Extra Gingery Muffins

Warning: Spoilers everywhere!
Season 2 episode 7: A Man Without Honor
   Jon and Ygritte's meet-cute.
   You know nothing, Jon Snow.
Season 3, episode 6: The Climb
   Because I'll cut your pretty cock right off and wear it round me neck.
Season 4, episode 9: The Watchers On The Wall
   We never should have left that cave.

Before Jon Snow danced with dragon fire, there was Ygritte - a red haired, fiery tempered warrior woman, a killer shot with a bow and arrow, an outdoorsy girl with a love of ice wall climbing and natural hot springs, a true Wildling of the North, our favorite Game of Thrones spice girl. The moment Jon and Ygritte meet, sparks begin to fly - apparently on and off screen (congratulations to recently married Kit Harrington and Rose Leslie.) She's a perfect first love for our Jon Snow - she's independent, she's smart, and while we wouldn't say she has a heart of gold, at least she didn't kill him, which is good enough. Her words "You know nothing, Jon Snow" are pretty spot on even, especially, at the end of season 7. We miss you, Ygritte - you were a great first girlfriend, and deserved way better than death by Olly (but so did Jon Snow. Spoiler, sorry.) 

So this week, we shoot a flaming arrow into the air for Ygritte, a woman of the Free Folk, North of the Wall and Jon Snow's first love with our sweet and spicy recipe for Extra Extra Gingery Muffins.

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These muffins are triple gingered up with powdered ginger, fresh grated ginger and crystallized ginger pieces, it's a spicy sweet celebration of gingery goodness worthy of Ygritte. The recipe is based on David Lebovitz's Fresh Ginger Cake from his book Ready for Dessert. This is one freaking delicious cake, an adult version of homey gingerbread with a sophisticated balance of dark molasses, ground black pepper and a jolt of fresh ginger. It's an amazing cake, delicious and rich, and I highly recommend it for your regular cake rotation (in fact, just buy the book, everything in this cookbook is honestly *mwah* chef's kiss perfection.) But this cake is on the heavy side for morning breakfast, sure to induce a ginger cake coma and very inconvenient first thing in the morning, so I've adapted it into a lighter version for our muffins, a bit of spicy perfection to go with your morning coffee.  

If you are a ginger-holic (like me and Jon Snow) and want EVEN MORE SPICE - then go ahead and increase the ginger levels to your heart's content for a ginger kick in the face that would make Ygritte proud. Enjoy!

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Extra Gingery Muffins
But if you're EXTRA extra, go ahead up the ginger content - at your own risk. You've been warned. 
yields 18 muffins
Ingredients

•  1/4 cup vegetable oil
•  3/4  cup plain yogurt
•  1/2 cup buttermilk
•  1/2 cup  brown sugar
•  1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
•  2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely minced
•  1 large egg 
•  2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
•  1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
•  1 teaspoon ground ginger
•  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•  1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•  1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
•  1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
•  1 cup chopped crystallized ginger
•  Sparkling or turbinado sugar for topping

 

1. Place a rack in the center of your oven, then preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, yogurt, sugar, molasses, fresh ginger and egg. 
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, powdered ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves and black pepper until evenly combined and no clumps remain. Add all at once to the wet ingredients, then stir gently, just until combined. Fold in 1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, then sprinkle the tops with remaining 1/2 cup of crystallized ginger and/or sparkling sugar. Bake the muffins for 16 to 18 minutes, until the tops are dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.