Sticky orange gingerbread muffins: fluffy little treats packed full of warming Christmas spices, orange zest and dark gingerbread flavour that you’ll want to eat all day!
December really is the time to embrace ALL things spiced. Every. Damn. Thing.
Spiced mulled wine, spiced biscuits, spiced chocolates, spiced cakes, spiced meats, hell my mum even bought Winter Spice bleach this week!
I won’t lie, I absolutely adore the spice fetish that everyone develops at Christmas time. I use cinnamon and ginger generously all year round, but there’s just something about the smell of it filling your house that just screams Christmas in the delightedly impatient tone of a young child. That’s why these sticky orange gingerbread muffins just HAVE to be mentioned before the new year rolls in, they deserve it.
These spiced, sticky orange gingerbread muffins were inspired by a fellow blogger over at Fork Knife Swoon, I saw the recipe and just had to whip up my own version. My version involves a more orange flavour, darker treacle flavour, a teeny bit less sugar, and I’ve converted everything into British ingredients and weights. How nice am I, eh?
Muffins (of the sweet variety) are always either painfully dry and healthy-tasting, or they’re so massive and cloyingly sweet that you feel you should have just bought a cake or chocolate bar instead. These little gems find themselves in a perfect balance of both. A perfect size for snacking, easily customisable with wholemeal flour or coconut oil for the irritatingly health conscious, but with the perfect amount of spiced sweetness to make these sticky orange gingerbread muffins into the perfect Christmas time snack. Once you get bored of the mince pies and Lindor truffles of course.
I also feel like these muffins bring all the glorious dark flavour of gingerbread biscuits, without the potential to shatter your teeth, or the pressure to ice them beautifully. Instead, they provide rich orange and spice flavour, and an incredibly moist and light texture, giving you that perfect balance of fluffiness and satisfying mouth-stickiness. I’m starting to feel like I’ve already sold these to you? If not, hit me up and I can provide you with many more delicious-muffin-related adjectives.
The best part of all? These muffins only require one bowl to make so you get minimal dish-washing for maximum sweet, spicy satisfaction. Thank me later. Even my muffin-sceptical mother adores these.
I really really really hope you get a chance to make these sticky orange gingerbread muffins, or at least convince someone else to make them for you! They are the ultimate sticky spiced snack for Christmas morning or for any time this festive season. I know for a fact I’ll be making these again for our house and for my workmates, go on, you should too!
Sticky Orange Gingerbread Muffins
Sticky orange gingerbread muffins: fluffy little treats packed full of warming Christmas spices, orange zest and dark gingerbread flavour that you'll want to eat all day!
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: Feel free to add chopped nuts or chocolate chips to the mixture!
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 1 ripe banana (you can substitute natural yoghurt, cranberry sauce or pumpkin puree here if you like)
- 1 large egg
- Zest of 1-2 oranges (depending on how orange-y you want them to be!)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp salt
- 120ml (½ cup) vegetable oil, olive oil or melted coconut oil
- 120g (⅓ cup) black treacle
- 75ml (⅓ cup) milk or orange juice
- 120g (½ cup) soft dark brown sugar
- 300g (2 ¼ cups) self-raising flour (wholemeal or white)
For the drizzle or glaze (optional):
- 150g(1 cup) icing sugar
- 2-3 tbsp water, milk or orange juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Cranberries or candied peel (to decorate)
Instructions
For the muffins:
- Preheat your oven – 180 C / 160 C / 350 F / gas mark 4 – and pop 12 muffin cases (festive or otherwise) into a 12-hole muffin/cupcake baking tin.
- In a large bowl, mash your banana until mushy and fairly lump-free.
- Add the egg and stir/mash until fairly smooth.
- Grate in the orange zest followed by the cinnamon, ginger, spice and salt, and use a whisk to mix in.
- Add the vegetable oil, treacle and milk and whisk well until smooth and combined.
- Add the sugar and mix again, breaking up any stiff lumps in the sugar as you go.
- Finally add the flour and use a spoon or spatula to gently stir it in until just incorporated.
- Use a spoon or ice cream scoop to fill the 12 muffin cases evenly, each should be half or two-thirds full.
- Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until firm, a cocktail stick inserted in the centre of a muffin should come out clean once they are baked. Don’t worry if it takes an extra few minutes, every oven is different!
- Once baked, allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack, or in the chilly December breeze of a windowsill.
For the drizzle or glaze (optional):
- Mix together the sugar, water and vanilla extract until you achieve a fairly thick white icing. Feel free to add more sugar or liquid to reach your desired consistency.
- If you would like to glaze the muffins, dip the top of each one in the icing until coated, this works best when they’re still a little warm. This should give them a nice shiny white glaze.
- If you would like to drizzle the icing instead, either use a spoon, knife or a filled piping bag to drizzle and splatter the icing all over the tops of the muffins.
- If you’re using cranberries, candied peel or anything else for decoration, sprinkle them over once the icing is on to help them stick.
- You can leave the icing to set a little or just bite straight in.
- Enjoy!
