Happy Holidays!! And happy winter! Tis the season for festive celebrations, snow angels, hot drinks and more than your fair share of sugary treats! Don’t worry, January is right around the corner when we all hit the reset button anyway. So before we all swear off sugar for the first few weeks of 2018 I have (hopefully) a couple more things to share, starting with these super season appropriate gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Gingerbread basically screams the holidays to me (but in a nice way…it’s not, like, yelling at you.) So of course I made some classic gingerbread cookies (duh), but I also wanted to highlight the lovely spice flavors in another way this year, in cupcake form.
I found this recipe from King Arthur Flour and only slightly tweaked it to my liking. The cupcake itself is perfectly spiced, tender and lives up to its gingery name. But honestly the pairing of the cinnamon cream cheese frosting makes this recipe a true winner. It’s sweet without being TOO sweet. Ya know what I mean?!
And if you find yourself wanting to do some last minute baking this weekend another plus is how quickly these cupcakes come together. Honestly! Less than an hour from start to finish for the cupcakes. Add a little cooling time. Whip up the frosting while the cakes are baking and/or cooling. Add maybe 10 or so minutes for frosting, and BAM you’re done! Optionally, top the frosted cupcakes with a little cinnamon sugar for a little extra sparkle!
Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
Description
A warming gingery cupcake paired perfectly with a slightly sweet cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (8 TBS) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 milk
Frosting
- 6 TBS unsalted butter, softened
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 – 2 TBS milk, or enough to make the frosting spreadable
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners and lightly grease the inside of liners with cooking spray.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a hand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the brown sugar, molasses and egg until well combined.
- Add half of the milk to the butter/sugar mixture alternately with the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed to combine. Repeat with remaining milk and dry ingredients and mix until fully combined, being careful not to over mix.
- Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 22 – 24 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely before adding frosting.
Frosting
- Beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
- Add sifted powdered sugar and cinnamon, beating well.
- Add the vanilla and the milk, a little at a time, until frosting reaches desired consistency.
Whatever you may be doing this weekend I hope you’re having a great time! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! And as always, happy baking!
Roseann
Make these cupcakes tonight! They are the best. Enough said