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Monday, December 9, 2013

Spicy, Moist Gingerbread for Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day!


Gingerbread is a standard for the holidays in my mind. It comes in all different forms, cookies, houses, cupcakes, squares...and the "gingerbread" flavor is in lots of different foods, biscotti, coffee, fudge...Sometimes there's nothing better than a warm fire and a big piece of spicy, moist gingerbread.
Cupcakes make that goal easier. There are less pans to scrub, and they're portioned controlled (my favorite part).


I made these in standard sized cupcakes and mini cupcakes. Truth be told I made two pans of mini cupcakes (24) and they stuck to the pan, sad yes? So, I made 6 standard sized cupcakes. The recipe should give you about 14 standard sized cupcakes or 40-44 minis. Now that I've told the whole truth on why I actually have two sizes of cupcakes we should talk about the recipe. The original recipe made 1 bundt cake. Feel free to follow the link below and make the bundt cake. I bet it would be delicious that way too! I also changed a few of the ingredients, not to many, just a few.


So by now you know all about the Secret Recipe Club right? Because you've seen it on my blog every month :). If you would like to find out more, then click here. The idea is that all of the members are assigned a blog (secretly of course!) and each member can peruse their assigned blog to find something that they would like to make, or several things to make in the future. The assigned blogs are kept completely secret until the reveal day and time, then you get to see who had your blog, and you get to post about what you made from your assigned blog. It's a lot of fun, and a great way to discover new blogs and recipes. 



This month I was assigned to The Heritage Cook. Jane is the author and she is involved in a lot of different activities. To learn more about her click here. Jane is also the hostess of Group A, which is the group I am in for the Secret Recipe Club. Her website is filled with delicious sounding recipes and beautiful pictures. I bookmarked several recipes to make (hopefully soon).

I've already made two of them. Of course I made the Spicy, Moist Gingerbread, but I also made the Mexican Cheese Dip. I really liked the way that the dip turned out but it is definitely best when right off the heat (or in a small crockpot) because it's a thicker dip. I loved the fresh cilantro in it (I stirred it in) and all of the cheese!


I also bookmarked the Baked Mushroom Stuffed Brie en Croute and the Sweet Potato Dessert Empanadas. The original recipe for the Spicy, Moist Gingerbread uses fresh grated ginger. I'm sure that would have made the gingerbread even better, I just forgot to buy it at the store. It also uses allspice (which I just don't keep in my pantry for no good reason). I added a lemon glaze to the gingerbread cupcakes because I believe it adds to the flavor. I think an orange glaze would be delicious too! Just be sure not to put to much of the glaze on the cupcakes because the sweetness could overpower the spicy gingerbread.


Spicy, Moist Gingerbread

Yield: 14 cupcakes

Ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup water
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons mild unsulphured molasses (not Blackstrap)
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cup flavorful honey
½ cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup low fat milk (2%)
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin pans with 14 paper liners, set aside.
2. In  medium sauce pan, combine the butter, water, molasses, honey and brown sugar. Stir frequently over low heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat, pour into a medium bowl and set aside to cool to lukewarm.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.
4. When the molasses mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the milk and stir the batter to combine until smooth. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter in four additions.
5. Evenly divide the batter between the 14 paper liners, bake 16-18 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan set on a wire rack, then remove from the pan and place on the wire rack to cool completely.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over the cupcakes.
Note: The cupcakes will hold about one week wrapped tightly in plastic (with no icing) in the refrigerator. Return to room temperature before serving.


Recipe from The Heritage Cook

Click here for the parties I may link up to each week.


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Scroll to the bottom to see the other Secret Recipe Club Link-ups!


Some other recipes I've made from other blogs for my Secret Recipe Club assignments:


 



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