Gingerbread Cupcakes
California Milk Advisory Board
- Yield: servings
Ingredients
- Cupcakes:
- 1cup molasses
- 3cups very hot water
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- 4tablespoons unsalted Real California butter, softened
- 1cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1large egg
- 1teaspoon salt
- 1teaspoon ground ginger
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1cup all-purpose flour
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- Frosting:
- 8ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 2tablespoons unsalted Real California butter, room temperature
- 2cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12small gingerbread-man cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour insides of 12 muffin cups or insert paper liners.
- For Cupcakes: Mix molasses, hot water and baking soda together in a large bowl. Cool to room temperature.
- With electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg.
- In a large bowl, sift together salt, ginger, cinnamon, flour and baking powder. In three additions, alternately add dry ingredients and molasses mixture to butter mixture. Mix thoroughly after each addition to make sure there are no lumps.
- Evenly divide batter between cupcake molds. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pans. Cool completely before frosting.
- For Frosting: With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. If cream cheese is very soft, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- With a piping bag, swirl cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake. (You can also frost them with a table knife or small spatula.)
- Place a gingerbread-man cookie on top of frosting or wedge the cookie into each cupcake.
Recipe courtesy of the California Milk Advisory Board