Gingerbread Cupcakes

Ta-dah! I converted the gingerbread cookie recipe that I posted earlier into a cupcake! Then, I added a homemade vanilla cream cheese frosting. All of that = one luscious cupcake! While my piping skills need a little work, I think the picture above is pretty damn perfect.

Gingerbread Cupcakes (adapted from Baking, Unplugged)
     Makes 2 dozen cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, soft
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp dark molasses
1 large egg
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Line your cupcake pan with liners. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugars, and molasses until fluffy with no lumps. Beat in the egg and salt until smooth and creamy. In another bowl, combing the flour, baking soda, and spices. Add 1/2 the flour combination to the mixing bowl then add 1/4 cup of the milk. Repeat. Mix until well combined. Evenly divide the batter into the cupcake pan (I used an ice cream scoop to get an even distribution). Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Let cool for 3 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the frosting, I found a wonderful recipe on Glorious Treats. She also shows you ways to change the flavor from vanilla to chocolate, strawberry, etc. I just stuck with the basic vanilla cream cheese in order to better highlight the gingerbread flavor.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (from Glorious Treats)
     Frosts 22-24 cupcakes or frost and fill a two layer 9" cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, set at room temp for about 10 minutes
8 oz cream cheese, directly from the fridge
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered confectioners' sugar
1 to 4 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined. Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat until it begins to get fluffy. Slowly add the heavy cream (1 Tbsp at a time) until the desired consistency is met. Don't add too much or it will slide right off your cupcake. Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute. Use right away or keep refrigerated.

Eat and enjoy!

Espresso Gingerbread Cutouts

Drumroll please......

Finally! The espresso gingerbread cutouts are here.... in 3 different ways! These cookies are absolutely delicious. Gingerbread cookies were never a favorite of mine. I prefer something chocolate, dipped in chocolate, rolled in chocolate (you get the picture). However, these cookies were soft and chewy with just the right amount of spices. In essence, they were a perfect cookie. And that was just by itself. They only got better when I decorated a few of them in a couple different ways.

Doesn't it look yummy? That beautiful shade of brown is from all the ingredients, not from over-baking the cookies (maybe that's why I usually don't eat gingerbread? It's usually too crispy and crunchy for me). Here's the recipe:

Espresso Gingerbread Cutouts (Baking Unplugged, Nicole Rees)

1 cup unsalted butter, soft
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp dark molasses, preferably Barbados style (note: I ordered mine through Amazon)
1 large egg
2 Tbsp instant espresso powder (note: I ordered mine from King Arthur's Flour)
3/4 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves

The day before: In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugars, and molasses until fluffy with no lumps. Stir in the egg, espresso powder, and salt until the dough is smooth and creamy. Stir in the flour, baking soda, and spices, until combined. Form the dough into a rough rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

The day of: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Divide the dough in half. Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll out half of the dough into a rectangle 3/16" to 1/4" thick (this took some arm power and sweat!). Freeze the sheet of rolled dough until firm (15 minutes). Roll out the other half in the same manner. Cut out the cookies, using one chilled half at a time, and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are firm and the centers are set. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

For the above topping: reconstitue 1 tsp of espresso powder in 1 cup of hot water. Pour 1 cup of confectioner's sugar into a cup. Add 1 tsp of the reconstituted espresso powder at a time to the powdered sugar until it is smooth and thin enough to drizzle.

For these cookies: melt 2 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate baking bars then dip the cookies into the melted chocolate.

These cookies are definitely worth trying out. Yes, they are a little time consuming and require a little sweat and muscle power, but the end results are a satisfyingly sweet and spicy cookie.