These Ginger Molasses Cookie Bars are dark and flavourful with warm spices of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom and topped with fluffy cream cheese frosting.
Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a 9x9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter, sugar, egg, and molasses until well combined.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Add to the wet ingredients and stir just until fully incorporated with no streaks of flour remaining.
Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan, spreading it well into the corners of the pan and smoothing the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean and the top is no longer wet looking. Let cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for at least 1 hour or to room temperature before topping with the frosting.
To make the Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl using an electric handheld mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and butter on highspeed for 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated before turning the mixer up to highspeed and beating for another 1 minute or until fluffy and smooth. Spread the frosting onto the cooled bars using an offset spatula. Garnish if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
1. If you only have unsalted butter, use the same measurement but add ¼ teaspoon of salt to the recipe when you add the butter.
In a pinch, brown sugar can be used for this recipe. It will only make these bars more gooey and flavourful.
These spices can be adjusted based on what you have on hand. Don't have cardamom? Use additional cinnamon in its place or add nutmeg or allspice instead. I don't recommend replacing the ground ginger, however, as that is the source of ginger flavour in these ginger cookie bars. 😉
Store finished bars covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.