Growing up in California, my Christmases were never filled with real snowdrifts and cups of hot cocoa over a crackling log fire. Christmases were thin flyaway scarves on nippy sun-soaked mornings and Chinese sticky rice served in a large rice cooker. They were elaborate piles of wrapped presents under a tree, but they were also eggnog-free, booze-free, cookie-free celebrations of time together with family. Until a few years ago, I never even considered what it meant to have a conventionally Western Christmas: to build floppy houses made of real gingerbread, to squeeze into an abhorrently amusing ugly holiday sweater for the evening with your friends, to stroll down snow-lined lanes and eat fruitcake and sing (slightly drunken) Christmas carols all season long. I think I tried making chocolate chip cookies for Santa once when I was eight, but I was so offended by the fact that he only ate half of the twenty-something cookies that I never baked for him again.
Living in LA for the past five years means that a lot of that has changed. While I still haven’t had my first white Christmas–though it’s on the bucket list!–I’ve proudly donned my inaugural ugly gingerbread man sweater, hosted themed holiday parties, and made my first-ever Christmas-inspired treats, which include these Super Chewy Molasses Ginger Cookie Bars. These bars, by the way, may be new to my life, but I am most definitely and madly in love with them already. (Update: my mom just tried a bite and said rather matter-of-factly, “You don’t have to give all of these away” before whisking a few of the squares away for herself. High praise indeed!)
I’ve only ever baked with molasses once, when my ex and I had a Harry Potter-themed cooking night a couple of years ago and decided to try making treacle tarts…with blackstrap molasses, because apparently we didn’t know that there was a difference between different types of treacle. Big mistake. After chucking out the molten blobby mess that oozed from his oven a la Jabba the Hutt, I promptly swore off baking with molasses–a promise that I kept until I was sorting through my cabinet last weekend and realized that I still had two massive jars left because of BOGO FOMO (translation: the fear of missing out on a buy-one-get-one sale). After hours of online scouring, I finally settled on a recipe featuring molasses that sounded safe enough: ginger cookies. But with a twist!
These extra-chewy bar cookies are generously spiced with some of my seasonal favorites: cinnamon, ginger, and just a hint of nutmeg. Sprinkled with cinnamon sugar on top, these bars boast the texture of a perfectly made snickerdoodle but are much easier to throw together and don’t require cream of tartar, as most snickerdoodle recipes do. I also threw in some white chocolate chips to add crunch contrast (though feel free to leave them out if you’re a texture purist) and swirled in cheesecake batter for good tangy measure to offset the natural spiciness of these cookies. All in all, this recipe blew other Christmas treats out of the holiday waters and will always have a place in my seasonal recipe box. If you’re trying to decide what to bring to your cookie exchange tonight or give as a last-minute homemade gift this year, you’ll want to make these bars ASAP.
This Christmas, I’m grateful for these beautiful cookies and all of the incredible people with whom I’ve shared them so far. Can’t wait to share even more of them as 2017 rolls around–happy holidays, everyone! xoxo
With Christmas love,
Super Chewy Molasses Ginger Cookie Bars with Cheesecake Filling
These super chewy molasses ginger cookie bars are at the top of this year's to-make holiday cookie list! Filled with warm spices and chunky white chocolate chips, these cookies are perfect for gifting or adding to a holiday dessert platter.
Ingredients
For the molasses ginger cookie bar:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cloves (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon water OR orange juice
- 1/4 cup molasses (stronger taste) or maple syrup (slightly milder taste)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
For the cheesecake swirl:
- 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
For the molasses ginger cookie bar:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch baking pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg, water or orange juice, and molasses. Fold in dry ingredients until just incorporated, then fold in white chocolate chips as well. Scoop half of the batter evenly into prepared pan, spread cheesecake filling (recipe below) on top, then crumble remaining cookie dough on top.
For the cheesecake filling:
- In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add yogurt or sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.
For the topping:
- In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly on top of prepared cookie-cheesecake batter.
To bake:
- Bake in preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before cutting and serving.
Yeah, I made that blackstrap molasses error once, too. Blech. But you’ve redeemed yourself with these glorious ginger gems!!! Merry Christmas, Ala!
Heh, ’tis a baker’s rite of passage I think. Merry Christmas, Liz! xo
My mom always kept molasses in the pantry. Mostly for making bran muffins and ginger snaps. I’ve found, used with caution (rather than abandon) molasses adds depth to anything that calls for brown sugar. Your Super Chewy Bars with a sweet river of cheesecake might mighty fine use of the intense, yet sweet flavor of molasses!
Ooh, that’s a great idea. I think I’ll need to try that substitute for some of my favorite brown sugar cookies as well <3 thanks for the idea, Deb--happy holidays!
Ive never had the white christmas either but like you its on the list! Maybe next year – a girl can dream. Omnomnomnom these look so tasty! Id be whisking the whole tray off with me too good to share 🙂
I usually just play “I’m Dreamin’ of a White Christmas” on replay, but here’s to hoping! 😉
OH MY GOD. That crumb topping. Want to bury my face in it. I love the combination of the rich cheesecake filling with the rich flavor of molasses in the base. YUM.
I will gladly slip a pan of this under your nose so that you can bury your face in it. Seriously, same feelz here!
If you are really interested in a white Christmas and I am not living in LA by next year, we need to do a swap a la The Holiday. Snow is dead to me. These bars will definitely help me cope with the white stuff. I bet the cheesecake mellows out the molasses just right.
ooh are you moving to LA?! heh, done deal. One of these years, I’ll go for the snow and you can enjoy the heat in December!
This is the 3rd time I’ve come back to comment on your blog. For some reason my internet told me your site is not responding…. but I am nothing if not persistant!!! I suspect the internet drop out thingy is all on my side as island living and internet stability is not compatible…. lol
I’m sure I was ever so more witty the first time I commented & said it so much better, but apart from serious drool worthy food, (I keep going back to those yarm slices, great images) I have to admit I too didn’t know there were treacles and then there were treacles… Good to know.
OMG Anna, you’re the best!! I just got in touch with the wonderful friend helping host my server and he fixed it (it was an issue with the comments plugin, apparently). CHEERS!
You’re witty in every iteration. Sending you love for the new year!
hiii ala! here’s to checking to see if this comment is back working 🙂
I just made these; they are in the oven. I got the 1/2 batter spread into the bottom of the pan; made up the cream cheese filling (that is so smooth, creamy, tasty – I want to bathe in it). I digress. Anyway, I spread the filling over the top of the batter in the dish. Then I read to crumble the other 1/2 of the batter over the cream cheese filling, which I did. And then it happened! I read the part “Drop spoonfuls of cheesecake batter into cookie batter and use a knife to swirl cheesecake around evenly.” I said a very loud “oh no, what did I just do?!” So, was the filling supposed to be swirled into the batter already in the pan, or swirled with the crumbled batter on top of the cream cheese. What I did do, for lack of knowledge if I had already messed up, was to take my fingertips and a butter knife and attempted a “swirl” effect as good as I could.
I just looked at it as it is baking and a thought just went through my head that it really doesn’t matter, does it. All the ingredients are in there so taste is what it comes down to and no doubt that will be just fine. But, humor my ignorance for me will you and let me know if the cream cheese filling was to be swirled with the batter on the bottom of the pan or was swirling it with the crumbled batter correct? Thank you for your understanding my not understanding! Ha!
Hi Lonnie! This girl here can be cuckoo sometime, so you’re definitely not the crazy one here. Just updated the instructions (you’re correct to have spread the cream cheese filling on top of the bottom layer)! Either way though, hope they turned out as droolworthy as I remember–I need to bathe in this cheesecake filling too, HA!
Thank you for clearing all this up for me. They turned out just fine and dandy. Everybody loved them! Thanks again!
I’m so glad to hear that–sending lots of love and cookies for the holidays, Lonnie!