Soft and moist cake-like gingerbread bars with that classic gingerbread flavor and scent. Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and delicious!
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 that 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 – you’ll have to keep an eye out for my next recipe that will incorporate these for another completely kickass dessert. I’ll just leave this here as a vague preview:
Update: Now that it’s published, I can’t keep a secret from you! I added these paleo gingerbread bars to gingerbread ice cream. UhYEAH. It’s pretty great.
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
Paleo Gingerbread Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 9-16 bars 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Soft and moist cake-like bars with that classic gingerbread flavor and scent. Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup almond butter (aff link)
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (aff link)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, solid
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup almond flour (aff link)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line an 8×8” square pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together almond butter, coconut sugar and coconut oil until smooth.
- Add eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed to combine.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, clovers and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to bowl of wet ingredients and stir until completely combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until center is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only moist crumbs.
- Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack (aff link) to cool completely. Cut into 9-16 squares and enjoy!
Notes
Note: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
Keywords: gingerbread bars
These were really delicious and moist! I also added a bunch of grated orange and grated fresh ginger, which was a perfect touch. Thanks for helping satisfy a craving.
★★★★★
That sounds amazing – thank you for sharing!
Absolutely delicious. Such flavours that melt in the mouth good!
It is a bar not a cake…so perfect.
Even think of putting a coco cream & icing sugar frosting to it to make it more irresistible.
thanks for a so good, obviously tested recipe.
★★★★★
I’m so so glad you liked it! You could totally frost these with whatever you wanted!
Mine came out very dense, not fluffy like the picture above. IT’s very moist looking too…I just put it back in the oven hoping they would fluff up a bit. Maybe I didn’t blend the eggs well enough? Did anyone else have this issue?
★★★★
Gave these a spin last night. Put in 1/3 cup of molasses and cooked em a bit longer than the 20 minutes. They turned out awesome. Got the thumbs up from the wife! Really good with a cup of coffee, not to sweet just right.
Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
I can’t tell you how much I love to hear feedback like this – thank you so much for sharing, and I’m so glad you (AND your wife) like them!
I’m like you used to be – I only associate gingerbread with rolled cookies! I keep seeing gingerbread loafs, but I can’t picture them in my head… gingerbread is supposed to be thin and chewy and cookie form! These sure look beautiful, though!
These bars have everything that I love! The almond butter and almond flour would make this so delicious!
Oh my yum! These look amazing and so moist. I’ve had way too many dry gingerbreads and I love this recipe! Thank you.
Wow, these gingerbread bars look so nice and moist! I’m loving your topping ideas, and not sure that I could pick just one
I’m not big into the spiced things this time of year, but love that these are so healthy! I’ve got a Paleo personal chef client that I think would love these!
I totally love gingerbread this way, especially with sliced bananas and fresh whipped cream! Looks delicious!
i have a jar of molasses i need to use…this is a good recipe to give it a try! looks so yum.
These look so moist and delicious! I love anything made with almond flour! I’m definitely going to make these in the weeks to come.
YES! This is how I like gingerbread! (Although pretending to mutilate little cookie men is fun, too!)
I love gingerbread, but hate that its always so HARD. This bar fixes that and dang, I think Im going to have a problem. When Im already making sure I have enough of the ingredients to make them and know I’ll have to double the recipe to account for my nibbling…. … oh well. Its a nice problem to have to “have to eat gingerbread!”
That sounds delicious!
HAHAH…I LOVE gingerbread (but the hard gingerbread cookies). I would eat this all year long. This time of year gingerbread lattes work for me.
I am a big fan of spiced cakes and gingerbread is one of my favourites. This looks deliciously moist.