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Holy. Cow. These are amazing!! Made them this morning for a delicious breakfast treat and literally couldn’t. stop. eating. Thanks for the inspiration to bake! š
Kate
Gin-ger-bread! Gin-ger-bread! Gin-ger-breeaaaaddd!
Okay, maybe I did just go and make gingerbread in November. Maybe I did and maybe I like it.
Before I get distracted talking about any other life thing, I want to say this: I LOVE THESE MUFFINS. I say it a lot, I know. But these ones are special in that always puffy, always pretty, always have the ingredients on hand and always make the house smell good way. There are hardly any recipes in my life that I make more than a handful of times – the sad truth of life as a food blogger – but these are one of them. They are everything I want in a muffin from September to January.
In addition to being THE CUTEST with all that sparkly sugar on top, they are made healthier with coconut oil (which reminds me, we have some catching up to do because when did coconut oil get completely awesome? ugh, I’m late as usual), whole wheat flour, and no refined sugar – just a hit of real maple syrup and molasses for that sweet, deep, gingerbread-cozy flavor. These muffins are part healthy filling breakfast, part sweet + pretty treat, and part Christmas smells all up in your house.
(And if you aren’t looking for a healthy gingerbread treat at this point in life, I’d like to steer you in the direction of something sweet, buttery, and perfectly gingerbread-spiced in the form of these cookies.)
And now, if you’ll let me dork out for about six minutes *eyes squeezed shut nervously* I’ll give you the First Kitchen Video and lots of chatter, er, demo, for these Gingerbread Muffins.
How To Make Our Gingerbread Muffins:
So the kitchen is not 100% done, but yes it’s close, and yes we can use it (haayyyy) and yes we most definitely WILL do a recap post and video when everything is all in place in a week or two.
And yes, I worked at Perkins when I was 14, and yes, I am going to eat a third muffin.
Right now, dang it.
I am just totally and absolutely loving having a real live kitchen in my life again, if I haven’t mentioned that like a million and a half times before.
But I have a confession: the new kitchen makes me Crazy with a capital C. Or maybe just my Crazy side has started to come out into the light a little more in the presence of new appliances, countertops, and cabinets. Sometimes Bjork comes home from The Office and finds me examining the countertops from one inch away to find any possible stains (I don’t even think it’s possible to stain quartz but a girl’s gotta look), or measuring all the gaps between the cabinet doors to make sure they’re even, or marking the whole kitchen with blue tape wherever I find a scuff or scratch or ding on the cabinets. It’s a beautiful curse to have this incredible kitchen but to not have it be “lived in” yet because at this early point in the new kitchen cooking game, I will find every scratch, ding, stain on the cooktop (NO FOR REAL, already stained) and it will all just makes me want to cry. I equally love the idea of actually cooking here and hate the idea of losing the beautiful, pristine kitchen thing we have going on.
Also, the Crazy factor is real.
I’m sure it will get more normal, with every stain and scratch and ding I’ll get less worked up about the perfection thing, right? RIGHT? Please give me hope.
I hereby promise not to examine anything in the kitchen today other than the sugary beautiful tops of these puffy, warm, healthy gingerbread muffins.
That should be more than enough of a distraction.
Healthy Gingerbread Muffins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 regular sized muffins 1x
Description
These healthy gingerbread muffins are made with coconut oil, whole wheat flour, and real maple syrup. So puffy and so delicious!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup
- 1/2 cup light sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger paste (sub 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- turbinado sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or butter. Melt the coconut oil so it’s in liquid form. In a small bowl, whisk the liquid coconut oil with the molasses.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, maple syrup, sour cream, milk, and ginger. Let the mixture come to room temperature so that you can easily add the coconut oil (30-40 seconds in the microwave is fine if you’re rushed). When it’s at room temperature, add the coconut oil and molasses from step one. The coconut oil should stay liquified.
- Add the flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir a few times until just combined. Scoop into a muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until the tops are puffy and firm to the touch. Cool for a few minutes before serving.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: healthy gingerbread muffins, gingerbread muffins, healthy muffins
My husband and I are heading to Fla for my 50th highschool reunion that was canceled in 2021! Iām making frozen breakfast sandwiches and dinners so we wonāt have to eat in restaurants. Yes, we have an rv, with complete kitchen.
Are these freezer friendly?
I know, wonāt be as nice as fresh from oven, but popped in microwave for a few seconds to warm them?
Yes, these would freeze great!
Delicious it is – as well as good for body !
Thanks for sharing
Mane Kancor
I have finally found your blog and made the healthy gingerbread muffin recipe. They were great the first day; but as they sat, they dried out. Any suggestions on keeping them moist longer (like they were the first day)? Thanks for any suggestions!
Great question! This post might have some good tips!
Could these be made into mini loaves for holiday gifts?
We haven’t tried, but we think it’d work out just fine!
If I sub ginger for the ginger paste do I use fresh ginger or ground ginger?
We’d recommend ground ginger here!
Iād like to try these, but Iāve never heard of ginger paste. How much fresh ginger should I grate or how much dried ginger should I use?
1 teaspoon of ground ginger could work as substitute here. š
This is an gluten-free appetizer or snack. Super delicious, budget-friendly, kids-friendly food. I really like this dish.
The gingerbread you shared was delicious and interesting. I really love this cake.
So happy to hear that!
These were delicious! I made them for my four year old daughters school birthday treat (it needed to be a low sugar type deal) and she said, āeveryone loved them, but I loved them moreā. I didnāt have sour cream or turbinado sugar so I subbed full fat Greek yogurt and granulated sugar. They turned out perfectly!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Lizzy!
Can anyone that have actually made the muffins leave a review?!
Thanks
I’m not sure cocoanut oil is healthy. 1 tablespoon has 13g of fat and 12g of it is saturated. Would canola oil alter the flavor much? They look absolutely delicious.
i stumbled upon this recipe via Yahoo. i can’t wait to try it. but the reason i am writing is because i couldn’t be more ME TOO about your kitchen. i just updated my kitchen a month ago and i am in the EXACT same space you are. reading your words about the kitchen makes me want to just sit and vent with you! (: and you know what? my quartz IS stained!!! and i said the same thing. (i even contacted the quartz people to figure out what to do about it and sadly, after some good dialogue, they just stopped). and my cooktop is also stained. it’s hard to want to LIVE in your kitchen when it’s so pretty and easy to mess up!
good luck to you.
and i can’t wait to try those wintry muffins!
Is there another oil except coconut that could be used? Not only is isn’t super expensive I hate, loathe and despise coconut in all forms!! But I love ginger so much!
Hello! My husband is allergic to coconut. Is there something I could replace the coconut oil with? Thank you!
I’d probably replace with olive oil!
Gingerbread muffin in Spring time! Who says you can’t? Love the recipe! Definitely 5 star. Rated it here rating star wasn’t accessible.
These muffins are my absolute favorite – I make them all year round! Do you know if you could make this recipe into a loaf by baking in a bread pan? If so, how long would you recommend baking for? Thanks! Love love LOVE your recipes always!
Glad to hear it! I’d start with doubling the bake time, and then checking it every 3-5 minutes after that until it’s done!
These were delicious! Satisfying and not overly sweet. I know I can rely on your recipes to be good!
Oh, and one egg worked fine. The reference to eggs, plural, in the directions made me pause!
These are in the oven right now!
Ingredients list calls for one egg; directions refer to adding “eggs”. I added just one and hope that was the right amount.
made these this morning. subbed greek yogurt for the sour cream and used cashew milk. I was nervous…most times i try making healthy muffins they’re terrible. these, however are AWESOME! so yummy and flavorful and not dry at all! these are my new go to muffins. thank you so much!!
Hi Lindsay,
These look AH-MAY-ZING š Question, for those ppl who are non-dairy…are there substitutions that can be used?
Thanks so much ! Congrats on your pregnancy and happy holidays!!
My son loves gingerbread but has type 1 diabetes – so I’m trying to bake with lower carb flour. Have you ever tried substituting the white flour for almond flour?
These are delicious! And they pack a lovely ginger punch. I didn’t have ginger paste, so I grated in 1 T of fresh ginger. I wish I’d have had the turbinado sugar for the topping, but I didn’t, so I used a little regular sugar. Next time, though, I will sprinkle with the turbinado. It makes them look so gorgeous!
This is my first time making anything from your site, so I will have to take a closer look. Thank you so much for a fabulous recipe!
Awesome, Kathy! Glad you found us. š
Oh man. I was craving gingerbread muffins, so I made a double batch of 24 for a group playdate at my house. I don’t know who enjoyed them more – the adults or the kids – the 2 dozen got eaten so fast that DURING the playdate I whipped up another 16 (conservative distribution of a single batch of batter in my “double” muffin tin)! Just wanted to say they were a huge hit, and I’ll be making these regularly, including for Christmas Eve when we have family over!
Awesome, Diana! Thanks for the comment. š
Hi
The video says bake at 350 and the recipe states 375 degrees. Pls verify Thanks !
Woops! Sorry for the confusion Arlene! My guess is that it will work just about the same at either temp. Kristin tested them at 375 and she said that worked just fine.
Hi, Arlene! I’ll have Lindsay get back to you on that.
Hi!!! I just made these yesterday and they are AMAZING!!! Seriously!! I love the recipe and love how they turned out. They taste like the most perfect gingerbread cookie BUT all awesome like as a muffin. Thank you!! Will definitely be making more! Also this is the second recipe that I have made so far from pinch of yum and the first was flawless as well… Your Shrimp Tacos are amazing!!
Thanks, Mara! So glad you liked them. š