Gingerbread Cookie Bars

I really love the smell of gingerbread. I didn’t love the taste of it when I was younger, but as I got older I started the really appreciate it. I tend to be lighter on the ginger, though. It’s still there, and you can certainly taste and smell it, but it’s definitely not as overwhelming as ginger can sometimes be.

Try these – I think you’ll agree that they’re pretty amazing…especially around the holiday time!

Difficulty: easy
Print

Ingredients

Gingerbread Base

½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
¾ t ginger
½ t allspice
¼ t cloves
¼ t nutmeg
¼ t salt

Frosting

6 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 t vanilla
¼ t salt
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Colored sprinkles *

Optional, but seriously – go for a little color!

Directions

We’ll start with the gingerbread base.

Line a 9” x 13” pan with aluminum foil and set that aside.

Add the butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and molasses to a bowl and mix until well combined. Next, add in the egg and beat that in. Finally, add in the flour , baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and salt (all the dry ingredients) and mix again until well combined – at least a couple minutes.

Plop the dough into your pan (it will be thick so it won’t really pour), and press with your fingers so that it evenly fills the pan.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until it starts to get golden brown. Take it out of the oven and move it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once it’s cool, you can make the icing, which will be pretty simple – it’s just mixing.

Add the cream cheese and butter to a bowl and mix until well combined. Next add in the vanilla and salt and mix again. Finally, add in the powdered sugar and mix. If you find that the icing is thinner than you’d like, add in more powdered sugar, a little at a time, until it gets to a good spreading consistency.