With just a little under a week until Thanksgiving, I am sure your minds are focused on things like turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Today I’m sharing a recipe that looks ahead to Christmas with the flavor of gingerbread.
This delicious Gingerbread Cream Cheese Frosting is perfect for those holiday cupcakes! I’ve added a thin, crisp ginger cookie to the top of each for a simple but elegant decoration.
Gingerbread Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
- 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 stick butter softened
- 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the softened cream cheese, the butter, vanilla, molasses, and brown sugar.
Sift together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Gradually add the sugar and spices to the cream cheese mixture and mix on high until smooth.
If the mixture is too stiff you can add a tsp to a time of water or milk until the frosting is the right consistency for piping.
Pipe onto your favorite cupcake and enjoy!
To decorate these simple cupcakes, fill a large piping bag with the Gingerbread Cream Cheese Frosting and fit it with a large tip. Pipe a generous amount of frosting on each cupcake.
I found some very thin, crisp ginger cookies at the local market and thought they would be a really fun addition to my holiday cupcakes. I used white icing to pipe words like “peace”, “joy”, “merry”, and other holiday phrases onto the ginger cookies. When the icing was dry I placed one into the cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake.
What is your favorite holiday flavor to incorporate into baking recipes?