Gingerbread Muffin Tops With Mascarpone Frosting

Gingerbread Muffin Tops With Mascarpone Frosting

My daughter Amanda and I have had a craving for a Gingerbread Muffin from the Gingerbread Confection Bakery chain out of town for over a week…every once in while my husband (AKA “St Barry”) will surprises us with a box  of muffins from this yummy bakery located near his work. Yesterday, while doing some after Christmas shopping with my kids, I spotted a muffin top pan on clearance for $9.99 at Marshalls…there was no way I was leaving the store without it. For the reminder of the day my mission was to get home and whip up a batch of our favorite muffins and cure our carving!

Muffin Ingredients

1 stick salted butter

½ cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1/2  cup buttermilk

1/2  cup molasses

1 1/3 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2  teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground mace

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 six section muffin top pan

Mascarpone Frosting  Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces mascarpone cheese

4  tablespoons salted butter softened

3 cups confectioners’ sugar; (plus 1/4 cup for final dusting)

2 tablespoons buttermilk

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 large pastry bag  & decorative frosting tip

Muffin Step-by-Step

1 combine butter and brown sugar in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment; on medium speed, cream butter and sugar two minutes or until fluffy

2 add egg, buttermilk , vanilla bean paste, and molasses; mix on low speed until all ingredients come together (mixture will be wet & lumpy)

3 in separate mixing bowl, sift all dry ingredients together

4   add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in bowl of stand mixer; mix on low speed until thick batter is formed

4 lightly spray muffin top pan with cooking spray

5  fill each muffin section with 2/3 cup batter

6 in preheated 350° oven bake 15 minutes or until cake tester is  inserted and removed cleanly

7 cool 10 minutes on wire rack before frosting

Frosting Step-by-Step

1 place all frosting ingredients in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment

2 mix on low speed until frosting begins to form and confectioners sugar is incorporated; increase mixer speed to medium; beat mixture until smooth and creamy

3 transfer creamy frosting to large pastry bag fitted with a decorative frosting tip (I like to use my Wilton 6B tip); pipe frosting in center of each muffin top

4  finish with light dusting of confectioners’ sugar

Mission Complete!

Yields 6 Muffin Tops