These Gooey Cherry Gingerbread Bars are filled with cherry pie goodness and covered with a vanilla frosting.
One of my favorite parts of the holidays is having an excuse to bake, bake and bake some more. I love sending cookies to friends and family across the country, bringing desserts to holiday parties and of course, there’s always Christmas day baking.
We all know things can get a little hectic around this time of year, so finding short cuts to help save time is essential. I turn to brands like Lucky Leaf to help me create mouth-watering desserts with fruit fillings. You’ll find a number of recipes using Lucky Leaf on my blog, including some of my favorites: Black Forest Poke Cake, Bourbon Peach Pound Cake, and Chocolate Cherry Monkey Bread Muffins. All of these would be great desserts to bring to a holiday party; if you’re willing to share that is.
Today I am sharing another holiday treat, these Cherry Gingerbread Bars. The gingerbread cake is loaded with cherry pie filling and topped with vanilla frosting.
This recipe comes together quite simply. There is one important step though, you must cream together the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. This helps incorporate air into the batter.
The batter will be quite thick. You will first spread half the batter on the bottom of the pan and then spread half the pie filling, swirling it into the batter. Then pour the remaining gingerbread batter and pie filling on top of that. This helps to layer the pie filling into the gingerbread. Once baked and completely cooled, I covered this with a simple vanilla frosting. If you prefer to make a homemade frosting, try a half batch of my Perfect Vanilla Frosting.
Are you planning a last-minute holiday menu? This would be a great addition to your dessert table! The cherry filling adds a whole new dimension to the classic gingerbread cake.
This post is sponsored on behalf of Lucky Leaf Pie Filling. All options are my own.
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Gingerbread Cherry Bars
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 15 bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Gooey gingerbread cake bars filled with cherry pie goodness and covered with a vanilla frosting.
Ingredients
- ½ C Unsalted butter, softened
- ½ C Sugar
- 1 Large egg
- 2/3 C Molasses
- 2 ¼ C All-purpose flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 2 tsp Ginger
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Baking soda
- ¾ C Milk
- 1 can Lucky Leaf Cherry Pie Filling
- 1 jar Vanilla frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9”by 13” pan with cooking spray.
- Soften butter in the microwave 10-15 seconds.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine softened butter and sugar. Beat together on medium speed until creamy. Mixture should appear light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add egg and molasses and beat until mixture is well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- In a separate, small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Whisk together.
- Alternate adding half the dry ingredients with half the milk, mixing just until combined. Once mixed, use your spatula to turn the batter over form the bottom to the top to ensure batter is well mixed.
- Pour half the batter in the bottom of the pan, and then add half the cherry pie filling. Use your spatula and swirl the pie filling into the batter. Cover with remaining cake batter and add remaining pie filling on top of that. Swirl pie filling into batter.
- Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. Baking times will vary by oven. Cake is finished when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely.
- Once cooled, topped with vanilla frosting.
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Other recipes you might like:
Chocolate Cherry Monkey Bread Muffins
I always have cherry pie filling in my pantry…what a delicious way to use it in a creative recipe!
These look fabulous!! I love anything gingerbread – all year!
I love cherries so this is right up my alley. I could eat a million of these.
Cherry and gingerbread?! What a great combo! Perfect for the holidays!
What a great combination of flavors for a dessert! I love making desserts with cherry pie filling. 🙂
I never thought to mix gingerbread and cherry pie filling, but it totally makes sense! Wish I had one of these bars right now!
I love this combo of gingerbread and cherries! So fun for the holidays!
Oh my! These Gingerbread cherry bars look phenomenal!
Interesting combination of flavors. I will be saving this one!