Sweet Potato Gingerbread Muffins

Hey, y’all! It’s that time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas when the holiday season is completely popping. You’re probably visiting friends and family and/or having them over to your home. And what better way to show up on someone’s doorstep or welcome them to yours than with homemade baked goods? And making them doesn’t have to be hard. The sweet potato gingerbread muffins recipe we’re talking about today is easy to pull off and the result is SO delicious! I’ve recently shared them with a few holiday guests and they were described as “comforting” and “pure fire”, among other good things. 🙂 If you have any leftover sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving, use them here. Even if you don’t, this recipe is worth grabbing one for on your next grocery run.

Like many good recipes here on Dash of Jazz, this one starts with a roasted sweet potato (see bourbon sweet potato pie and sweet potato pecan pie for evidence). The goal is to make the sweet potato tender and pliable so that it blends into the muffin batter smoothly. Roasting the sweet potato also deepens the flavor and creates a great texture that I just don’t think you get when you boil or steam it. The resultant sweet potato gingerbread muffins are dense and moist with flavorful little bits of sweet potato throughout.

Tools to Make Sweet Potato Gingerbread Muffins

I recently upgraded my kitchen situation with a KitchenAid stand mixer, y’all. And these yummy sweet potato gingerbread muffins were the first recipe I tested in it. They turned out wonderfully but you can make these without a mixer, too. You’ll get a little arm workout in, girl! For hand mixing, I love a good glass or ceramic bowl. No matter which method you use, just be sure not to overwork the batter. I mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated then finish by hand with a rubber spatula to make sure there are no dry pockets hiding. These jumbo sweet potato gingerbread muffins are made in a six-count muffin tin like this one but you can also make 12 smaller ones in a standard cupcake pan if that’s what you have on hand and be just fine. 🙂 You’ll be set to welcome even more guests over.

What Goes Into Sweet Potato Gingerbread Muffins?

Now, you might look at the recipe and think That’s a lot of sugar! Between the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and molasses, there’s a total of one cup of sweetener in these sweet potato gingerbread muffins but I don’t recommend cutting it down at all because the end result is just lightly sweet (great with a mug of tea). They’re perfectly balanced and the molasses actually provides more in the way of flavor than sweetness. Speaking of flavor, let’s get into that. I’ve shared a bourbon gingerbread recipe before but didn’t really explain the makings of that classic gingerbread taste so here’s a bit on that. The gingerbread flavor we all know and love is comprised of a few staples:

• Allspice
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Ginger (duh!)
• Molasses
• Nutmeg

My sweet potato gingerbread muffins include everything above except for the allspice only because I don’t typically keep that on hand and didn’t find it necessary but feel free to add a half teaspoon of it, if you like. Just like these salted caramel blondies, this is an egg-free recipe thanks to the roasted sweet potato. What does that mean? Well, you can lick the bowl!

I hope you’ll welcome holiday guests into your home this season with a warm batch of these sweet potato gingerbread muffins. Baking them ahead of time and reheating is totally ok–they just get better with time! What do you plan on making or baking this time of year? As always, thanks for reading.

P.S. I think you’ll like these, too:

• sweet potato pancakes
• gingerbread donuts
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5 from 7 votes

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Sweet Potato Gingerbread Muffins

Prep Time

1 hr

Cook Time

35 mins

Total Time

1 hr 35 mins

 

Classic jumbo muffins with nostalgic gingerbread flavors and roasted sweet potato, studded with pecan bits

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gingerbread recipe, how to make gingerbread, how to make muffins, jumbo muffins, roasted sweet potato

Servings: 6 muffins

Author: Jazzmine from Dash of Jazz

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
• 1/3 cup milk I used unsweetened almond
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped pecans also known as "cookie pieces"

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce sweet potato a few times with a fork and place on oven rack. Roast for about 40 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool to the touch then peel.

2. Mix together sweet potato, sugar, molasses, melted butter, vanilla extract, and milk. Small chunks of sweet potato will remain and that's ok.

3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, and sea salt. Add to wet mixture and mix until just incorporated and no dry pockets remain.

4. Add batter to a 6-count lined or greased muffin tin. Divide batter evenly between each cavity. Sprinkle chopped pecans over top of each muffin then lightly press them into the batter.

5. Bake for 10 minutes then lower oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake an additional 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Recipe Notes

• If using a stand mixer or food processor, be sure not to over-mix batter. Mix or process dry mixture into wet until just incorporated then stir by hand to check for dry pockets.
• 1/2 tablespoon of Allspice can be added to this recipe for more authentic gingerbread flavor.