White Chocolate Gingerbread Bars

A nice soft and chewy gingerbread bar with touches of white chocolate. A great alternative to brownies or gingerbread cookies for the holidays.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted (for drizzling)

Servings: One 13x9 pan or 2 8x8 pans or ~36 squares

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13-inch pan with foil (or two 8x8 pans), then spray it with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Add the flour in a medium bowl. Then add in the ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating just to combine after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and molasses (if it looks strange, it’s okay, don’t worry!). Add in the flour and spices mixture and gradually combine. Stir in white chocolate chips by hand.

4. Press the batter into your prepared pan. I used clean hands because the batter is pretty thick.

5. Place into oven and bake until bars are golden brown and a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs attached, about 20-25 minutes. Remove and place pan on wire wrack to cool completely before cutting. When the bars are mostly cooled, melt the 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips and drizzle over the bars either with a spoon or a plastic bag with the tip cut off.

Nutritional Information:

Recipe From: http://crepesofwrath.net/2010/01/04/white-chocolate-gingerbread-bars/

I thought these sounded different and tasty, so I whipped them up for a BBQ. I love almost anything with nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cinnamon so this was right up my ally, especially as it included white chocolate. This may have replaced gingerbread cookies in my house for the holidays. Moist and chewy with all the holiday flavor goodness.

They really couldn't be much easier, except for maybe the "drizzling" part. I couldn't get my white chocolate to melt properly and ended up "smearing" the white chocolate on top. Honestly next time I might just add all of the white chocolate into the mix and see how that comes out. Not as pretty that way, but efficient, or perhaps try a white chocolate glaze on top instead.