically three varieties of molasses. You can use what you prefer. Here are the differences.
- Light molasses – lighter in flavor and hue. Perfect for baking and candies.
- Dark molasses – stronger in flavor and darker hue. Can be used interchangeably with light molasses. It is often used for gingersnap recipes.
- Blackstrap molasses – dark hue with a strong flavor that is somewhat bitter. Often used in barbecue or baked bean recipes. (source)
What is the secret to moist tender muffins?
Sour cream helps keep the muffins extra moist. We recommend full-fat for extra richness but you can use any variety. You can use plain yogurt instead. We also use a combination of baking powder and baking soda to give our gingerbread muffins a fluffy tender oven rise.
What makes gingerbread taste like gingerbread?
Spice Combinations: We kept this gingerbread muffin recipe simple by using ground cinnamon and ground ginger. Other spices commonly used in gingerbread recipes are nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Don’t overdo it. Too much spice can cause baked goods to have a “hot” flavor, not a smooth, perfectly balanced, softly spiced flavor.
How long to bake gingerbread muffins?
You do not want to overbake your muffins and the best way to ensure they are perfect is to preheat your oven, measure the batter with a cookie scoop to make sure they are properly sized, and bake for the exact amount of time listed in the recipe.
The recipe card says 12-15 minutes so you would check them at 12 minutes and see if a knife, toothpick, or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs. If they aren’t quite done, add thirty seconds more and continue checking them until the muffins are perfectly baked.
What to Serve with Gingerbread Streusel Muffins?
These soft and airy muffins are the perfect addition to our Italian Sausage and Potatoes for breakfast or with a bowl of our amazing 13 bean soup for dinner. They also make the perfect snack for the kiddos on their way to after school functions.
How To Reheat & Store Gingerbread Muffins
Best way to store Homemade Muffins?
Let muffins cool completely and then store them at room temperature in an airtight container is ideal for the first couple of days. After a couple of days, the streusel will lose its crunch and become soft. Freeze the leftovers before this happens.
Can I freeze Muffins?
Yes, muffins reheat so quickly in the microwave it is ideal to freeze any muffins you have left over well before they get stale. Once the muffins are completely cool, place them in freezer quality plastic bag. They thaw quickly at room temperature so you can grab one and let it thaw on the way to work.
How to reheat Muffins?
A fresh muffin only needs about ten seconds in the microwave to be hot enough to melt butter. A frozen muffin will actually thaw and warm up in about thirty seconds in the microwave.
Variations and Substitutions
Add chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, or white chocolate chips for variation.
We use a lot of smooth vanilla extract. You can substitute with different extracts to change up the flavor. Almond or burnt sugar extract would be delicious.
Add slivered almonds chopped pecans or walnuts to the streusel for more crunch.
Hostess Tips and Tricks
- Do not overmix the muffin batter. I recommend using a Danish dough whisk, wooden spoon, or a spatula to mix them. This gingerbread muffin recipe comes together so quickly that I don’t use an electric mixer.
- If, like me, you forget to cool the butter before adding to the eggs (cooling the butter will make sure the eggs don’t cook with the residual heat from the butter), just mix the butter with the sugar and molasses, then add the eggs.
- To avoid chewy, almost rubbery muffins mix the dry ingredients separately and then combine the dry and wet ingredients gently. This helps prevent overmixing. If you’ve ever taken a bite of a muffin and get a mouthful of salt or baking soda it’s because the dry ingredients weren’t mixed together thoroughly.
Related Recipes
I am in love with muffins and I think the site reflects that. We have almost thirty different recipes! Muffins are amazing because they are a quick bread meaning they don’t contain yeast or have to rise. So you don’t have to do anything special or wait any length of time to get them ready for breakfast.
A quick mix of ingredients, fifteen minutes in the oven and you are good to go. Oatmeal Raisin Muffins or Cinnamon Roll Muffins are both equally good for breakfast. Another fantastic option I return to over and over again is this recipe for Apple Cider Donut Muffins or our Basic Muffin Recipe which is one of the most popular recipes on our site.
I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe as much as we do. Drop me a comment below, and don’t forget to give it a star rating. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Your comments and ratings help others decide if this recipe is for them too.
Gingerbread Muffins Recipe with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ cup salted butter melted
Muffins
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup salted butter 1 stick, melted, cooled
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¾ cup molasses
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup milk
Instructions
Streusel
- In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger
- Add the melted butter. Use a fork and mix until you have a crumble that looks like wet sand. Set aside.
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 425 °F.
- Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, mix the cooled melted butter, eggs, and brown sugar. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
- Add in the molasses and sour cream. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Then, add the molasses, sour cream and vanilla extract to the egg/sugar mixture.
- Add half of the flour mixture. Mix well.
- Add the milk and mix until combined.
- Add the remaining flour mixture. Mix until all ingredients are combined. Don’t over-mix.
- Use a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) and fill the muffin pan.
- Add approximately 2 teaspoons (or if you have a mini cookie scoop) of the streusel mixture on each unbaked muffin. DON’T MIX.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 425 °F for 5 minutes.
- Then reduce the temperature to 350 °F and bake for 12-15 minutes.
- The muffins are baked when the top is nice and golden. Also when you insert a toothpick in the middle it comes out clean or with just a couple of crumbs.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5-8 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- I made this recipe using only a Danish dough whisk or a spatula. You can use a hand mixer, however, I would advise be careful not to overmix the batter when adding the flour mixture.
- If you forget to cool the butter, mix the butter with the sugar and molasses, then add the egg. Cooling the butter will make sure the eggs don’t cook with the residual heat from the butter.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.
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