November inspired ginger molasses spelt muffins, with warm spices of cloves and mace, topped off with a maple-butter drizzle.
Welcome To Muffin Madness
In my family, I have always been known as the muffin queen, simply because over the years I have created about 25 different muffin recipes, and still creating!
As a single mom of 4, during those insanely disjointed, hectic years of age 6 to 16, with school, hobbies, work and hormones, I needed a friend!
Muffins became my antidote to madness. My friend. How? I needed a quick, healthy and affordable breakfast, a to-go snack and I needed the kids to be able to help make them.
And so… I will be sharing one of my beloved muffin recipes with YOU each and every Friday for your weekend treats, or a batch to carry you through the busy week ahead! Yep! 52 Fridays!!
November Ginger and Molasses
It’s the day after Thanksgiving. As if our tummy isn’t full enough from the great feast, we are already thinking about the next holiday of luscious culinary goodies, Gingerbread!
It was imperative (if only to me), that the last weekend of November kicked off the anxiously awaited flavors of December.
Fresh ginger and sticky sweet molasses are my choice for the last muffin of November, ringing in December.
A gazillion gingerbread houses will be constructed over the next 30 days, and equal amounts of gingerbread men. So, why not wrap up the last muffin madness of November with a gingerbread muffin!
Baking With Spelt
I did not grow up with spelt. But now I’ve come to realize how much I love the dense, earthiness of spelt flour.
It offers a nutty flavor and a more rustic finish on baked goods. Spelt also feels like such a cleaner flour to cook with; literally.
Flour experiment 101: When I bake with all-purpose flour, the bowl is sticky and difficult to wash clean.
When I bake with spelt flour, the bowl practically rinses clean with just water before I scrub. Hmmmm, my arteries?
Spelt flour is a type of cereal grain, while wheat flour is a grass. Spelt is more nutritious simply because the bran is in tact while processed flour, has had its bran removed… stripped down.
Many Baking Options With Spelt
Needless to say, once I discovered how delicious, and healthier a flour spelt is, I have created lots of recipes with spelt flour:
What’s Not To Love About Molasses
Refining sugar cane into sugar is an interesting process.
Molasses, as we know it, the thick dark sticky sweet liquid that barely pours out of a bottle, is the byproduct made during the extraction of sugars from sugarcane.
While living in Brazil, and visiting a local farm that makes ‘rapadura’ a type of brown cane sugar that’s loaded with molasses, I saw how molasses was made.
This raw sugar brick is rich in minerals and very popular throughout South America.
The richness of this dark syrup is anything but refined. It is, in fact, raw, and I like that!
There is an earthiness to the flavor of molasses, a flavor that reminds me of caramel, only richer.
Add some of our favorite autumn spices to baked goods with molasses, such as cinnamon, mace, cloves, nutmeg and ginger and we have an almost exotic aroma and flavor that is often associated with holiday season.
Making Ginger Molasses Spelt Muffins
Like most quick breads, the batter for ginger molasses spelt muffins is also quick to mix, and quick to bake.
The warm spices of mace and cloves, along with freshly grated ginger, are perfect for the chill of late autumn.
A drizzle of maple syrup and a little melted butter compliments the spices in the gingerbread, though the muffin is quite delicious all on its own.
Like most muffin recipes of mine, dry ingredients gets mixed in one bowl, wet in another, then the two are mixed and baked in under 30-minutes.
This muffin batter can be baked in muffin tins for easy individual servings, or in a loaf pan to slice and serve family style.
For muffin madness, of course, I am baking these in muffin tins.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter
- Molasses
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Milk
- Fresh ginger
- Spelt flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cloves
- Mace
- Powdered ginger
- Maple syrup
Equipment Needed
- Muffin tin
- Muffin baking paper cups
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Whisk
- Spoon
- Non-stick spray
- Box grater – for ginger
- Oven
My Muffin Madness Cookbook
Now that I’ve got you thinking outside the box about muffins, are you ready to try other creative and delicious muffin recipes you won’t find anywhere else?
Hot off the press this year: My Muffin Madness Cookbook!
Ginger Molasses Spelt Muffins
Ingredients
- Butter – 6 tbsp, melted
- Molasses – 1/3 cup
- Eggs – 2
- Sugar – 1/4 cup
- Milk – 1/2 cup
- Fresh Ginger – 1 tbsp, grated
- Spelt flour – 2 1/4 cup
- Baking powder – 2 tsp
- Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
- Salt – 1/4 tsp
- Cloves – 1/4 tsp
- Mace – 1 tsp
- Powdered ginger – 1 tsp
- Maple syrup – 2 tbsp, (optional for drizzle)
- Butter – 1 tbsp, melted (optional for drizzle)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Prepare 6 muffin tins with non-stick or baking papers.
- Place melted butter in a bowl or mixer.
- Whisk in molasses, sugar, eggs, milk and fresh ginger.
- Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix gently.
- Divide batter into 6 prepared muffin tins. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- If using drizzle, whisk melted butter and maple syrup together and with a fork, drizzle across the cooled muffins.
Nutrition
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
