Holiday Gingerbread Bars Recipe
Gingerbread. It is a holiday favorite. I love the taste of gingerbread and love to bake it, but decorating gingerbread men–not so much. I don’t have the patience or the decorating skills but I still need my Christmas gingerbread fix. So instead of gingerbread men, check out my Holiday Gingerbread Bars Recipe. It has all the tastes you love with a little more frosting and a lot less decorating. It is perfect if you are decorating challenged like I am or if you need a dessert in a hurry!
This easy recipe has all of the usual ingredients.
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Cream the sugar, butter, and molasses then add the egg. Mix the wet and dry ingredients and bake. After the cake cools, frost with the cream cheese frosting (included below) and decorate with festive sprinkles. Easy and cute!
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Holiday Gingerbread Bars Recipe
Yields: 12 servings
INGREDIENTS FOR BARS
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) – melted
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup dark molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
INGREDIENTS FOR CREAM CHEESE ICING
- 8 oz cream cheese – softened
- 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) – softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- Christmas sprinkles
DIRECTIONS FOR BARS
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9 x 13 pan and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the butter, both sugars, vanilla and molasses. Add the egg and mix well.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir well to incorporate.
- Transfer the gingerbread batter to your greased pan and spread it evenly. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and cool for 20 minutes before applying icing.
DIRECTIONS FOR CREAM CHEESE ICING
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Slowly add the powdered sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
- Generously frost the gingerbread bars with the cream cheese frosting.
- Sprinkle red, green and white sprinkles all over the bars and cut into squares.
- ENJOY!!
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