Gingerbread Bars

Having just baked 1500 cookies for The Blog Techs wedding, I'm not feeling the need to make lots of Christmas cookies this year.  That bums a lot of people out.  So, I am thinking maybe I will just make a bunch of new cookies that are different than my traditional recipes.  Lately I've been experimenting with gingerbread bar recipes.  My taste testers have been happily consuming them.

 The recipe:

• ½ cup butter, melted
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13″ baking pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and molasses.
3. Add the egg and stir until completely incorporated.
4. Add baking soda, flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt and mix until well combined. Spread dough evenly into the greased pan, pressing all the way to the edges.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (Do not over cook). Remove& let cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Mix butter and cream cheese together in a large mixing bowl (I use my stand mixer). Add vanilla.
2. While mixing, gradually add in powdered sugar. Mix until creamy & well-combined.
3. Once the bars have cooled, frost the tops. Garnish with holiday sprinkles or a pinch of cinnamon.
4. Cut into squares and serve.

If you are not much of a cookie maker, this is a very easy recipe.

And they taste just like Christmas.