Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting — Gingerbread bars are so much FASTER AND EASIER than making gingerbread cookies!! The sprinkles and tangy cream cheese frosting will put everyone in a festive mood!!
Easy Holiday Dessert Idea
I absolutely love the flavor of gingerbread, but I generally don’t take the time to make gingerbread cut-out cookies. Too much work. Enter: these easy gingerbread bars that are loaded with rich, holiday-inspired flavor and topped with tangy cream cheese frosting and sprinkles.
The bars are as easy as using one box of Krusteaz Gingerbread Cookie mix that I doctored up with extra cinnamon and molasses. I could pretty much drink molasses if the truth be told.
The Christmas cookie bars are perfect for holiday parties and events because they are such a cinch to make. All the Krusteaz products make baking easy and the gingerbread mix is no exception.
The cream cheese frosting is a wonderful complement to the spicy-sweet gingerbread. You can cheat and use a tub of storebought cream cheese frosting if you’re pressed for time.
Seeing the red and green sprinkles will automatically put everyone in a festive holiday mood. And wait until they taste these bars that are soft yet chewy which is the best. Crunchy gingerbread need not apply in my house.
I gave half the batch to my daughter’s teacher and she sent home the most glowing handwritten thank you note with such high praise and said how amazing the bars were. I’m not above buttering up the teacher.
The bars remind me of the gingerbread counterpart to these Holiday Sugar Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting, which were a huge viral hit last holiday season.
What’s in Gingerbread Bars?
To make these easy bar cookies, you’ll need:
- Krusteaz Gingerbread Cookie Mix
- Egg
- Unsalted butter
- Molasses
- Cinnamon
- Cream cheese
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Holiday sprinkles
How to Make Gingerbread Bars
Mix together the bar ingredients, then turn the dough into an 8×8-inch baking dish. Bake until the center is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Let the bars cool completely before topping with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles!
How to Store Gingerbread Bars
These Christmas cookie bars will keep at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Tips for Making These Bar Cookies
If making homemade cream cheese frosting, make sure the cream cheese is softened to room temperature first. If it’s too hard, the frosting won’t whip up properly.
Also, make sure to use brick-style cream cheese and not the whipped kind in a tub. Lite cream cheese is fine though.
Use a mild molasses for this recipe, not blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is far too strong in flavor.
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Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Bars
- one package Krusteaz Gingerbread Cookie Mix
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon, or to taste
Frosting*
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened (lite okay)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- about 3 to 4 tablespoons red, green, and white holiday sprinkles
Instructions
Make the Bars:
- Heat oven to 350F, line an 8×8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- To a large bowl add all ingredients and mix with a handheld electric mixer until combined.
- Turn dough out into prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula as necessary. Bake for about 25 to 28 minutes, or until center is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow bars to cool completely in pan on a wire rack before frosting.
Make the Frosting:
- To a large bowl, add the cream cheese, butter, and beat with a handheld electric mixer until smooth.
- Add confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, salt, and beat to incorporate and until frosting is smooth.
- Spread frosting evenly over bars. Top with sprinkles before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Christmas Cookie Bars:
Iced Gingerbread Bars — Soft, chewy bars that are full of rich gingery molasses flavor! Way faster and easier than rolling out gingerbread cookies! No mixer, no fuss, and the sweet icing seals the deal!
Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Molasses Chocolate Chip Bars – Rich, chocolaty, and like eating a piece of molasses fudge!
Holiday Seven Layer Bars — Soft, ultra chewy, and loaded with chocolate chips, shredded coconut, sprinkles, and more!! A FAST and EASY holiday recipe that’s great for hostess gifts or cookie exchanges!!
Loaded M&M’s Oreo Cookie Holiday Bars — These M&M’s cookie bars are packed with holiday M&M’s and crushed Oreos. This is an easy, one-bowl holiday dessert your family will love!
Snickerdoodle Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting – Snickerdoodle bars are so much FASTER AND EASIER than making snickerdoodle cookies!!
Sugar Cookie Bars — The bars are buttery soft in the middle with a bit of chewiness around the edges and have nice texture from the baked-in sprinkles.
Post is brought to you by Krusteaz. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own.