Perfectly spiced gingerbread bars topped with fluffy cream cheese frosting are soft, chewy, and an irresistible treat. Make these for your next holiday get together or cookie tray and watch them disappear!
Prep Time: 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 15 minutesminutes
Chill: 30 minutesminutes
Total Time: 1 hourhour
Servings: 24
Ingredients
Gingerbread bars
¾cupunsalted butter, softened
1cuplight brown sugar, packed
1largelarge egg
¼cupmolasses
2 ¼cups all-purpose flour
2teaspoonsbaking soda
1teaspoonground cinnamon
1teaspoonground ginger
½teaspoonground cloves
¼teaspoonfine sea salt
Cream cheese frosting
4ouncescream cheese
¼cup butter
1 ½cupspowdered sugar, more as needed
½teaspoonvanilla
Instructions
Gingerbread bars
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar 1 minute, or until fluffy. Add in the egg and beat until smooth. Mix in the molasses combined.
In a medium bowl, sift or whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves. Mix into the butter mixture with a spoon just until combined. Be careful not to overmix. Cover and chill 10 to 15 minutes.
Press into baking dish evenly with the palm of your hand. Bake 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean. Be careful not to over bake. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
Cream cheese frosting
In a medium bowl, mix the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer 2 minutes, or until creamy. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add more powdered sugar, if desired.
Once the bars have cooled, spread frosting evenly over the top. Slice when ready to serve.
Notes
Freezing frosted bars: Place sliced bars on a pan and freeze 1 hour. Once hard you can stack in a freezer container and freeze up to 3 months.Storage: These cookie bars will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. I actually prefer them the 2nd day.