Christmas baking has begun! And we’re starting off nice and easy with these spiced, ginger-y, zippy muffins with orange zest. They are soft, fluffy and incredible with mug of hot tea. Not to mention, they are easy to make and further proof that the simplest of batters often lead to the most amazing results.
I wanted to turn an old recipe on the blog into an eggless version of itself. It didn’t go so well! I wound up with muffins that spread into one another, had soft, flat tops and just didn’t look great at all. They tasted yum because the spices are so nice but they didn’t feel or look very muffin-like. My mistake was to try and turn a cupcake batter into muffins. Cupcakes are heavier on fat and moisture so they don’t rise as tall and if you fill the muffin moulds to the top (which works only with thick muffin batters), instead of rising the thinner batter just kind of spreads all over the place. Not pretty.
To figure out what I did wrong, I went to my trusted resource of Sally’s Baking Addiction and realised the batter just needed a higher proportion of flour to fat. From there it was smooth sailing. I halved the recipe because December is not a month I want to be surrounded with big batches of dessert! I used honey though molasses is traditional in gingerbread, but either works here. Orange zest was a last minute stroke of inspiration and I’m so glad I added it! Then I skipped the egg so that more of us can eat these muffins, because the batter already contains milk and yoghurt, both of which take care of the moisture and tenderness and if needed, a bit more milk compensates for the absence of eggs.
The muffins rose beautifully in the oven, with crackly tops that had a bit of crunch to them and the most unbelievable flavour. The insides are soft and springy and super tender. The zippy zest shines through and complements the spices and while I think they taste best warm from the oven, they’d also be great reheated with a pat of butter and a drizzle of honey!
I hope you’ll make a batch of these muffins today!
Ginger Orange Muffins (Eggless)
Ingredients
- 55 gms unsalted butter at room temp
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey or molasses
- 1/4 cup whole milk at room temp
- 1/4 cup plain yoghurt at room temp
- Zest of 1 small orange
- 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 C. Line 6 muffin moulds with liners. Set aside.<br></br>
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the honey, milk and yoghurt and beat lightly to combine (this mixture may not fully combine, that's ok).<br></br>
- Stir in the orange zest, then sift in the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Fold gently to combine.<br></br>
- The batter is thick, but if it feels excessively thick, add a couple of extra tablespoons of milk. Do not over-mix the batter. <br></br>
- Divide equally among the muffin moulds, filling each 3/4th full. <br></br>
- Bake for 5 mins at 200 C, then reduce the temperature to 175 C and continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes until the muffins are domed, cracked on top and a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. For extra crispy and golden tops, I like to increase the temp to 190 C for an extra two mins towards the end.<br></br>
- Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes, then dig in while they're warm! Otherwise, cool completely to room temperature and store in an airtight tin for 3 to 4 days and longer in the fridge or freezer. The tops will go a little soft, but they will still taste great. Happy baking!
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