I absolutely love anything having to do with gingerbread or molasses. I know it’s not exactly the holiday season for gingerbread, but as long as it’s still cold, I see no reason why you shouldn’t be able to enjoy gingerbread all year long. Especially when paired with some chai tea..in a bar. My sister, Jenny, makes these chai butter cookies, and they are delightful. So before making this, I was pretty much convinced that gingerbread and chai together would be nothing short of pure bliss.
Being at home, Jenny is almost always my taste tester; these bars were no exception. Once they were almost cool enough to cut, I allowed her to try one, to which she proceeded to eat almost half the pan to “make sure” they were good enough to eat and blog about. My dad would do the same thing if they had chocolate in them.
These bars taste something like a quick bread and are subtly sweet. Jenny and I agree that there’s something lacking in the spices, so maybe next time, the addition of nutmeg would be a good idea, too. Perhaps some cloves?
Chai Gingerbread Bars
adapted from Tasty Kitchen
yields about 16 servings
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 t cinnamon
- 1 t allspice
- 1 1/8 t ground ginger
- 1 t chai tea leaves (I used Bigelow’s Vanilla Chai)
- 1/2 t baking soda
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 eggs
- 1 t vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350 ºF, and spray or parchment line a 9×13 inch baking pan. Combine sugar, molasses, honey and butter together in a bowl; add eggs and beat until combined. Mix in the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, spices, tea, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and blend until combined.
Pour the batter into the baking pan, and smooth out evenly with a spatula.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before cutting!
