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Holiday Gingerbread Cookie Bars

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These chewy Holiday Gingerbread Cookie Bars combine rich molasses with ginger and cinnamon for a spice filled bar with added M&Ms! A quick and easy alternative to making gingerbread men for your holiday dessert table.

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is baking. Cookies, brownies, cakes, pies – I love to bake all my family’s favorite treats while adding special holiday touches, like in these Gingerbread Cookie Bars.

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Holiday Gingerbread

For me gingerbread is one of the classic holiday flavors that I have to make every year! My family and I always make a gingerbread house of some kind, and we enjoy making and decorating gingerbread men too.

But a holiday creation like this Gingerbread Noah’s Ark takes days to make, and even rolling out and decorating gingerbread men is an afternoon long activity. Sometimes I want the gingerbread taste without the fuss, which is what this recipe delivers.

This gingerbread cookie bar recipe is quick and easy so it takes only a few minutes to deliver  the subtle spices combined with molasses and the perfect gingerbread taste.

GIngerbread Bar with red and green holiday M&Ms for Dessert

Making the Gingerbread Cookie Bars

This recipe is kind of like a gingerbread cake or gingerbread brownies. The recipe’s sweetness comes mostly from sugar, with a little bit of molasses added for the classic taste. This makes it a much more mild and mellow gingerbread flavor than something like my Gingersnap Cookie recipe.

The mild gingerbread flavor makes it a favorite recipe for children, who might find the gingersnaps overwhelming. The gingersnap cookie bars are flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, so they are still deliciously spicy.

Making the holiday gingerbread bars

After the cookie batter is mixed I added a cup of red and green chocolate M&Ms to give the recipe little burst of chocolate flavor. You could use chocolate chips instead, but I like the added color that the holiday M&Ms provide, since they make it obvious that this gingerbread dessert is really a Christmas cookie!

Pan of gingerbread cake / brownies / bars for a chrismtas dessert

The batter for the bars is thick and not runny like a traditional brownie batter would be. After I scraped the batter into the brownie pan I pushed a few more M&Ms into the top of the batter. This way I made sure some of the holiday color was visible on top of the bars.

Most recipes for gingerbread cookie bars include a frosting on top of the bar. I think this would be overkill for this recipe because of the M&Ms. And I’d rather have chocolate inside my bars than sugary frosting on top, so that is how I make them.

Gingerbread Dessert Bars for christmas

These bars make the whole house smell amazing while they bake! And once these bars have cooled and been cut into squares they are rich and chewy. The gingerbread cookie bars provide a spicy, subtle molasses flavor with hints of ginger and cinnamon punctuated with little bursts of chocolate.

These bars are also great for gifting, since they are easy to package and are not fragile. Homemade treats are my favorite gift to give friends and neighbors, and giving is what the season is all about!

stack of gingerbread cookie bars

Recipe Tips

  • The type of molasses used in the recipe will affect the taste. If you want a more robust flavor use blackstrap molasses.
  • Next year I am going to make these with dark chocolate M&Ms, which conveniently also come in red and green for the holidays. I think the dark chocolate will be even tastier paired with the gingerbread.

Find More Holiday Dessert Ideas

4.61 from 23 votes

Gingerbread Cookie Bars

Published By Anne
These gingerbread brownie are studded with holiday M&Ms for a delicious dessert.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Servings: 20
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Ingredients
 

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup M&M’s

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  • Melt the butter in the microwave.
  • Combine the butter with both sugars, vanilla, molasses and egg and beat with a mixer until well combined.
  • In a separate bowl combine the flour, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
  • Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until flour is combined.
  • Stir in the M&M’s, preferably by hand. Make sure they are well distributed, but don’t over mix or they might get crushed.
  • Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray and press the batter evenly into the pan with a spatula. The dough will be stiff and not pourable. Add a few more M&Ms on top of the batter if desired.
  • Bake for 20 minutes.
  • Cut into squares after the bars have cooled completely.

Video

Notes

Nutrition facts are estimates.

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 198kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 2g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 221mg | Sugar: 20g

Nutrition facts are estimates.

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stack of cookie bars
anne

Hi, I’m Anne!

I love to cook and I want to share my recipes with you. I believe cooking should be approachable and fun, not a chore. I want to make simple recipes using everyday ingredients that you can make again and again, whether it is for a busy weeknight, a summer cookout or a special dessert. Read more...

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