Gingerbread cupcakes with double lemon soaking

Baking for ginger lovers. This is an economical version when ground ginger is used instead of fresh. Very tender and fragrant ginger muffins are obtained, which are soaked twice with lemon syrup.

Ingredients

• Premium wheat flour (sifted) - 255 g
• Butter unsalted (room temperature) - 223 g
• Chicken eggs - 3 pcs.
• Milk 3.2% fat - 85 g (!)
• Baking powder - 1.5 tsp
• Fine salt (sea) - 0.5 tsp
• Ground ginger (freshly opened pack!) - 1 tbsp. spoon without top
• Ground cinnamon - 1 teaspoon with a small top
• Ground nutmeg - 0.5 tsp
• White sugar - 230 g
• Lemon zest, freshly grated - from 1 medium lemon 4x6 cm in diameter
• Lemon juice, freshly squeezed - 2 teaspoons
• For syrup:
• White sugar - 110 g
• Lemon juice, freshly squeezed - from 1 medium lemon 4x6 cm in diameter
• Water - 60 ml

Directions

1. Turn on the oven to warm up to 160 degrees Celsius. Set the rack in the oven in the middle (pastries will bake better).
2. Prepare a silicone or metal mold (any), namely: apply oil spray on the mold, dust the mold lightly with flour using a fine sieve, shake off the remaining flour into the sink (or use a special flour spray for baking). Place the form on a baking sheet.
3. Sift flour into a medium bowl, add baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. Mix with a hand whisk, 30 seconds. This will enrich the dry mixture with oxygen and make it homogeneous.
4. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and soft butter. Beat with a mixer for 5 minutes, stopping 2 times to scrape the butter down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Beat at maximum speed if you have a hand mixer, or on medium ("6") if you have a stationary one. The oil should turn white and sort of "puff up".
5. Add an egg, each time beating the dough with a mixer for 1 minute 30 seconds at low speed. And so three times. Each time you add an egg, scrape the batter down with a spatula.
6. Now remove the zest from 1 medium lemon with a special grater - only the yellow layer (white will give bitterness, we do not need it), set the zest aside. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and measure out 2 teaspoons.
7. Add the zest, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and milk over the dough and beat with a mixer on low speed for 30 seconds.
8. Enter the flour mixture in three passes, each time kneading with a mixer at the lowest speed for no more than 20 seconds per entry. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
9. For a more even filling of the recesses of the cupcake form, I recommend transferring the dough into a plastic disposable bag with a clip or zipper at the top, squeeze out excess air, and close. Now cut off one corner of the bag at the bottom and squeeze the dough through this hole. In this recipe, the dough does not rise much, so fill the recesses of the form by 80%.
10. Bake gingerbread muffins for 25 minutes (if you have convection - everything is individual). Important! If the cupcake pan has noticeably deep indentations, the cupcakes will need to bake for 25-35 minutes.
11. When the cupcakes are done baking, pierce a couple of cupcakes of your choice with a toothpick, it should be dry. Let the ginger-lemon cupcakes rest in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove the gingerbread cupcakes from the tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
12. Proceed to the preparation of syrup.
13. Syrup.
14. Take a 1 liter ladle, combine water, sugar (110 g), juice of 1 lemon in it, you can add the remaining juice from the previous one. Put the mixture on medium heat, stir a single time, distributing the sugar, bring to a boil. When the liquid boils, let it boil for exactly 3 minutes, remove from heat, let cool slightly, 10 minutes. The syrup will be liquid and practically will not change color, as intended.
15. Pour the warm syrup into a mug to help soak the gingerbread muffins. Place foil under the muffin rack to keep the syrup from staining the table. Pour a thin stream of syrup over each cupcake, no more than 2-3 tbsp. spoons for each (you can measure or by eye). Let the cupcakes soak for 10 minutes. Repeat one more time.
16. Ginger Lemon Cupcakes are ready to serve. They go well with black unsweetened tea, with Turkish coffee (with cardamom). If pastries seem a little dry for you, I recommend using whipped cream (unflavored, regular, in a can).
17. Bon appetit!