Cinnamon Gingernut Muffins with Cinnamon Glaze #MuffinMonday

These cinnamon gingernut muffins are baked with gingernut biscuits inside and as topping for the tender sweet and spicy muffin below. Add cinnamon glaze for an extra kick!

We are settling in nicely to life in our new house here in Dubai and I am delighted to tell you that I have met some of my neighbors. Lovely couple with two adorable children and, even as I type, a day-old newborn boy! I brought them over some of these a couple of days back because they love cinnamon and pregnant ladies can’t eat enough. Am I right?

It’s great to live in an actual neighborhood where you can get to know your neighbors and I look forward to meeting more of them.  Especially the guy with two Corvettes and my dream car, a Mercedes 450SL convertible out front.  I want to be friends with his cars. :) (Update: Got a closer look and its a 350SL.  Close enough for me!)

But let’s get to the topic at hand today, which is muffins!  Originally, I wanted to add gingernut biscuits to last week’s muffin because, as you might recall, the recipe was banana bread and I thought the ginger biscuits would go so nicely with the banana.  And then the little grocery store next to the hotel apartment didn’t have gingernuts.  Sure, it had every OTHER McVitie’s variety but not the one I wanted. And that’s when the Bananas Foster muffin brainwave struck. I had rum from Duty Free. And I had the bananas! I bought some brown sugar and was on my way. Which left the gingernut idea still kicking around, waiting for a chance to be made.

And when this week’s muffin recipe hit my inbox and it was a cinnamon centric muffin, I knew its time had come. Because what goes better than cinnamon and ginger? Exactly nothing, that’s what!   And to add to my excitement, I had traveled from Cairo with a bag of cinnamon chips in my suitcase because I had found it at the store right before I left and I couldn’t leave it behind. I just couldn’t. So I added on a crumble topping made with more crushed gingernut and extra cinnamon chips. And then, since we are in the Holiday Series, TOPPED the topping with a cinnamon glaze. I tell you truly, folks, these were good!  If you like cinnamon and ginger.

Ingredients
For the muffin:
6-7 Gingernut biscuits or 2 1/4 oz or 65g other very gingery gingersnap cookie
1 3/4 cups or 220g flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup or 115g melted butter
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
2 large eggs
2 oz or 50g cinnamon chips

For the topping:
6-7 Gingernut biscuits or 2 1/4 oz or 65g other very gingery gingersnap cookie
2 oz or 50g cinnamon chips
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup or 60g cold butter, cut in chunks

For the glaze:
1/2 cup or 65g icing sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon full fat yogurt

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or grease it lightly.

Pop your gingernut biscuits into a baggie and crush them with a rolling pin or the handy dowel you used to make pecan pie baklava last week.  Not too small!  You want some chunks.

Put half the crushed biscuits in a bowl with the other topping ingredients.  Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter into the dry ingredients to make a crumble.  Set aside.

Put the remaining crushed biscuits in a large bowl with the rest of the dry muffin ingredients:  the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Stir to combine.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined.  Fold in the cinnamon chips.

Divide the batter into your prepared muffin tins.

Sprinkle each with topping, break it apart with your fingers if need be.  Press in lightly.

Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool for five minutes before transferring them from the pan to a rack to cool.

These smelled so good baking that I ate one hot, before the glaze.  So sue me.

Meanwhile, mix your one tablespoon of yogurt with the teaspoon of cinnamon and icing sugar to make the glaze.  It looks too dry at first but just keep stirring!  Icing sugar is a magical substance that turns runny with very little liquid.

Once your muffins have cooled completely, drizzle them with the glaze.  You can do this with a spoon but the glaze goes farther if you use a piping bag with a small tip.

Enjoy! And bring some of these to your neighbors today!  Pregnant or not, they'll be grateful.

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