Cherry Gingerbread Muffins
These bakery style muffins are flavored with warm gingerbread spices, sweet cherries, and a hint of orange zest to make for a great winter breakfast, snack, or dessert. They are topped with coarse sanding sugar for extra sweetness and texture. Only two bowls and no mixer needed!
Make the Batter
The muffin batter comes together in a few simple steps with very little equipment needed.
Combine cubed butter and molasses in a medium bowl and melt in the microwave, stirring every 15 seconds. Set aside to slightly cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together all purpose and whole wheat flours, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
Add brown sugar, egg, yogurt, and milk to the bowl of melted butter and molasses. Stir until smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until there are no more streaks of flour.
Add the Mix-ins and Prep for Baking
These muffins get an added kick of flavor from dried cherries and orange zest. If you prefer, you can rehydrate the dried cherries in warm water for at least 10 minutes before using. To mix, simply fold in the cherries and orange zest until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Line a muffin pan with muffin liners. Fill each liner all the way with batter. Using a large cookie scoop is a great way to prevent a mess and ensure that each muffin has the same amount of batter.
Sprinkle the muffins with coarse sanding sugar.
Bake the Muffins
Bake the muffins at 425°F for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven, reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for another 14-16 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. This method gives the muffins a big crunchy top like you see in bakeries.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Store leftover muffins in a airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days.
Cherry Gingerbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 cup dried cherries, rehydrated in warm water (optional), see notes
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- coarse sugar, for sprinkling on top of the muffins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners.
- Combine the cubed butter and molasses in a medium bowl and melt in the microwave, stirring every 15 seconds. Set aside to slightly cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
- Add the brown sugar, egg, yogurt, and milk to the bowl of melted butter and molasses. Stir until smooth.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until there are no more streaks of flour. This will be a thick batter.
- Fold in the cherries and orange zest until evenly distributed.
- Fill the muffin liners all the way to the top. Sprinkle on coarse sugar.
- Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven, reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for another 14-16 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
- Storage Instructions: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Rehydrating the Cherries: To slightly rehydrate the dried cherries, soak them in warm water for 10 minutes. Strain the water off before adding to the muffin batter. This is an optional step.
- Variations: Dried cranberries would also work great in this recipe! Follow the same directions as the cherries.
