Whole Wheat Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

With the holidays right around the corner, this is a great recipe to have in your back pocket.  Recently, I went to a little get-together and needed a quick and easy holiday treat.  I had a box of Whole Wheat Gingerbread mix from Hodgson Mill sitting in the pantry.  I'm generally kind of wary about any sort of baking mix, due to the chemicals and other weird things in the ingredients list.  Much to my surprise, when I looked at the ingredients list on the box of this Gingerbread mix, I saw only ingredients that I could easily pronounce… Whole grain whole wheat flour, molasses, brown sugar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt and cloves.  Knowing everything in this mix was a normal baking ingredient I typically stock in my own pantry, I found this recipe for Whole Wheat Gingerbread Cupcakes on Hodgson Mill's website and set to work with no hesitation.   These have a wonderful texture, not something you'd expect from a whole wheat recipe.  And the little bit of cocoa added to the batter, along with the cinnamon brown sugar buttercream really make these something special. 

Whole Wheat Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

For the cupcakes (makes 15 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

1 15oz box Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Gingerbread Mix

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

3 large eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup water, room temperature

In a medium bowl, whisk together the gingerbread mix, baking powder, cocoa powder and brown sugar, and set aside.  

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and eggs.  

Using a large spoon, stir  the dry ingredients into the wet in three additions alternating with the water, beginning and ending with the dry mixture and stirring until it’s incorporated and the batter is smooth.  

Fill a paper lined muffin tin ½ to 2/3 full with batter.  

Bake cupcakes in a 350˚F oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Immediately remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool on a wire rack.  

For the frosting

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (1 1/2 sticks) 

1/3 cup light brown sugar

pinch of fine sea salt

1/8 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups powdered sugar

1/8 - 1/4 cup milk

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy.  Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon beating until well incorporated.  Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time beating well after each addition.  One tablespoon at a time, add the milk and beat on high speed.  Add milk until the desired consistency is reached.  Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Soft Gingerbread Blossoms

I live practically across the street from a grocery store.  Two grocery stores in fact.  They're less than a 1/4 of a mile away.  Many, many times I have had to turn the kitchenaid mixer off while preparing a dough or batter to make a quick run to go get more eggs or milk that I forgot to buy.  Case in point - these cookies.  I didn't realize until the last minute, after 4 hours of dough chilling, that I needed white chocolate chips to stuff in the freshly baked cookies.  At this point, it was already getting "late" (well, late for me) and I needed to have these finished for work the next day.  Ug!  But luckily, I'm able to hop on over to the store and be back in the kitchen baking within 10 minutes.  Over the almost 5 years of living in this house, I would have ruined many a bowl of batter if I didn't live so close.  Anyone else do this?  I do it a few times a month!

These cookies are definitely worth a trip to the grocery store, even if it's more than 1/4 mile away.  They are soft and tender, and not overly gingery or molassesy.  They're more like a hybrid of gingerbread and a snickerdoodle.  Even non-gingerbread lovers enjoyed these cookies.  Perfect for the upcoming holidays!  Maybe these will find their way to your cookie platters this season.  

Gingerbread Blossoms adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 tsp. ground ginger 
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
approx. 1 cup white chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk to combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.
Beat butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add molasses, maple syrup, egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed. Wrap top of bowl in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies just barely begin to brown. Immediately press about 5-6 white chocolate chips into center of each cookie. Allow to cool completely.

Gingerbread Cake Bites with Lemon Frosting

Around this time of year about 5 or 6 years ago, a neighbor brought over a platter of homemade petit fours for the holidays.  It had a few different flavors of cake cut into adorable little squares, each topped with a different type of frosting. I can't remember anything that was on that platter besides one: gingerbread cake with lemon frosting.  I only ate one of the tiny one inch cake bites, but it was so good I still remember it to this day.  

When I got word of Hodgson Mill's holiday recipe contest, "Have a Grain Holiday!" I felt short on good ideas.  I tried out a few different recipes using both their Bread Flour and their Whole Wheat flour but I wasn't thrilled with anything.  Finally, I thought about those gingerbread cake bites and I started trying to make my own version of the bite sized dessert.  I don't know how these would compare to those little bites from a few years ago, but these are pretty delicious.  The gingerbread cake is spicy and moist, and the tangy lemon frosting serves is a nice complement.  Plus, since it uses Hodgson Mill's Whole Wheat Graham flour, it is nutritious, too.  With this type of flour, "the entire natural bran and germ are stone ground, preserving all of the grain's natural nutrients and great taste, with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives." 

Gingerbread Cake Bites with Lemon Frosting, serving size: 40-50 bite sized squares.
Preparation time: approximately 2 hours

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat flour

½ cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

a pinch of ground pepper

¾ stick of unsalted butter (6 Tablespoons), room temperature

2/3 cup brown sugar packed

¼ cup molasses

¼ light corn syrup

1 egg, beaten

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup boiling water

2 Tablespoons milk

For the Gingerbread Cake:

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325 F.

Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, soda, salt, spices and pepper together and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter.  Gradually add the brown sugar and cream thoroughly. Beat in molasses and corn syrup.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg until foamy.  Then, add it to the butter mixture. Stir in the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined, being careful not to overbeat. 

Slowly, pour in the boiling water and the milk.  Mixture will be very runny.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool all the way, and then chill in the refrigerator.

For the Lemon Frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

zest from ½ a large lemon

juice from ½ a large lemon

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Lemon peel for garnish, optional

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Add the zest and vanilla.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  Add the lemon juice and beat on medium-high for 5 minutes.  When the cake is chilled and  slightly firm to the touch, spread the frosting on the cake with an offset spatula.  Using a pizza cutter, cute the cake into small squares.  If desired, top each square with a small strip of lemon zest to garnish.  

Ice Cream Sandwiches: Gingersnap Cookie and Lemon Ice Cream

I've always wanted to make my own ice cream sandwiches, but was intimidated. They're so cute! Plus, with homemade cookies of your choice and homemade ice cream in the wildest flavor you can think of, they'd be so much more delicious than the store bought ones. And so cute! Did I mention I think they're just adorable? The process of making them seems fairly easy, but is it one of those things that looks easy but turns out to be anything but? Well, I finally decided to give it a go and find out. Turns out it actually is quite easy.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Ginger Snaps

June, which became Cookie Month at Sweet Melissa Sundays, is coming to a close. All of the cookie with the exception of the macaroons were big hits in this house. It would be hard to pick a winner amongst the other three - Honey Chestnut Madeleines, Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints, and these Ginger Snaps all are passed our test with flying colors. This was a great recipe to round up the month with! Nice pick, Gloria! (Gloria's blog is The Ginger Snap Girl so this choice was appropriate!)

I halved Melissa's recipe because I didn't want to end up with 4 1/2 dozen cookies... but I only wound up with 16! And I used a one inch cookie scoop like the recipe stated. Not sure what happened there! Maybe I scooped heaping spoonfuls of the dough. Knowing how good these cookies are, next time I'd go for the whole batch.



They are not super spicy like other Ginger Snaps I've had. I think they're actually quite mild, but the flavors are definitely still there. The only change I made was to use black pepper (I don't have white) and I reduced the amount called for by half. I also subbed in half cinnamon-half nutmeg for the allspice (I've still haven't picked up any allspice yet). I wound up chilling my dough almost twelve hours, so I'm not sure if that made any difference in allowing the flavors to blend together so nicely.

I didn't love how they looked when they came out of the oven. They got a little thin and ugly at the edges, so I quickly grabbed a cookie cutter and punched shapes out from the still hot and soft dough. It worked like a charm! (And eating the scraps was pretty great, too :)



I followed Jeannette's advice from the Ginger Snaps P&Q - to underbake the cookies slightly to get that soft-baked chewiness. Since the edges that I cut off crisped up, I got to taste what the cookie would have turned out like had I not underbaked them. What's really nice about this recipe is that the cookies are good both ways - slightly underbaked and soft, AND crunchy and crispy way.



These were absolutely delicious and didn't last very long. So good in fact that I'm actually tempted to make another batch right now and whip up some homemade lemon ice cream to make Gingersnap - Lemon ice cream sandwiches. :)
Thanks for hosting, Gloria! These were probably one of my favorite recipes from SMS so far! Be sure to visit the other bloggers' who baked along this week to see how their ginger snaps came out!

Sweet Melissa Sundays #7: Guinness Gingerbread; and Strawberry Contest Muffins

Guiness Gingerbread, aka Rootbeer Gingerbread

The Sweet Melissa Sundays baking group this week baked up Melissa Murphy's Guinness Gingerbread (p. 12 - 13). It was chosen by the fabulous Katie of Katiecakes. One thing I love about this group is that it gets me to bake things I would normally probably never choose on my own. This recipe was a lot of fun.

I made a few changes to the recipe. Since we aren't really drinkers in our house and I didn't want to be left with a ton of Guinness stout, I used IBC Rootbeer in place of the Guinness beer called for in the recipe. I also substituted maple syrup where the recipe called for Molasses as past recipes have taught me I'm really not in to the taste of molasses. Light brown sugar went in instead of dark because that is all I had, and similarly I used black pepper instead of the ground white pepper the book uses because I didn't have any white. I used my little Baking Bible book and this new fantastic website I found, Cook's Thesaurus to find out that white pepper is basically just a milder less flavorful version of its darker counterpart. So, rather than the 1/4 tsp white pepper the recipe calls for, I used just a light sprinkling of black pepper. Annddd I baked it in a cupcake pan rather than the 9 x 9 x 2 baking dish because I like the ease of give-away-ability that cupcakes allow. Other than that, I followed the recipe. :)

I thought it would make about 9 cupcakes, so I greased & floured 9 wells of a cupcake pan. I soon learned it makes MORE than that, about DOUBLE my estimate to be exact, so I called for help from Daniel who came to the rescue with cupcake liners.





Melissa Murphy says it is best served warm with freshly whipped cream dolloped on top. Well, it is Sunday morning, and I didn't think ahead enough to make whipped cream first. And I really wanted to taste it warm like she said. So we made due with some Ready Whip.







It was very nice! I am sure it would have been even tastier with homemade whipped cream, but even with the store bought stuff it was quite good. With my light brown sugar and my maple syrup substitutions, the result was a mild, subtle flavored cake. I look forward to enjoying the rest of the cupcakes room temperature with frosting on top!

Now, to decide which frosting to use... Rootbeer frosting? Regular ol' buttercream with caramel drizzle (Dan's choice)? We shall see!

*Update* Root Beer Frostingish/Glaze Topping



1 3/4 C confectioners sugar
1/2 stick, unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
4 Tbs. root beer

Add butter to mixing bowl. Gradually add confectioners sugar to the butter & cream together until well mixed. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the root beer. To get the correct consistency, add more root beer or sugar to reach desired adjust thickness. Mine came out somewhere between Glaze & Frosting, but piled on nicely!




Strawberry Shortcake Crumb Muffins



I've also been baking up some other things. Mimi's cafe held a Meaningful Muffin Search contest to find their new Seasonal Muffin Recipe. The amazing Gale Gand is one of the judges, and prizes include $1,000 gift cards to Mimi's, your muffin on the menu, a cookbook signed by Ms. Gand, and $1 from each winning Meaningful Muffin sold will go to "Share Our Strength". I thought, WHY NOT, might as well try and enter, right?? If I don't win, I still got to eat some muffins!

I designed a Strawberry Shortcake Crumb muffin. I thought Strawberries were a good place to start, since the contest was to design their seasonal muffin, and I added a nice crumb topping because, well, everyone likes a good crumb topping.









Recipe to follow soon! Be sure to see how the Guinness Gingerbread came out for the other SMS Bakers!