Don't have time to make gingerbread cookies? Never fear, these Gingerbread Bars will be the talk of your Christmas baking season. Soft and flavorful bars, these gingerbread bars are topped with a delicious vanilla icing.
Oh, gingerbread! The classic and tasty taste of Christmas time. Usually, when one thinks of gingerbread, we think of gingerbread men. However, this delicious Christmastime dessert is all about Gingerbread Bars.
No rolling required and no perfect cutouts needed. Just mix together the dough and spread in a pan. Your work is done. Well, except for the icing.
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Ingredients
- butter - or margarine
- sugar
- brown sugar - light or dark, see below
- vanilla
- molasses
- egg
- flour - all purpose
- baking soda
- salt
- ground cinnamon
- ground ginger
- ground nutmeg
- ground cloves
Light verses dark brown sugar
I used light brown sugar in this recipe because it is what I always have on hand. The dark brown sugar would have added a deeper molasses flavor to the gingerbread bars and the color of the bars would have been a bit darker.
Either can be used and I don't feel the light brown sugar took anything away from the recipe.
Mixing the ingredients
It is important to mix the wet ingredients first, then mix the dry ingredients. The flour (dry) ingredients shouldn't be overmixed or the bars may be a bit tough.
The butter (or margarine) needs to be melted or extremely soft for this recipe. If the butter is still hard, it will cause you to over work the ingredients.
Mix all the dry ingredients in and give the mixture a stir.
The batter will smell so delicious with all the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg spices. Of course, the ginger will too.
Baking the gingerbread bars
Instead of rolling this gingerbread out, you will place it in a baking sheet. The texture is different than a cookie so be sure not to use this batter in place of normal gingerbread man cookies.
This is best baked on a 9x13 cookie sheet or cake pan. It doesn't take long to bake as the batter is thinner than a cake.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-17 minutes or until the bars are cooked through.
For the frosting
This type of frosting is a simple vanilla frosting, great for cinnamon rolls or sugar cookies. A cream cheese frosting can be used as well.
The frosting is only butter (real butter, no margarine for this one!), powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.
Don't forget the sprinkles! Gingerbread bars are best with sprinkles on top..
Storage
These bars can be stored on the counter covered with foil or placed in an airtight container.
Pin for later!
Need more Christmas recipes? Try:
Enjoy these rich and flavorful bars loaded with the ultimate spice combination. This Christmas, make up a batch of these Gingerbread Bars for your family and friends.
📖 Recipe
Gingerbread Bars
Print PinEquipment
- 1 9x13 cookie sheet or cake pan
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter or margarine, melted
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar see note below
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour can used unbleached
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- sprinkles if desired
For The Frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and grease a 9x13 cookie pan or cake pan. (Make sure the cookie pan has a raised edge.)
- Mix together melted butter, sugars, egg, molasses, vanilla until blended well.
- Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices. Mix until blended.
- Spread in prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until bars test done with a toothpick.
- Set aside and let cool.
For The Frosting
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, take softened butter and blended until fluffy.
- Slowly add powdered sugar until incorporated. Keep your mixer on low speed.
- Drizzle in the milk and vanilla until desired consistency.
- Spread over top of the cooled bars and top with sprinkles.
- Serve.
Notes
- If using dark brown sugar, reduce to ¼ cup.
- More powdered sugar may be added to get the consistency you desire.
Jenn says
I love this idea. Gingerbread is one of my favourite desserts. Thank you.
But (there's always a "but", sorry) it's really, really hard, no impossible to read the recipe with adverts everywhere! They just kept popping up to the point I couldn't keep up trying to read the recipe because the adverts literally cover up all of the recipe to the point I gave up trying to see it. I understand completely why you need sponsors and it's not that big a deal, but when they make it impossible to read your prose, maybe it's time to ask them to not be so invasive and stop covering up your hard work!
Kim says
I appreciate you letting me know what you saw. Thank you for your honest feedback! It surprised me because I have never had a comment on the ads before, as I am very careful about how many ads I display. I just checked it out, and I didn't have a problem at all seeing the recipe. I will check with my ad company and see if anything changed. Thanks again for your feedback.