Crystallized Ginger Spice Bars Recipes

GINGER AND ALMOND BARS

Steps:

• Center a rack in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line the pan with baking parchment, letting the parchment hang over the sides. (This will make it easier to remove the dessert once baked.)
• Prepare the base:
• In the saucepan, melt the butter. Add the almond meal, fresh ginger, honey, egg, salt, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. The mixture should be thick and sticky.
• Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan. To help make a level and even base, place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the base. Using a flat-bottomed glass (or your fingers), smooth out the base by pressing gently to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Remove and discard the plastic wrap. Bake until the base is slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the topping:
• In the same saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the almonds, candied ginger, honey, salt, and vanilla. Stir just until the ingredients are incorporated.
• When the base is baked, spread the topping evenly over the base and bake until the topping is dark and sizzling, 12 to 15 minutes. Do not underbake.
• Transfer the pan to the baking rack to cool. When the dessert is completely cool, remove it from the pan using the overhanging parchment as handles and cut it into 16 even squares.
• Do Ahead
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
• Variation:
• Chestnut Honey Squares: For the base, replace 1 cup (90g) almond meal with 3/4 cup (120 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour and use a strong honey, such as chestnut, in place of the mild honey. For the topping, replace the candied ginger with organic candied orange or lemon peel, cut into tiny cubes.

GINGER BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
• Mash the brown sugar, butter, and molasses together in a bowl with a spoon until the mixture is creamy and thoroughly combined. Mix in the ginger, eggs, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir 1/4 of flour mixture into the butter mixture at a time, incorporating each addition before adding the next. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool before cutting.

SOFT SPICE BARS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine butter, 1 cup sugar and molasses. Beat in egg until smooth. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt; stir into the molasses mixture. , Spread into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned (do not overbake). Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

SPICE COOKIES WITH CRYSTALLIZED GINGER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 large cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add egg white, and corn syrup; mix until fluffy. Stir in the crystallized ginger. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, and cloves; stir into the egg mixture. When dough starts to come together, mix with your hands to form a smooth dough.
• Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in white sugar. Place balls on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart, and press down with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, cookies should be golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before Moving to a rack to cool completely. Dip 1/2 of each cookie into confectioners' sugar for decoration.