Gingerbread Maple Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hellooooo from the muffin (wo)man!

(yes, I know I used that joke a few weeks ago. and yes, I’m still laughing about it)

Really though. I’m not joking when I tell you that I’ve been churning out muffins like it’s nobody’s business lately. I mean, we’ve basically been eating our way through 2016, one muffin at a time. Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be a problem in the Bartash household (phew)!

So I must have pinned these particular muffins sometime last year – or I guess, more like two years ago now, because it’s apparently 2016 (…right? I don’t even know what day it is). But apparentlyyy I never made them, because there they sat – untouched and untested – and unbeknownst to me what hit they would later be…

Anywho, I digress. I stumbled upon the recipe again sometime a few months ago when I was in the mood for muffins early on a Sunday morning. We were fresh out of bananas, which was shocking to me. That NEVER HAPPENS at our house… seriously, ever. I got 99 problems and bananas ain’t one. But this particular week, Peter must have gone ape shit (see what I did there!?) and eaten them all! So I combed through my pinterest boards, trying to find a recipe that didn’t include bananas, pumpkin, zucchini, apples, blueberries…. you get the point. I clearly needed to go grocery shopping.

This recipe is from my #girlcrush, Jessica. Her blog, How Sweet It Is, might be my favorite blog of all time. I repeat: OF ALL TIME. She is hilarious and her recipes are delicious / brilliant / magical and she just.gets.me. It’s like she’s in my head, all the time, but like, eight thousand and one times funnier. I’m suuuuure I’ve gushed about her before, so you should probably just check her out. and then buy her cookbook. It’s beautiful and you’ll be hooked, immediately.

You’re welcome.

So I (re)found this incredible muffin recipe, realized I had all the ingredients, and went to work. I (of course) immediately nixed the butter and all-purpose flour, because hey – that’s what I do. Instead, in went canola oil and mixture of whole wheat/spelt flours – easy substitutes. I decreased the amount of molasses used, because that shit ain’t great for ya, and then swapped the brown sugar for coconut palm sugar. And in the Bartash household, all muffins require chocolate chips – so I tossed some of those in too (dark chocolate, obvi). Sprinkled a bit of turbinado sugar on top and voila! There you have it – gingerbread maple chocolate chip muffins, in yo face.

Now, let me be clear – I’m not necessarily calling these muffins ‘healthy’. The calorie count is more than I prefer for an itty bitty little muffin, and the molasses, maple syrup & chocolate chips definitely drive the sugar up a bit. But trust me…. worth it. So very worth it.

These delectable little muffins are perfectly spiced – they’re not too heavy on the gingerbread flavor, which obviously means you could eat them year-round (…ish). They aren’t the-m-word-that-shall-not-be-named (i.e., the opposite of dry… aka the grossest word on the planet)… but oddly enough, they aren’t dry either. They’re a nice in-between – and they even age well! Day three is probably the most delicious. Is that weird to say about muffins? Probably. I’ll stop now.

That said, the substitutions I made were purely of my own personal choice. I avoid using all-purpose flour at all costs, unless it’s a necessity in a recipe — and even then, I make sure it’s organic. Instead, I tend to substitute with half white whole wheat flour and half of another flour option — occasionally gluten-free (see Notes within recipe below). I’m not celiac and don’t follow a gluten-free diet, but find that baked goods made with entirely whole wheat flour are a little more dense/chewy and don’t necessarily let the flavor of the other ingredients shine through. Plus, there are so many different types of flour out there – why wouldn’t you want to experiment with them all?! If you look in my cabinets, you’ll find almond flour, brown rice flour, oat flour, buckwheat flour… I definitely encourage you to try them all! With the exception of coconut flour (more on that in another post), these flours can usually be substituted 1:1.

Now that I’ve droned on at great lengths about flour — thrilling, I know — go bake yourself something tasty. Preferably these gingerbread maple chocolate chip muffins. And if you need anyone to vouch for them, ask Peter. He’s requested them no less than twice a week for the past six weeks – and that, my friends, is an accomplishment of epic proportions. Belieeeeeeve me.

Gingerbread Maple Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

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Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

Author: Talia

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup spelt flour (or other preferred flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ½ cup coconut palm sugar
• 1 large egg
• ⅓ cup molasses
• ⅓ cup maple syrup (Grade A preferred)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup canola oil
• ⅔ cup almond milk
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips
• turbinado sugar, for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a regular muffin tin with cooking spray or line with muffin liners.
2. In a small bowl, sift the flours, spices, salt and baking powder. In a larger bowl. whisk the egg and coconut sugar well, making sure no clumps remain. Add the molasses, maple syrup and vanilla and then, once combined, add the canola oil.
3. Start to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet, then add the milk and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Fill each muffin tin about ¾ of the way full, and top with a dusting of turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Notes / Variations

GLUTEN-FREE: you can easily substitute a GF all-purpose flour for the 2 cups of flour in this recipe. I've also successfully substituted 1 cup GF all-purpose flour + 1 cup of almond flour, and the results are deliciously fluffy muffins.

It's important not to over-mix this batter - otherwise, you'll end up with ultra-dense and overly chewy muffins (which is not preferable, trust me).

Along those same lines, be careful not to over-bake! They are a little more dense than your normal muffin, but will quickly become dry if baked too long. If you're unsure about their done-ness, err on the side of under-baking - the muffins will continue to bake for a few minutes, even after you take them out of the oven.

Recipe From: How Sweet It Is | Gingerbread Maple Muffins

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 1 muffin Calories: 283 Fat: 14g Carbohydrates: 38.6g Sugar: 19g Sodium: 82mg Fiber: 2.7g Protein: 3.8g

3.5.3251

So, in closing – go forth, my friends! I strongly suggest you buy yourself way too many cookbooks and make batch after batch of these muffins. Because, as Peter ever-so-eloquently put it, “eating these muffins is like having everyone you’ve ever loved give you a hug.”

I mean, if that doesn’t say it all, what does?!