St. Ninian’s Gingery Muffins

September 16: Feast Day of St. Ninian

Our blog would feel incomplete without a recipe associated with a saint representing Highlander’s heritage. St. Ninian of Whithorn, Scotland’s first saint, was an eighth century missionary who envangelized to the Picts in the lowlands of the country. Even in the northeast peninsula of Scotland, a small island is named after him where he is the patron of Shetland. St. Ninian, who may be known as St. Ringan or St. Trynnian along Scotland’s southern border, is also venerated in various parts of the country and in New Scotland (Nova Scotia in Canada). To celebrate his feast day in Scottish style, we made St. Ninian’s gingery muffins that go great with Scottish breakfast tea. Aye!

Recipe

(Adapted from Cooking with the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf)

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup flour (not self-rising)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ cup boiling water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup molasses
• 1 egg

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. In another smaller bowl, mix the boiling water with the butter, sugar and molasses. Stir the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Beat in the egg until the batter is smooth.

Scoop the batter evenly into a greased muffin tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: A dozen.