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Gingerbread Bars pack all the molasses, ginger, and warm spice of classic holiday cookies into one press and bake pan, then get crowned with a thick layer of fluffy whipped cream cheese frosting and holiday sprinkles. I baked a pan on a *December Sunday* while the girls decorated the tree, and the frosting corner pieces started a genuine negotiation. They deliver everything my gingerbread men promise, without a single cookie cutter.
Soft, chewy spiced bars under a cloud of cream cheese frosting, no rolling, no cutting, no chilling.
Gingerbread Bars Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 20 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 30 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 50 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 15 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 440kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Deep molasses and ginger warmth with a tangy sweet frosting
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with my spice cookies
Quick Answer
Stir together flour, cornstarch, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cloves, and nutmeg. Cream butter with granulated and brown sugar, stir in molasses, add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, and mix in the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms. Press the dough into a greased 9×13 dish with wet fingers and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely, then frost with whipped cream cheese frosting.
Jump to:
- Gingerbread Bars Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Gingerbread Bars
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Gingerbread Bars FAQs
- Other Recommended Holiday Bar Recipes
- Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Molasses is the gingerbread engine. A quarter cup brings the deep, almost smoky sweetness that makes these taste like true gingerbread instead of spice cake.
- Cornstarch keeps the bars soft. Two teaspoons tenderize the flour, the same trick used in bakery style cookies, so the bars stay chewy for days.
- Two sugars split the duties. Granulated sugar crisps the edges while brown sugar adds moisture and a caramel echo to the molasses.
- Wet fingers press a level layer. The soft dough sticks to dry hands, but damp fingertips glide it into an even slab that bakes flat and frosts beautifully.
- A full cool protects the frosting. Cream cheese frosting melts at the first hint of warmth, so patience here is the difference between a cloud and a glaze.
- The two minute whip fluffs the frosting. Whipping the finished frosting on high aerates the cream cheese and butter into that light, bakery style texture.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- All the gingerbread cookie flavor with zero rolling, cutting, or chilling, one pan and done.
- The whipped cream cheese frosting is thick, tangy, and holds a swirl of holiday sprinkles.
- The cream cheese frosting whips up just like the topping on my cranberry bliss bars.
- It is the kind of no fuss win that pairs beautifully with our whipped cream cheese frosting on a busy week.
- It earns a spot in the rotation right next to our fudge with nuts.
Key Ingredients
The gingerbread spice rack meets a cream cheese cloud.
- Molasses: The soul of gingerbread. Unsulphured molasses brings deep, bittersweet warmth.
- Ground ginger: The lead spice. A full teaspoon and a half gives the bars their signature heat.
- Warm spices: The backup singers. Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg round out the holiday flavor.
- Light brown sugar: The chew. Its moisture keeps the bars soft and fudgy at the center.
- Cream cheese: The frosting tang. A full brick whips with butter into a fluffy, stable topping.
- Cornstarch: The softness insurance. It keeps the crumb tender instead of bready.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
One spiced slab, plenty of holiday spins.
- Add a half cup of chopped crystallized ginger to the dough for extra zing.
- Swap the sprinkles for a dusting of cinnamon or crushed gingersnaps.
- Drizzle the frosted bars with salted caramel for a gingerbread caramel mashup.
- For the cookie cutter tradition, my gingerbread men cover the decorating fun.
- Skip the frosting and dust with powdered sugar for a simpler lunchbox bar.
- For another spin on this idea, try our cream cheese frosting next time.
- In the mood for something different? Our cranberry bars scratches a similar itch.
How to Make Gingerbread Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a 9×13 baking dish with baking spray. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cornstarch, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, cloves, and nutmeg.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth, then stir in the molasses.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing each in fully, then stir in the vanilla. Add the dry mixture to the wet and stir until a soft, even dough forms.
- Press the dough into the prepared dish, wet fingers make this much easier. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- For the frosting, cream the softened cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then the milk and vanilla, stir until smooth, and whip on high speed for 2 minutes until fluffy.
- Smooth the frosting over the completely cooled bars, add holiday sprinkles if using, then cut into 15 bars and serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Wet your fingers before pressing the dough. The soft dough releases from damp fingertips and spreads level without sticking.
- Use unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap. Blackstrap turns the bars bitter, the standard baking jar keeps them sweet and warm.
- Soften the cream cheese and butter fully. Cold dairy leaves lumps in the frosting that no amount of whipping fixes.
- Cool the bars completely before frosting. Even slightly warm bars melt the cream cheese layer into a glaze.
- Check at 25 minutes. Overbaking dries the bars, pull them as soon as the toothpick comes out clean.
- Wipe the knife between cuts. A clean warm knife gives you those bakery sharp frosting lines.
- Double up for gatherings. Serve it alongside our cinnamon cream cheese frosting and watch both disappear.
- Make it a full spread. Our golden grahams smores bars rounds out the table.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Gingerbread Bars FAQs
Gingerbread bars use a soft, cakey cookie dough pressed into one pan instead of rolled, cut, and baked in batches. The flavor is identical, molasses, ginger, and warm spices, but bars stay softer and chewier than crisp cutout cookies and take a fraction of the hands on time. The cream cheese frosting replaces royal icing for a richer finish.
Yes, once frosted these gingerbread bars should live in the refrigerator because cream cheese frosting is perishable. Store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days and let slices sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before serving so the bars soften and the frosting fluffs back up. Unfrosted bars keep covered at room temperature for 3 days.
Absolutely. Freeze the unfrosted slab whole or cut, wrapped tightly, for up to 3 months, then thaw and frost fresh. Frosted gingerbread bars also freeze well, chill them until the frosting is firm, then layer with parchment in an airtight container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
Overbaking is the usual culprit, the bars continue cooking in the hot pan after they leave the oven, so pull them the moment a toothpick comes out clean, around 25 to 30 minutes. Overmeasured flour also dries the dough, spoon and level your cups rather than scooping. Baked right, the molasses and brown sugar keep these bars soft for days.
Use unsulphured original molasses, the standard baking jar at every grocery store. It delivers the classic deep gingerbread sweetness without harshness. Avoid blackstrap molasses, which is far more bitter and mineral tasting and will overpower the warm spices. Robust molasses works if you like a bolder, darker gingerbread flavor.
Yes, double everything and bake in two 9×13 dishes rather than one deeper pan, so the centers bake through evenly. A half sheet pan also works for a thinner, crowd size bar, start checking around 20 minutes. Double the frosting too, generous coverage is half the point of gingerbread bars.
Made these gingerbread bars? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me if the frosting corners survived the first hour!
Still filling out the menu? Readers love pairing this one with our fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting, banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, gingerbread latte, and spice cupcakes.
And when you are planning next week’s dinners, our cranberry cheesecake bars and Christmas shortbread cookies keep the same easy comfort going.
Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Holiday sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with baking spray.
- In a medium-sized bowl stir together the flour, cornstarch, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, cloves, and nutmeg.2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.¾ cup unsalted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar
- Stir in the molasses.¼ cup molasses
- Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the first one is fully mixed in before adding the next.2 large eggs
- Stir in the vanilla.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the dry mixture to the wet and stir it in until combined.
- Press the dough into the prepared baking dish, I find using wet fingers helps a lot here.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- While the bars cool, make the frosting by creaming together the cream cheese and butter until smooth in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer.8 ounces cream cheese, 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until mixed in.4 cups powdered sugar
- Add in the milk and vanilla, stir until smooth then whip on high speed for 2 minutes.2 tablespoons whole milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Once the bars are cool, smooth the frosting on top. Add sprinkles if using, cut into bars and serve.Holiday sprinkles
Notes
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure your butter, eggs, and cream cheese are at room temperature for easier mixing and the best results.
- Don’t Overmix: When combining the dry ingredients with the wet, mix until just combined to keep the bars tender.
- Use Parchment Paper: Line your baking pan with parchment paper for easy removal and clean-up.
- Even Spreading: Use wet fingers or a spatula to evenly spread the dough in the pan.
- Check for Doneness: Bake until a toothpick comes out clean; overbaking can make them dry.
- Cool Completely: Let the bars cool on a wire rack before frosting to prevent the frosting from melting.
Nutrition
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