Delicious Healthy Gingerbread Muffins, perfect for adding a little holiday cheer to your breakfast. We love these gingerbread muffins drizzled with a cream cheese glaze, but they are moist and delicious without it thanks to pumpkin and kefir!
*This post is sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Washington.
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The Perfect Gluten Free Muffins for the Holiday Season
If you find yourself straddling pumpkin season and the Christmas season, these muffins tie them together perfectly.
Pumpkin is a great nutrient-dense addition to baked goods, and to make these even better, I used thick and creamy kefir.
Paired with lots of cinnamon, ginger, and blackstrap molasses, a fun-filled, nutritious muffin, perfect for holiday breakfasts, afternoon snacks, or even dessert, was formed.
You’ll adore these Gluten Free Gingerbread Muffins because:
- Kefir and almond flour keep these high in protein.
- They are lightly sweetened with coconut sugar and blackstrap molasses.
- The high fiber content from the oat and almond flours slow down sugar absorbtion.
- The moist and flavorful muffins are drizzled with a tangy cream cheese glaze! This is optional, but highly recommended!
I adore gingerbread! If you do too, you’ll want to try this Gluten Free Gingerbread Loaf, or Gluten Free Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies.
I made these using Grace Harbor Farm‘s grass-fed kefir. Grace Harbor is a company that believes you should know what’s going in your body – which is why their products don’t have any artificial flavors, strange gums, or thickeners.
Kefir is a fermented product, making it low in lactose and good for people who are lactose intolerant.
Fermented dairy products support a healthy gut microbiome, which can lead weight management, reduce inflammation, and prevent disease like cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.
A healthy digestive system is important for our immune systems, so stock up on Grace Harbor Farms Kefir and find ways to incorporate it into your diet!
How to Make Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients, including pumpkin puree, Grace Harbor Farm’s Kefir, egg, blackstrap molasses, coconut sugar, and vanilla.
Step 2: In a smaller mixing bowl, add the almond flour, oat flour, baking powder, soda, sea salt, cinnamon and ginger, and mix to combine them.
Step 3: Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and stir until just combined without over stirring.
Step 4: Fill a muffin tin lined with parchment paper liners. This recipe will fill 6 muffins heaping – the batter is thick so don’t worry about overfilling it! They don’t rise a lot, and I like the muffins to have a bakery-style look.
Step 5: Bake the muffins for 24 minutes, or until set in the centers.
Step 6: Make a glaze from cream cheese, maple syrup, and coconut butter, and then drizzle the tops of each muffin. This step is optional, but it adds a lot to the presentation, and it’s just delicious! I also sprinkled them with some coarse grain sugar for the photos, but I wouldn’t do that for day-to-day snacking.
Almond Flour Gingerbread Muffins
These muffins will definitely be a staple to my holiday baking routine going forward.
I have two batches frozen for when we have guests in town next week. Slightly warmed, and served with eggs and fruit, a complete healthy breakfast can be put together quickly!
Options for making these your perfect muffin:
- Add nuts — chopped walnuts or pecans would be incredible in these.
- Make these grain free by using all almond flour and omitting the oat flour.
- Make these nut free by using all oat flour and omitting the almond flour.
- Add chewy bursts of sweetness with some dried cranberries or dried cherries.
Other Healthy Gluten-Free Muffin Recipes:
- Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins
- Buckwheat Muffins with a Nut Butter and Jam Filling
- Healthy Banana Nut Muffins
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Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pumpkin
- 1/2 cup Grace Harbor Farms Kefir
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- 1 pastured egg
- 1 cup oat flour gluten free, if necessary
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Glaze
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons coconut butter (not coconut oil)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Line a muffin tin with 6 parchment paper liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the pumpkin puree, kefir, coconut sugar, molasses, egg, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
- In a smaller bowl, add the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and stir until just combined.
- Divide the thick batter between 6 muffin papers. The batter is enough to overfill each cavity, giving these muffins a risen top.
- Bake the muffins for 22-26 minutes, until the centers are fully cooked. These muffins are moist so the baking time is forgiving.
- While the muffins are baking, add the glaze ingredients to a mixing bowl and beat with a mixer. Add the glaze to a piping bag or use a plastic sealable bag with a corner cut off.
- Once the muffins have fully cooled, drizzle them with the glaze.
- Store leftover muffins in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
- Add nuts — chopped walnuts or pecans would be incredible in these.
- Make these grain free by using all almond flour and omitting the oat flour.
- Make these nut free by using all oat flour and omitting the almond flour.
- Add chewy bursts of sweetness with some dried cranberries or dried cherries.
Says to add vanilla in with the wet ingredients….but no measurement for how much in the Ingredients list.