Gingerbread Cookie Bars
Tis the season for holiday baking! I love to bake all year round regardless of the time of year but I feel extra festive during Christmas 🙂
One of my favourite holiday treats are gingerbread cookies. I love the kick that the spices have to offer and the opportunity to decorate them make it extra fun. While I was browsing Pinterest (my muse and inspirational god), I stumbled across gingerbread bars and thought “Oh how cool is that, I’ve never really made a cookie bar before” and given all the Christmas dinners we have coming up, now is the best time to make them.
These gingerbread cookie bars have the texture of a chewy brownie and the flavour of a gingerbread cookie. They actually taste fine on their own but if you want to be extra festive, the cream cheese frosting serves a a beautiful canvas to your holiday garnishing/decorations. I opted for the christmas-y sprinkles and crushed candy canes.
We have a lot of friends who don’t like cream cheese (or frosting for that matter) so I decided to half the batch of cream cheese frosting so that some bars have it while others don’t. It worked out really well!
I would’ve eaten more bars but today was full of non-stop eating. However, I always have an extra stomach just for dessert and was able to squeeze in a small piece but I just wish I had space to eat more 🙁
This is going to be a tough month with all the christmas dinners and gatherings – I’ll be busting at the seams 24/7. Does not help that my gym membership is also expiring end of this year…. O_O
To find out how I made these bars, see recipe below which I adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything. I increased the amount of ground ginger by 1/2 tsp as I personally like it more gingery. I also halved the cream cheese frosting recipe listed below given a number of our friends don’t like it.
If you don’t want these bars to be too dry, be sure to underbake them a little bit as the residual heat from the pan will cook the rest without drying them out 🙂
Gingerbread Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Cream cheese frosting
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Christmas sprinkles/crushed candy canes to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with parchment paper for easy removal once you're done baking.
- 2. In a Kitchenaid stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and molasses on medium speed until creamy and somewhat pale. Then, add the egg and stir until completely incorporated.
- 3. Add baking soda, flour, spices, and salt and mix until well combined. Spread dough evenly into prepared pan using a rubber spatula making sure to press the dough to the edges of the pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, ensuring not to overbake. Once the top starts to flatten I do a quick toothpick test and take it out to cool. The residual heat from the pan usually cooks the rest.
- 4. When bars have cooled, you can leave it as is or frost with cream cheese frosting.
- 5. Cut into squares and serve.
- 6. For the frosting: Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Slowly mix on low and then beat it on high until fluffy
