Nothing says holidays like Gingerbread! The smell that fills the house is magical. Gingerbread is perfection, one time a year, and that time is now. I get the catalogs from King Arthur Flour and they are always amazing. Beautiful. Make me want everything! The most recent one they included a gingerbread cupcake recipe, so I though I'd give it a go, and I am pretty happy with the outcome! Between the cupcakes, the cookies AND the CAKE I was baking for my bestie (don't worry I'll share it after the holidays!), I was uber nervous to mess something up, and had no time to start over, so I trusted My Girl Martha (Stewart of course) for the cookie recipe.
Gingerbread cupcake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting TOPPED with a Gingerbread Cookie. Tastes JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS! (Looks pretty classy too!)
Start with the cookies if you want to make them, they require refrigeration in the process. If you don't wan't to make the cookies, I won't be offended, skiperoo right over the instruction and get bakin' the cupcakes!
Download the recipe card with illustration here for keeps. Recipe with images below...
GET BAKING!
Yields 12 cupcakes in standard liners
FOR THE COOKIES /
2 cups flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
⅓ cup packed dark-brown sugar
⅓ cup molasses
1 large egg
1 / In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2 / In a separate bowl beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.
3 / Beat the molasses and egg into the butter mixture.
4 / With mixer on low, add dry ingredients; mix just until a dough forms.
5 / Place dough on floured plastic wrap; pat into an 8-inch square. Wrap well; chill until firm, 1 to 2 hours. * The chilling of the dough is VERY important, don't breeze over this!
6 / Preheat oven to 350˚F. Divide dough in half. Rewrap and refrigerate one half.
7 / Place dough on floured parchment or waxed paper; roll out ⅛ inch thick, turning, lifting, and flouring dough (and rolling pin) as needed.
8 / Freeze rolled dough (on paper) until firm, about 20 minutes. Again, don't skip this step! Keep the dough cold at all times. I made a HUGE mistake and rolled the dough out on the counter above my dishwasher, which was running, and the counter was warm and ruined half the dough. Super bummer, I know, so KEEP IT COOL, learn from my mistakes!
9 / Loosen dough from paper. Cut out shapes, and transfer to baking sheets.
10 / Bake until firm and edges just begin to darken, 10 to 18 minutes, depending on size. Cool completely on baking sheets.
FOR THE CUPCAKES /
1 ¾ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup molasses
1 large egg
½ cup water
1 / Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a standard 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners.
2 / Combine together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
3 / In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, molasses and egg.
4 / With an electric mixer, add the half the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then half the water, and repeat. Mix until well combined scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5 / Spoon the mixture into liners filling ⅔ the way. Bake for 16-19 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
FOR THE FROSTING /
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 / Beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
2 / With the electric mixer running add the sugars and cinnamon beating until well incorporated.
3 / Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
TA-DA! CHRISTMAS IN A CUPCAKE! King Arthur said to make for 20-22 minutes, but I tested at 18 and they were done, and a bit over done already, so make sure to test around 15 or 16 minutes. They may need more time, but better safe than sorry!
This was my first time making gingerbread, and boy did I learn a lot! Cookies can be hard! I think I might challenge myself to a gingerbread house, any tips?