Those sound fantastic and they also look pretty good in their gold cases!

Thank you, thank you!!! I too so love gingerbread but have lost patience now that my kids are grown up. I love the smell and the taste of all the flavours and this is perfect.

I can sympathize with your Kitchen-Aid experience. Thanksgiving morning was spent boiling 8 pounds of turnips and then pureeing them in a circa 1970 ('71?) Moulinex La Machine food processor. One of the first food processors made for the general public. It chugged along...thought I smelled the motor burning for a moment...but it was up to the task.

It gets cleaned, has a prayer said over it, and gets put away until it's called on again to fight another day and another food prep battle like an aging soldier in the Juila Child Culinary Armed Forces.

I might be inclined to take these cupcakes over the top with the slightest sprinkling of finely chopped crystallized ginger. But that's just how I roll.

Gingerlicious job, Garrett.

When we were children, the only gingerbread my mother ever made was more like cake...more dense, but definitely cake-like, not flat, rigid and cookie-like. It was dark and exceedingly sweet, and she served it with unwhipped whipping cream. It's still my favorite, though I have eaten my share of gingerbread people. Your recipe sounds more like my mother's.

I love all things gingerbread. Would Lyle's Black Treacle be an appropriate substitution for the unsulphured molasses?

I honestly have no idea. I'm not familiar with the stuff. ~Garrett

Treacle is what they call molasses in some parts of the English speaking world, like the UK and Australia. No idea about that particular brand. ~Elise

When I smell gingerbread I think of Christmas. And I love the flavor combination of ginger and lemon. My mom used to make the best gingerbread. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

I too, lose my creative juices after a while of monotonous rolling and cutting and hand deocorating, although once a year I bust out for my kids. My Grandmother has a perfect Ginger Molasses cookie that has the taste of a good old fashioned Gingerbread, without all the painstaking effort. It is crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and absolutely delicious. She tops it off with a wonderful Browned Butter icing that has a touch of lemon and honey that hardens as it sits and just makes the whole expeirence heavenly. Best part? All you do is roll it into little balls, dip in sugar and bake. Easy as pie, and her pies were not all that easy...lol.

I'm with you - the easier the better! In fact, for Thanksgiving I was making two green bean dishes and one ended up taking so long (an hour and a half) that I just left it at home instead of finishing it!! So frustrating...

These look beautiful, btw.

Those poor green beans! ;) ~Garrett

I made Shuna's Famous Gingerbread for the last two Christmases. So good - and the house smelled fantastic for days. Might try these this year for fun. Two questions, first - how many cupcakes does this recipe yield, and why do you specifically nix blackstrap molasses?

The recipe should make about 12-14 cupcakes.

As for the molasses, the quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane it is taken from, the maturity of the sugar, and the method used to extract it. The method often used is roasting and boiling in order to extract the sugar.

There are three main types of Molasses:

Unsulphured: Is the highest quality and is made when the sugar and juice are taken from sun-ripened sugar cane which is then clarified and concentrated. Distinct molasses flavor without any processing additives like sulphur.

Sulphured: Made from green sugar that has not been matured enough, it is treated with sulphur fumes during the sugar extracting process in order to help preserve it and give it flavor. It goes through two boiling processes in order to give it flavor and color, however as the sugar cane is young and the sugar and juice is distilled twice, the flavor isn't as sweet.

Blackstrap: Like Sulphured but it's gone through a third boil. This is used on a commercial level for economic reasons and usually has a poor flavor. It's also often used in various mixes to feed livestock. My suggestion? Avoid using it.

Hope this helps! ~Garrett

I know this may seem silly...but what is the yield of this recipe/how many cupcakes?

I LOVE the idea of sprinkling them with a bit of minced crystalized ginger!

Oh, and I have my grandparents old Kitchen-Aid...with the manual (gotta love Grandma never throwing anything away!), which still says "Hobart"! It works great, but stiff doughs do create that "overheating" smell.

About 12-14 cupcakes, depending how much you fill the cupcake papers. I too am digging the crystalized ginger idea myself. ~Garrett

I think it's so delicious. Thanks.

Garrett, this recipe seems very easy and utterly delicious. Seeing as we are not big fans of cupcakes in our house (GASP), I was wondering if I could make a loaf with is recipe and how long would that need to bake? Thank you and Elise for the wonderful array of recipes. Happy holidays.

I haven't baked this in a loaf pan before, so I'm not sure. Look at the banana bread recipe on this site and maybe use that as a guide for the baking time. Drop another comment here and let us know how it works out! ~Garrett

Can you make this into a bread? Would it take additional cooking time? (As I think a thick slice with just a bit cream cheese sounds tasty.)

And how long will they store?

This is a recipe for gingerbread cupcakes, if by bread you mean pop the batter into a loaf pan, I don't know. Give it a try and tell us in the comments how it works out. I would suggest maybe trying these with cream cheese frosting. As for storing, they keep about three to five days depending if you store them in an air-tight space and in the fridge or not. ~Garrett

Ooooo thanks! I'm always looking for new cupcakes to add to my repertoire!

For Esmeralda, re: Lyle's black treacle. I've used it, and it's a perfectly acceptable substitute. I also use Lyle's golden syrup almost exclusively in my pecan pies (Google Rose Levy Berenbaum pecan pie/tart recipe). Doesn't have that cloyingly sweet taste and thickness of corn syrup. It's light, delicious, and I've even used it in place of maple syrup. I get it from a local grocer - check by the syrup, honey section. Great stuff. http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/lylesgoldensyrup/default.htm

Ha, someone else who knows the yummy of lemon with gingerbread. I grew up eating the cake version, it was just baked in a 9" square (or 9 X 13 depending on the size of your recipe) and we cut it into squares and drowned it in a tart lemon sauce... I know a lot of folks who think it's best with whipped cream but when I can get someone to try the lemon they're hooked.

I have such fond memories of my mother's gingerbread. It was always one of my favorite winter desserts. She would put it in the oven while we ate dinner and then serve it warm with butter on it. I can taste it now!

I absolutely adore gingerbread as my mom made it from scratch all the time. It has been years since I have had some, and I don't have her recipe so I am defineately going to try this. Thanks for the recipe.

I have 2 quetions please:
What is 1 stick of butter in grams?
Can I use honey instead of molasses?
Many thanks.

Nina, please use the conversion tool on the left. As for the honey, no. ~Garrett

These sound great - they're sure to be another family favorite. Darby, if you're listening, would you be willing to share your Browned Butter icing recipe? PleasePleasePlease ;-) It sounds perfect for both these cupcakes and for soft pumpkin cookies.

Elise and Garrett, these were so unbelievably fantastic! I love both of your blogs! Thank you for the recipe!

Would it work to make these mini-cupcakes? It seems like they would be fine, but I'm worried they would be too soft to hold up in a small bite.

They should be fine. Just grease and flour the mini cupcake pan, and bake about 8-10 minutes (may need a bit more or less time depending on your oven). ~Garrett

I've been reading about gingerbread cupcakes everywhere lately...now I'm really going to have to try them! And lemon icing is a fabulous idea.

Oooooo, Darby, your grandmother's Ginger Molasses Cookie sounds yummy!! Are you willing to share the recipe?

Thanks Elise and Garrett for another fabulous recipe. I'm another fan of gingerbread flavor but not the work. Can't wait to try these cupcakes.

Just got a micro-planer from my betrothed a few weeks ago and now I'm looking for things to grate. Before this gift, a 1/4 cup of ginger would have been daunting but now I can't wait to get started grating!!

I made these and they're very good! Tip: I used a pastry brush to brush on the lemon glaze. It was runny and ran right off when I used a spoon. A few applications with the brush, though, and I had a nice glazed top. Great recipe!

It was a cold and foggy morning here - need I say more? Made these cupcakes (the first cupcakes I have ever made) Delicious!! And now the whole house smells yummy! Thanks for this recipe - it's a keeper.

Thanks for the recipe! These were fantastic. I made them for dessert for a cold New England tailgate and they were a hit. I love the hint of lemon in the glaze. Next time I may try topping them with a light cream cheese frosting, just have to figure out how to incorporate the lemon flavor.

Speaking of gingerbread, have you seen this:
sprintsweets.com. You get to make a virtual gingerbread man. Not as good as the real thing of course, but fun nonetheless.

Absolutely adorable! ~Elise

Oh, dear Garrett, gingerbread cookies are NOT a pain to make - at least not when you try my recipe: http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2007/12/estonian-christmas-recipes-piparkoogid.html :D

But I agree that gingerbread cupcakes or muffins are a worthy alternative (I've just posted about gingerbread muffins myself). I love the idea of glazing them - never done it myself, but I can see it's a great idea.

Oooo, I may give that a try Pille! ~Garrett

I don't have any fresh ginger in the house at the moment - can I just leave it out and increase the amount of ground ginger? If so, how much would you suggest I use?

I would suggest doubling it and taste the batter, then add more if needed. ~Garrett

These are amazing! Made them last night for the first time for an ornament exchange party today; there were many requests for the recipe (I sent them the link). BTW, I didn't have allspice, so I just used a total 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, and used light brown sugar instead of dark. The icing is simple but adds a lot. Thanks, Garrett! These will get made again!

This recipe tastes SO good and is so easy! They smelled so good coming out of the oven, it was hard to wait for them to cool before I tried one. I made them as an end of year treat for my coworkers and everyone liked them. I used a little less then 1/4 cup of grated ginger from a jar instead of fresh and that worked fine. The lemon icing was the perfect finishing touch. I added a little bit of lemon zest to the tops for color.

This recipe looks delicious!

Do you think it would make a good bread? I am making mini-loaves to pass out as Christmas gifts and thought this would be a great seasonal improvement over my usual banana bread.

Oh I can't find molasses around here!! (I'm in Madrid, Spain) Maybe I'm not looking in the right places... Any substitute? or alternative? Please.

Some people say you can use honey or maple syrup. Maybe you can but it won't taste like gingerbread. You really do need molasses. ~Garrett

These looked so delicious, and I love gingerbread, so I gave them a try. A little help, w/in the same cupcake pan, some of my cupcakes acquired "belly buttons" (got a dimple of collapse in the center), others did not. Any insight? I never rotated the pan. Could it be the freshness of the baking soda? Also--made the icing--but it turned into a disapperaing glaze and never had the body of what you illustrate. Should I have given it time to set, rest before frosting? Many thanks!

The dimpling could be for any number of reasons from the oven being too hot to the altitude to bad baking soda. If it happens again I would warrant concern but it happens to even the best bakers. Sinking however usually does indicate that they didn't bake enough or that the batter was undermixed. As for the icing the longer it sits the thicker it will become. If you pop it on right away you will get a syrupy glaze, after a few minutes it will become much stiffer and more opaque. ~Garrett

I made the cupcakes yesterday and they were delicious. I used grated ginger in a tube and it worked out fine. Thanks for the recipe!

I just made these into mini-bread loaves last night and they came out perfect - I filled the loaf tins half-full and baked them at 350 for 25 minutes. Perfectly moist and rich!

My Christmas guests will love them!

I finally made the cupcakes (see my comment from December 1st) and they quite simply have the WOW! factor.
Thanks again for an amazing recipe.