I made these Gingerbread Bars last year and you all LOVED them. I recreated them again this year but with a few small changes and decorative additions and they’re better than ever! These bars are so deliciously spiced, chewy, and pair perfectly with a luscious and smooth cream cheese frosting. Perhaps the star of the show for these delicious Gingerbread Bars are the little Gingerbread Royal Icing toppers. Let’s get into it!

How To Make Royal Icing Gingerbread Transfers

The most important part to making these transfers is to give yourself enough time because these little guys need to set fro at least 24 hours before they can be picked up off the parchment paper without breaking to place onto your delicious Gingerbread Bars.

Start by using a piece of paper with little gingerbread men printed on them, or a cleaned tablet to trace all of the little gingerbread men we’ll need for our toppers using an edible marker. Make a few extra gingerbread in case any of your transfers break. Even if they set for the correct amount of time, they’re still fragile and mistakes happen :)

I pipe an outline of brown icing to trace the body of the gingerbread man then use that same icing to pipe a few lines inside his body, this helps to prevent the flood icing from caving in. Then I take the brown flood icing and fill in the entire body. I let this sit for one hour then pipe all of the small white details. Lastly, these need to rest for 24 hours before removing from parchment and using as toppers.

For more tips and tricks you want to learn about royal icing, visit my Christmas Sugar Cookie Blog where I teach you the basics of royal icing. Click here!

Decorated Christmas Sugar Cookies (Royal Icing)

Posted on November 20, 2023

Welcome to my beginner’s guide to Christmas Sugar Cookies! In this blog I am going to be taking you through the sugar cookie basics starting at the perfect sugar cookie…

Making Gingerbread Bars

This Gingerbread Bar recipe is extremely simple and easy to follow. The batter will be thinner than a cookie dough consistency but thicker than cake batter. I found it easiest to use a whisk for the dry and wet ingredients then to switch over to a silicone spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet and to help spread the mixture into the pan evenly.

I hope you all enjoy this delicious Gingerbread Bar recipe this year and have a safe, cozy, happy holiday season. Be sure to follow me on social media so I can see what kind of desserts you guys want to see next! Enjoy! :)

Gingerbread Bars

Recipe by Maddison Koutrouba – thesqueakymixer.com

4.6 from 47 votes

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Servings

servings

Cooking time

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on.

Ingredients

Gingerbread Royal Icing Transfers (Optional)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 Tbsp. meringue powder
1 Tbsp. water (plus a few small drops if needed)
Gingerbread Bars
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cups unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg, room temperature
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounce block cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Gingerbread Royal Icing Transfers
Mix all of your ingredients to make your royal icing, it should not be runny in consistency. Find my royal icing guide here. Scoop some of the icing out and place into a piping bag then dye the rest brown for the gingerbread body. Place a little bit of the brown icing into a piping bag then add a few drops of water to the rest of the brown icing to make it a bit thinner in consistency. This thinner consistency can also now be placed in a piping bag.
Trace small gingerbread man shapes onto parchment paper using an edible marker. You can either trace them from a tablet, a printed-out piece of paper, or freehand them. Place this parchment paper template onto a cookie sheet.
Use the thicker consistency brown icing to trace the outline of the gingerbreads you traced onto parchment paper. Then fill in a few lines inside his body, this will help the flooding icing to not sink in or cave while it dries. Next, go in and fill the outline with the thinner consistency brown icing. Use the video above to help guide you. Allow this to set for at least an hour then go ahead and add the face and details with the white icing. Allow these to set for 24 hours before removing from the pan.
Gingerbread Bars
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease and line a 9″ x 13″ pan with parchment paper enough so that there is extra hanging over the sides for an easy release later on.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add in the molasses, egg, and vanilla. Continue to whisk until smooth.
Using a silicone spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet until the batter is nice and smooth and there are no lumps.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use the same silicone spatula to distribute it evenly into the pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the center is still soft to the touch but does not cave in and the sides are browned. Allow to cool completely before decorating.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Begin my beating the cream cheese and butter together. You can do this step with an electric mixer or a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment.
Once the butter and cream cheese is nice and smooth and there are no lumps, scrape down the sides of the bowl then add in the confectioner’s sugar, salt, and vanilla. Continue to mix until nice and smooth.
Once the bars have cooled completely, spread the uncolored cream cheese frosting on top. Use an offset spatula to evenly spread the frosting on top of the bars.
Top the bars with gold sprinkles (optional) then slice into even squares. Once the gingerbread icing transfers have set for 24 hours, gently peel them off of the parchment paper then place them onto the bars.
Enjoy!
Storing Gingerbread Bars
Because these are topped with cream cheese frosting, it’s very important to store these in the fridge. They can be kept for up to a week sealed in the fridge. They can also last up to 3 months sealed in the freezer. If you are serving from the fridge or freezer, allow them to sit out for at least one hour to come to room temp and soften before serving.