Dried Apricot & Gingerbread Muffins

Happy Halloween! Jagger is feeling festive in his jailbird costume.

Dudes... it fucking snowed. Actually it didn't snow where I live (Illadelphia), but it snowed everywhere else that I was (which was Brooklyn and Newtown, PA and all in between). A tree almost fell on my car (Good news: it didn't. Bad news: it totally fell on someone else's car, which sucks, so much). That totally would have one upped my flat tired from last week, in terms of annoying things that can happen to your automobile (by a lot). So, thank you automobile karma gods.

But like, seriously. It snowed. Before Halloween. I love snow, but not when it takes over my Fall. We haven't even set the clocks back yet and I haven't even slept an extra hour. I wasn't ready for my winter coat. I was wearing loafers, for god's sake. And people deny Global Warming. Reality check people. Hi, hello, it's snowing. IN OCTOBER!

Look how festive!

So anyway, I got home from my quick stint to Brooklyn, slept for like 12 hours, and then made some gingerbread muffins. Because the way in which I decided to deal with this ridiculous turn in the weather was to buy some new teas and make gingerbread muffins. And I was avoiding laundry. And the oven being on helps me to not shiver.


But these muffins really hit the spot. They're fluffy, REALLY ginger-y (in a good way), and not too sweet. The apricot adds a great contrast to the spice of the muffin. I've been really into mini-muffins as of late; perfect portion control. I like to grab a mini muffin or two with a piece of fruit for breakfast. Just sayin'!

Many mini-muffins <3 Alliteration

Soundtrack:


SBTRKT ESSENTIAL MIX by sbtrkt   


Dried Apricot & Gingerbread Muffins
Adapted from Bon Appetit, Dec 2000

• 2 3/4 c ap flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp plus 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 c molasses
• 1 1/3 c cold water

1/3 c dried apricots, chopped finely

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until blended and mixture begins to look fluffy. Add molasses and beat on low until combined. Continue beating to mix in 1/2 of the dry ingredients, then beat in the rest. Mixture will be thick.

Add water slowly, continuing to beat the mixture on low, just until all water is incorporated into the batter, scraping down the sides with a spatula when necessary. Try not to over-beat. Add apricots and mix in using a spatula, in as few strokes as possible.

Pour batter into greased muffin cups.

For mini-muffins, bake for 12-13 minutes. For full sized muffins, bake about 25 minutes. For larger muffins, cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.