It is finally December, ah 23 days until Christmas, I can’t believe it is almost the New Year! It’s not the Christmas season without some gingerbread in the cookie rotation. These gingerbread cookie bars with frosting are soft and chewy and fun to make this time of year. This is going to be your new favorite holiday treat!
Every year, my family and I, have a gingerbread house-making party. It is so fun, very messy, and of course, we get a little competitive. My sister, the artist, always tends to win, but nonetheless, it is fun to get together, eat candy, have too much frosting, and spend time with each other.
Your typical gingerbread cookie is crunchy and made with molasses. This recipe is a bit different. The bars are soft, topped with delicious frosting, and they are made with a special ingredient; almond butter! In my opinion, I prefer chewy cookies, to crispy cookies! If I had to choose out of all of the Christmas cookies my favorites would have to be sugar cookies and peanut butter blossoms.
If you follow me on social media you know that American Dream Nut Butter is consumed daily in my household. During the holidays they have a fun gingerbread-flavored almond butter called Gingerdoodle. It is filled with classic gingerbread flavor and festive sprinkles.
Gingerbread Cookie bar ingredients:
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¾ cup Gingerdoodle American Dream Almond Butter, or 168 grams
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg white, or 46 grams
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup Swerve dark brown sugar
Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 scoop Vanilla protein
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp baking soda
Decoration:
- 4.5 ounces or 130 grams of vanilla frosting, I used Pillsbury
- Festive sprinkles for decorating
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper
- Beat the almond butter, eggs, egg whites, applesauce, and vanilla extract on low speed in a large stand mixer or with a handheld electric mixer in a large bowl
- Gradually add the dry ingredients scraping down the sides of the bowl
- The cookie dough will be sticky, scrape it into the baking dish, spread to the edges of the pan with a rubber spatula, and bake for 20-22 minutes
- For best results, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes on a wire rack, and top with the frosting. The cookies will still be hot, this helps the icing spread easier. **Note if you want to wait until they are completely cooled you can you may just need to use more icing than this recipe calls for
- Top with festive sprinkles, slice into 16 squares, and enjoy
This recipe makes 16 chewy gingerbread bars.
How to store the gingerbread cookie bars:
It is best to store these bars at room temperature in an airtight container for 5-7 days. You can also freeze these bars in a freezer-safe ziploc bag, but make sure the bars are arranged nicely or the frosting will make a mess.
Can you make your own frosting?
Yes if you want to make your own frosting instead of using store-bought like mine, whip together some cream cheese, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar to make a yummy, fluffy, cream cheese frosting!
What are the nutrition facts for these bars?
This recipe makes 16 chewy gingerbread cookie bars with frosting! Each cookie bar is 164 calories, 6.4 grams of fat, 20 grams of carbs, and 6.6 grams of protein. Search HNFit Gingerbread Cookie Bars with Frosting in My Fitness Pal for easy logging!
What is an easy alternative for Gingerdoodle American Dream almond butter?
If you do not have any Gingerdoodle Almond Butter you can use any regular, creamy almond butter!
What are some warm baking spices?
This recipe is full of warm spices to make these soft and chewy cookie bars. To name the warm baking spices in this recipe: ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves all come together to make this wonderful recipe. Bonus; if you wanted to, add a pinch of ground ginger for some extra spice!
What is the most important flavoring spice in baking?
I would have never guessed, but the answer to this question is cinnamon. Cinnamon is so versatile, and its warm flavor, as I discussed above, adds to any recipe. I love adding cinnamon to my oatmeal, but there is nothing like a delicious apple pie with a cinnamon oat crumble on top, yummy!
How do you know when the gingerbread cookie bars are done baking?
Since the cookie dough is quite sticky it is a little tricky to tell when the bars are done. Since these are soft and chewy cookie bars, they are very different from your classic gingerbread cookie. I would bake them for 20 minutes and check how they are baked by poking the center with a toothpick. If it comes out clean they are done!
Do gingerbread cookies rise?
Gingerbread cookies may rise and expand slightly, but a good gingerbread cookie should rise very much. If you find that your gingerbread cookies are rising and expanding too much check the amount of leavener you added to the recipe and adapt it for next time.
Other easy recipes you will want to make during Christmas time:
- Grinch Snack Mix (Christmas Movie Snack Mix)
- Protein Sugar Cookies
- Frosted Sugar Cookies
- Sugar Cookie Matcha Latte
- High Protein Chocolate Chip Brownie Dip
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Skillet
Gingerbread Cookie Bars with Frosting (Soft and Chewy)
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¾ cup Gingerdoodle American Dream Almond Butter, or 168 grams
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg white, or 46 grams
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup Swerve dark brown sugar
Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 scoop Vanilla protein
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp baking soda
Decoration:
- 4.5 ounces or 130 grams of vanilla frosting, I used Pillsbury
- Festive sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper
- Beat the almond butter, eggs, egg whites, applesauce, and vanilla extract on low speed in a large stand mixer or with a handheld electric mixer in a large bowl
- Gradually add the dry ingredients scraping down the sides of the bowl
- The cookie dough will be sticky, scrape it into the baking dish, spread to the edges of the pan with a rubber spatula, and bake for 20-22 minutes
- For best results, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes on a wire rack, and top with the frosting. The cookies will still be hot, this helps the icing spread easier. **Note if you want to wait until they are completely cooled you can you may just need to use more icing than this recipe calls for
- Top with festive sprinkles, slice into 16 squares, and enjoy
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1 cookie barAmount Per Serving Calories 165Total Fat 6.4gCarbohydrates 20gProtein 6.6g