Paleo Gingerbread Bars

Soft and moist cake-like gingerbread bars with that classic gingerbread flavor and scent. Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and delicious! Serve with a big scoop of Gingerbread Ice Cream for even more gingerbread goodness.

Who here associates gingerbread with Christmas? Go on, raise your hand. Let’s see… one, two, twenty, everyone. Got it. I used to be the same way.

For the longest time, I believed that gingerbread was meant to be strictly in cookie form, in the shape of little men with no phalanges or neck, decorated with royal icing, and eaten only at Christmas.

You draw little worried faces on them, eat their legs and arms, and make quiet screaming noises until you bite off their heads when they can no longer feel pain.

… what, just me? If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have a dark sense of humor, you guys.

But anyway – then one day I discovered gingerbread. Not gingerbread cookies, but gingerbread. I fully recognize that’s totally backwards since it originally started as a moist loaf cake and not anatomically incorrect cookies.

I never realized that it could be a perfectly fluffy cake with the same flavors, and could be topped with any number of frostings – cream cheese, brown butter, maple buttercream, etc.

Just look at that crumb – it’s everything I never knew I needed in a gingerbread bar.

Now that I knew that, I had to come up with a paleo version so I could continue to enjoy it post-PCOS diagnosis. I will admit, some of you might not believe these are truly paleo because of the molasses, but like I’ve mentioned before I believe that moderation is key. Just make sure you’re using pure blackstrap molasses and everything will be a-okay.

I’ll be honest – I haven’t come up with a frosting that I like yet, since everything I’ve tried has to be refrigerated or is just too runny for my taste.

But the great thing about these gingerbread bars is that they really don’t need to be topped with anything. If you underbake them just slightly, they’re so moist and flavorful that you’ll be perfectly content without frosting.

However, I did come up with another use for these already – add in chunks of these gingerbread bars to my gingerbread ice cream!

Want more gingerbread flavor?

• Gingerbread Linzer Cookies with Cranberry Filling
• The North Pole Cocktail from Half Baked Harvest
• Gingerbread Cake Roll with Eggnog Cream Cheese Filling
• Super Fluffy Gingerbread Donuts from Hunger Thirst Play
• Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Gingerbread Hot Cocoa from Kim’s Cravings

After you’ve made this recipe, please leave a comment below with a rating – and if you came from Pinterest, add a photo to the Pin of what you make to the pin to share your experience!

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