Gingerbread Doughnut Muffins with Lemon Glaze

I grew up on gingerbread topped with lemon sauce. It wasn't just a Christmas dessert either. It was an anytime of year dessert. I think its probably in one of my dad's top 5 favorites. I had planned to share my mom's recipe with you this Christmas season but….the simple answer is it will be waiting. Ha! But I recently got in the kitchen and tried mixing up my Spiced Doughnut Muffins to be a little more like gingerbread flavors and topping them with lemon glaze. It was a total winner. I'm wondering when changing up the spiced doughnut recipe will run its course, but so far so good! The only thing with gingerbread in China is the molasses thing. I'm not into paying big amounts for imported molasses. And while I've found a few local options on Taobao, they actually aren't any cheaper. So….I just don't use it. I know…gasp! But I've found if I just use honey in place of molasses and use a darker brown sugar (which we all know there is plenty of that around) that I can accomplish a passable flavor substitution. And that's what Market to Meal is about right--good food with what you have available around you. So hope you enjoy like my family did!

Gingerbread Doughnut Muffins with Lemon Glaze
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup honey (or molasses)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk, buttermilk, or a mix of sour cream and milk

Line muffin tins with 12-15 paper liners or lightly grease. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, oil, honey and brown sugar until creamed. Add in eggs and beat well. Mix in baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices and vanilla. Alternate adding flour and milk and mixing well after each addition. Its important to start with flour and end with flour--when you add the milk the batter tends to break up a bit and the flour then helps smooth it out again. When I do it, I add flour-milk-flour-milk-flour. Your batter will be thick and fluffy. Fill your muffin cups to the top. Bake in a preheated oven at 400F (200C) for 15-20 minutes. Muffins will have a great domed top and be nicely browned on top. Test for doneness with a toothpick or by lightly tapping the top to see if it springs back.

Lemon Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon extract (opt)

While muffins are baking, mix together the glaze. If its too runny, add just a little powdered sugar. If its to thick, add a little more lemon juice--a little thick is okay. Drop a dollop of the icing on the top of each warm muffin once they are removed from the oven. They icing will melt down the top of the muffin. Serve warm and enjoy!

Notes: I like to use a darker brown sugar in anything I'm not using molasses that should be there. But the China brown sugars are still pretty blah. I have found a Beksul dark brown sugar at a Korean store near my house that works quite well. You could also use like half China brown sugar and half white--or all China brown sugar, just make sure to get all your lumps out. One time years ago I melted all the big lumps down and used it as molasses in a recipe!