Gingerbread Apple Bars
Aug 26, 2020
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Gingerbread apple bars are full of fall and winter flavor. Chewy gingerbread bars with diced apple and a crumbly streusel topping.
We love making dessert bars for parties and holidays. A few of our other favorites are: cake mix cookie bars, strawberry coconut bars, and cream cheese swirled blondies.
Fall is right around the corner and these gingerbread apple bars are here to celebrate. Warm spices add so much flavor to the gingerbread bars that are filled with diced apples. The sugar topping adds another layer of texture and sweetness to these delicious dessert bars.
Why this recipe works
- Full of amazing flavor and texture.
- Great dessert to serve at gatherings and the holidays.
- Easy to make.
What you need
Dry ingredients – All purpose flour, baking soda
Spices – Salt, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger
Sugar – This recipe calls for granulated sugar and light brown sugar.
Apple – Use an apple you would use for baking like granny smith, pink lady, gala or fuji.
Butter and egg – Unsalted, sweet cream butter
Molasses and vanilla extract – Molasses adds so much flavor to the gingerbread. You can usually find it by the syrup at your local store.
How to make gingerbread apple bars
- Batter: Whisk flour, baking soda and spices together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, molasses, egg, vanilla and brown sugar.
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Fold: Fold in the diced apples.
- Streusel: To make the streusel, mix together brown sugar, flour and butter to make a crumbly topping.
- Bake: Spread batter into prepared baking dish. Spread streusel over batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before cutting into squares.
Recipe tips
- Remove skin from apples and dice into small pieces.
- To help with cutting squares, line baking dish with parchment paper so that you can easily lift out the bars once finished cooking.
How to store gingerbread bars
These bars can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
More delicious dessert recipes
- Espresso brownie bites – Rich chocolate brownie bites infused with espresso.
- Peach cream pie – Easy to make peach custard pie.
- Lemon butterball cookies – Melt in your mouth lemon cookies.
- Blueberry lemon crumb pie – Lemon cookie crust with a creamy blueberry filling.
- Butterscotch cookies – Old fashioned butterscotch cookies.
Gingerbread Apple Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup molasses
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup apples, skin off, diced small
Streusel
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Spray an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, clove and salt.
- Cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla extract and egg with an electric mixer.
- Slowly mix dry ingredients in with butter mixture until combined. Stir in diced apples.
- Spread batter into prepared baking dish.
Streusel
- In a small bowl, use a fork to mix together flour, brown sugar and butter until it makes a crumble.
- Spread the crumble over the gingerbread dough.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let the bars cool before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
