These easy ginger muffins are generously spiced, perfectly moist and lightly sweet. Great to enjoy any time or year, but especially nice and festive around the holidays!
These gingerbread muffins are generously spiced, wonderfully moist, lightly sweet and you don’t even need to bust out the mixer for these ones. And because they are made with pretty common pantry items, anyone can probably bake these up in no time with stuff you already have around.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Brown Sugar – you can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar for these muffins. Obviously, there will be a slight difference with the finished muffins. The muffins made with dark brown sugar will be darker in colour, with a slightly richer molasses flavour.
Molasses – use “Fancy” molasses for these muffins, as Cooking Molasses and Blackstrap molasses is too strong in flavour and will overwhelm the spices.
Recipe Tips
These muffins are at their very best fresh from the oven. They keep well though. I like to re-warm them a bit in the microwave. The scent of the spices is especially nice when they’re warm. Enjoy!
Storing and Freezing
Store cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. These ginger muffins will also freeze beautifully, up to 3 months.
Get the Recipe: Easy Gingerbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled (300g)
- 3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon light or dark brown sugar, (160g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon vegetable or canola oil, (100ml)
- 5 Tablespoons honey, or golden syrup
- 2 Tablespoons Fancy molasses , not blackstrap (or use 2 Tbsp. more honey)
- 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon milk, (100ml)
- Powdered sugar, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° F (not fan assisted) Grease or line 12 muffin cups. (I used paper liners, but the muffins didn't stick at all to them, so I suspect you'd have no trouble with just greasing the pans).
- In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt.
- In another bowl combine the eggs, vanilla extract, oil, honey, molasses and milk.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a rubber spatula just until combined. Don’t over-mix.
- Evenly distribute the batter among all muffin cups (I only got 11 muffins. I filled the empty muffin cup 2/3 full with water before baking to ensure even baking, and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20-30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. (Baking time will vary based on oven/pan and size of muffins).
- Garnish with a generous dusting of icing sugar.
Notes
More Ginger Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
These ginger snap muffins are exactly what I was looking for.
I followed the recipe exactly, used light olive oil and added dark chocolate chunks and instead of powdered sugar I sprinked pearl sugar on top. They were delicious and will join my small repetoire of muffin recipes.
Sounds lovely, Clare :) Thanks so much!
First time ever baking gingerbread anything! These muffins turned out perfectly! And oh so yummy!!! Thank you Jennifer for sharing such a great recipe!!
So glad to hear, Josie :) Thanks so much!
These smell amazing but mine got seriously over baked. Is the time right? 28-32 min? I checked at 26 and they were definitely already overdone…perhaps it’s my oven….
I’m willing to try again and will start checking at like 18 min…
Hi Aileen, I’ve adjusted the baking time in the instructions. My muffin tin is larger than some (it’s older and they made them bigger back then :)
I forgot I wanted to make muffins for breakfast this week. These were easy, and I had all the ingredients in my house. I add some pumpkin and hemp seeds for a little extra protein, and they turn out perfectly.
So glad you enjoyed them, Kat! Thanks :)
What about substituting more molasses for the honey?
I think it would be too bitter with substituting more molasses for the honey. The honey is bringing the touch of sweetness and while molasses is technically a sugar, it’s definitely not sweet :)
Delicious. Crackles open like a ginger cookie on top but with a dense, cake-y muffin base. I only had enough batter for 10 muffins. I substituted buttermilk for the milk, just because I had some in the fridge that I wanted to use up, and reduced the brown sugar by a smidge, just because I didn’t have enough. Still worked perfectly. Thank you for this tasty recipe!
So glad to hear, Laurie! Thanks :)
So good and easy to make. Barely lasted two days in the house. Made a lemon glaze instead of the powdered sugar dusting
So glad to hear, Amanda :) Love the lemon glaze addition! Thanks!
These were perfect! I was craving gingerbread…. and they hit the spot. I had only 25 minutes before I had to leave the house. These came together quickly while the oven was pre-heating , and I baked them in a muffin top pan. It made 12 muffin tops ( big ones) and they baked in about 17 minutes or so. Thank you!! It’s going in my recipe box. My van smelled like gingerbread and all the kids enjoyed their after school snack ( except a picky one haha).
Hi Jennifer, I baked these muffins for the first time 2 weeks ago. The children requested them tonight for after school snack…a muffin that pleases all. Thanks.
Hi Liza and so glad you are all enjoying these muffins :) So nice this time of year!
These muffins look so cozy, perfect with coffee or tea!
Thanks Laura :)
I saw these on Instagram and planned on coming by to get the recipe, but then my mother in law made an unplanned stop by our house and I forgot! Honestly, I think these muffins are perfect for anytime, even after Christmas!! They sound amazingly delicious and they look absolutely beautiful! Plus I love how easy they are! Muffin perfection, Jennifer! Pinned! Cheers to a beautiful New Year and enjoying the company of your loved ones!
Thanks so much, Cheyanne :)
Loving this muffin recipe! Perfectly spiced and great for the holidays!
Thanks Katrina :)
OK I absolutely love gingerbread and these muffins look perfect. Love this idea :)
Thanks so much, Sarah :)
Soft gingerbread has to be one of the most enticing aromas ever! Generously spiced sounds perfect to me! These are beautiful Jennifer and I know they must be an amazing treat. Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. Thanks for everything you do!
Thanks Tricia and me, too! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
I think it’s always the season for gingerbread muffins. These sound wonderful. I know it’s not a big deal at all to use the mixer but I always welcome recipes where I don’t need one. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Thanks Chris and hope you had a wonderful Christmas, as well!
So glad you posted these Jennifer. They are just perfect for the holidays! Yes, now it’s time for much deserved rest, relaxation and fun with family and friends! Enjoy friend!
Thanks so much, Mary Ann :) Have a wonderful holiday, too!
What makes these high in potassium?
Hi Lynn, it’s the molasses. Molasses is surprisingly high in potassium :)
I think I might just go jump in the kitchen and bake some of these muffins. They look amazing and I haven’t had nearly enough gingerbread this year.
Thanks Emily and same! They sure hit the spot :)