Pumpkin Gingerbread Mini Muffins

With the holidays coming up, I am always thinking about different desserts to make. I love to cook but when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I am all about baking something sweet and delicious. For the past 10 years my family has put me in charge of being the one making all the pies and desserts for the holidays.

Now that I am a mom I love the idea of having something that is quick and easy to eat. As any mom of a toddler will tell you, actually getting to eat your food while it is hot pretty much never happens.

There are so many bite-sized desserts that are popular: cake pops, mini pies, whoopie pies, and the list goes on and on. So I automatically started thinking about something small, and then it dawned on me! Pumpkin mini muffins. They are bite-sized, you don't need a fork, and you don't need a plate (unless you want one of-course). But pumpkin is too predictable, so I decided why not do a combo of pumpkin and gingerbread. Delicious!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Mini Muffins
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 milk 
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 
1/2 salt 
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Makes about 36 mini-muffins

1) Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray. I prefer one specifically meant for baking.

2) Cream the softened butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Once combined, stir in the pumpkin puree until mixed.

 3) Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 

4) Add the molasses and milk to the pumpkin butter mixture. Beat until mixed. I know what you're thinking "that looks gross" well yes it does, but trust me they are going to taste delicious!

5) Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. 

6) Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until moistened. I like to take the bowl off of my mixer after I have mixed some of the dry ingredients in, so that I can make sure that it doesn't get over-mixed.

7) Fill greased muffin cups with about 1 Tbsp of the batter. 

I love my little 1Tbsp scooper. It makes portioning cookies and mini-muffins so easy!

8) Now this seems kinda strange, but place the muffin tin on a cookie sheet roughly the same size and then bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes remove the muffin tin and cookie sheet from the oven, then replace the muffin tin without the cookie sheet and cook for an additional 4 minutes. I know it sounds odd, but adding the cookie sheet at the beginning of the baking makes it to where the bottoms of the muffins do not cook too quickly. 

9) Remove from oven and allow to cool about 2 minutes in the pan before removing and cooling on a wire rack. 

10) Enjoy the delicious merging of two amazing flavors!

These are a delicious treat that will be perfect for Christmas, or even just a delicious treat for breakfast! I hope you enjoy making these for your loved ones during the holiday season.

William decided that I had taken enough pictures and he wanted to have a muffin :) My little man is such a good helper!