Honey, lemon, and ginger muffins
Using spelt flour increases the nutrition in these muffins without sacrificing taste! But they're great with AP or whole wheat too and come together in a snap.
My husband makes his mom’s lemon and ginger elixir any time we get sick. It’s just a few whole lemons and pieces of raw ginger chopped and boiled with lots of water until it makes a sort of herbal stew. Mixed with honey, it really soothes whatever is ailing me. These muffins are the food form of this cozy combo.
Honey, lemon, and ginger spelt muffins
Time: About 30 minutes, mostly active
Yield: 12 muffins
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
1 scant cup of full fat Greek yogurt
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup honey
zest of 1 large lemon (or 1.5 small lemons)
¼ cup lemon juice
2 eggs
1½ tsp baking powder
½ baking soda
2 cups spelt flour (or AP, whole wheat, or 1-to-1 gluten free flour)
1-1.5 tsp fresh ginger, grated or minced
¼ tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 400.
In a large bowl, whisk to combine the yogurt, olive oil, honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, and ginger.
Whisk each egg individually into the batter.
To the same bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir until just combined.
Prep your muffin tins. Do this after mixing the batter in order to let your leaveners (baking soda and baking powder) start to work. Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Notes:
Spelt flour is a great replacement for white flour in breads and baked goods because it has a very similar taste and textured and a lot more protein and fiber. You can really replace white flour with spelt flour in most baking recipes with little or no modification. (Disclaimer: I haven't tried EVERY recipe with spelt flour, but everything I've tried has worked well. I would not replace cake flour with spelt flour as I think it would change the texture of the finished product.)
These muffins really benefit from fresh ginger. I have this ginger grater and it's a really handy tool. I made my last batch with powdered ginger and they weren't the same. They're fine though, so if powdered is your only option, use 1.5-2 tsp depending on how strong a ginger flavor you want.