October 16, 2008
Tags: baking, bread, easy, fall, holiday, Jason's Deli, muffins, spices | Print this recipe
Jason’s Deli is one of my favorite places to eat. Brandon and I go there at least once a week just to eat their salad bar. But the real draw of this place are their mini-muffins. They are complimentary and they are DELICIOUS. In fact, they might possibly have crack in them because they are so addictive. I decided a few weeks ago that I just had to figure out how to make them at home. Four batches later, I think I’ve gotten as close as I can. It’s hard to tell since I can’t do a side-by-side taste test, but these are pretty darn close. Brandon said he thought they tasted exactly the same. I think the original muffins are a bit sweeter, but that’s probably because they have high fructose corn syrup or 8 pounds of sugar or something like that, so I’m willing to sacrifice some sweetness if it will reduce the calorie count (according to my google research the original muffins are 220 calories, which is a lot for something you can eat in one bite).
Of course, the real test was yesterday when Brandon brought a whole batch to his coworkers. They turned out to be a giant hit and were just as addictive as the original muffins are because everyone kept coming back for more. In my book, that’s a success.
The best thing about this recipe is how simple it is, you can whip it up in about 10 minutes. However, in my opinion these muffins taste MUCH better if you let them sit for a while. They just aren’t as sweet or ginger-y when they are warm. I usually let mine cool and then put them in a covered container or plastic bag and let them sit overnight. I find that the flavor has intensified by the next day, but I’ve noticed a difference in flavor even after 4 to 6 hours if you don’t want to wait that long.
Gingerbread Mini-muffins
Adapted from the Bed and Breakfast Cookbook by Pamela Lanier
Of course you could make these as normal sized muffins or even a whole loaf, but that’s just not as fun!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of dark brown sugar
- 2 1/2 cups of flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of molasses
- 1 cup buttermilk*
- 1/2 cup of melted butter
* If you don’t have buttermilk (I almost never do), just add 1 tbsp. of white vinegar to a cup of regular milk and let sit out for about 10 minutes.
The Process:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Spray/butter muffin tins.
2. Combine sugar, flour, soda, salt and spices in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl mix the egg, molasses, milk, and butter.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just blended.
5. Add to muffin tins (about 3/4 full, these muffins don’t rise too much, so you don’t have to worry about them overflowing) and bake for 15 minutes. If making normal sized muffins, it’ll be more like 20 minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick comes out clean.
Note: I didn’t want to overfill the mini-muffin tins, but spooning the batter in seemed like it would take forever and be messy, so I made up a make-shift pastry bag by pouring the batter into a gallon sized plastic bag, cutting off a very small corner and squeezing the batter into the tins. It worked perfectly and made it very simple to control how much batter went into each one.
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Emiline
Mmmm, I love ginga’bread.
I don’t know why I just wrote it like that.
My dad LOVES Jason’s Deli! He goes there just for the salad bar! We don’t have them here, but he travels.
October 16, 2008 at 2:50 pm |
pea and pear
After eating almost an entire chocolte cake this week I was amazed that I could still drool at that photo… looks absolutely delicious
October 17, 2008 at 11:12 pm |
Leonor Sousa Bastos
This mini-muffins basket is really tempting!!
I love “mini” versions…
Lovely!
October 18, 2008 at 6:03 pm |
sara angel
i love gingerbread but i’ve never made it before. it must be amazing homemade. i love the idea of making them into mini muffins, perfect for serving to a crowd. by the way, your site is so cute!
October 18, 2008 at 6:18 pm |
Sandy Atchison
I made your Muffins for Christmas and they were delicious! I later tried the muffins at Jason’s Deli and really thought yours were better. Thanks so much for sharing such a wonderful and easy recipe!
December 27, 2008 at 10:47 am |
Emily
Thanks! My boyfriend says he likes mine better, too. I think the main thing is that they taste better fresh, whereas I can tell the Jason’s muffins get set out for a long time and can start getting stale sometimes.
December 29, 2008 at 3:13 am |
Shannon
I just made this recipe and it was delicious! Thanks!!
I think that next time I make it, I will add 1/2 tsp-1 tsp of ground cloves. I had some muffins from Jason’s Deli left over from a visit yesterday and comparing the two, I think that is the ingredient that differs the two.
May 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm |
Emily
I’m really bad at guessing spices, so I will definitely add cloves next time I make these. Thanks for the input!
May 3, 2009 at 9:35 pm |
Courtney
This is perfect but I was wondering if you might know or have the recipe to their mini cornbread muffins : )
February 23, 2010 at 10:33 am |
Emily
Hi Courtney, no I haven’t tried looking for their corn muffin recipe, but if I remember correctly, those muffins are kind of sweet? I do have a really good recipe for sweet cornbread here. It’s a bit crumbly so I’m not sure how well it would work for mini-muffins, but I’ve made it into regular sized muffins and they were fine. I don’t think that recipe is exactly like Jason’s, but it’s my favorite cornbread recipe.
February 23, 2010 at 1:20 pm |
Tanya Santos
Do you use ground ginger or fresh ginger? Not sure which I should use when I try to make this recipe. Thanks!
May 13, 2010 at 11:00 am |
Emily
Definitely ground ginger. It might be interesting to experiment with using fresh, though. I’ve been using fresh ginger in a lot of my cooking lately, but haven’t thought about using it for baking. Anyway, sorry for the confusion. I’ve updated it to say ground ginger.
May 13, 2010 at 12:19 pm |