One December weekend during elementary school, a couple of the moms from my brother’s Cub Scout troop invited all of the boys over to build and decorate gingerbread houses. They generously offered that siblings could come as well, so Mom drove both of us over for an afternoon of sugary fun.
When we arrived, we found the host’s kitchen table, along with two folding tables in her adjacent living room, covered with plastic tablecloths (for easy clean-up!), plenty of paper plates, platters of pre-cut cookies in wall and roof shapes, and lots of edible decorations: gumdrops, M&Ms, pretzels, candy canes, round peppermints, red licorice, chocolate chips, nuts, sprinkles… She thought of everything!
Once all of the boys and siblings sat down around the three tables, the adults offered us plastic knives to spread the store-bought frosting on the edges of the cookies to “glue” them together, as well as across the tops of the cookies to decorate with all of the candy. As one of the older kids in the room, I had the easiest time carefully transferring the canned frosting from my knife onto the cookies’ edges, but no matter how long I held them together, they still broke apart at the frosting “seam” when I turned to frost another cookie’s edge.
After ten or twenty minutes of struggling, everyone finally realized that the store-bought frosting wasn’t going to hold two cookies together, let alone hold together an entire gingerbread house, so we just decided to decorate the tops of the cookies instead. An hour or two later, we all took home paper plates of cookies covered in frosting and candy—although a few cookies never quite made it home and ended up in our bellies instead!
Despite feeling tempted by beautiful gingerbread houses in photos a few times, I’ve never again tried to build and decorate my own. I’d much rather take the easy way out… Like with these Healthy Gingerbread Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting!
They have the same iconic flavor as gingerbread houses, that warm and cozy and irresistibly sweet spice taste, but these are much softer and chewier (I remember those gingerbread house cookies as being rather dry and stale!). Even better, these healthy gingerbread cookie bars contain no refined flour or sugar and only 81 calories, including the frosting!
Let’s go over how to make these healthy gingerbread cookie bars with cream cheese frosting!
You’ll start with a combination of white whole wheat flour (like this!) and lots of spices: ginger (obvious, I’m sure!), cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I love how warm and cozy they taste!
And yes, white whole wheat flour actually exists! It’s not a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and regular whole wheat flour. Instead, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. They have the same health benefits, like extra fiber, but white whole wheat flour has a lighter taste and texture… Which lets the soft and chewy texture of your healthy gingerbread cookie bars truly shine!
Tip: I’ve also included a gluten-free option in the Notes section of the recipe!
Unlike many traditional recipes that require a full stick or two of butter, your healthy gingerbread cookie bars only need 2 tablespoons. Yes, that’s it! Then you’ll actually melt the butter for two reasons: (a) melted butter creates a more chewy texture and (b) it’s much easier than trying to remember to soften it ahead of time. Hooray!
Now here comes another little nerdy part of the recipe… You actually need two sweeteners! The first is molasses. Along with ginger, molasses is what creates the iconic gingerbread taste. The ginger adds that warm, cozy spice flavor, while the molasses adds the rich, almost earthy undertone. I do not recommend substituting for it because your cookies won’t taste like true gingerbread without it!
Hint: Molasses is inexpensive and shelf-stable. It keeps for ages, so it’s definitely worth buying! And you can use it in all of these other gingerbread recipes of mine too—along with this special recipe!
The second sweetener is liquid stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean eating friendly!). It’s also highly concentrated, which is the key nerdy part to this recipe!
If you used half molasses and half granulated sugar (or coconut sugar or maple syrup or honey—any of those options!), that would actually add too much liquid volume to this recipe, and your healthy gingerbread cookie bars wouldn’t turn out soft and chewy… They’d actually have more of a cakey or bready texture from the extra liquid. Not good!
But because liquid stevia is so concentrated—you just need 1 teaspoon, which adds the sweetness equivalent of nearly ½ cup of sugar!—you get the correct soft and chewy cookie texture and the correct sweetness level. Win-win!
Tip: This is the liquid stevia that I use! I love its flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertaste, like with some other stevia products. I buy it online here because that’s the best price I’ve found, and you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!
After you’ve spread your cookie dough into your pan and slid that in your oven to bake, it’s time to make the healthy cream cheese frosting! You’ll need Greek yogurt, light cream cheese, instant pudding mix, and a little more liquid stevia.
Yes, I know… Instant pudding mix? To make frosting? I’m sure it sounds a little crazy, but I promise it works! That’s because the instant pudding mix thickens the Greek yogurt, so your healthier cream cheese frosting turns out just as thick and creamy as the traditional kind made with cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. Such a great trick, right?
Tip: If you don’t have instant pudding mix (or don’t want to use it), then use this cream cheese frosting recipe of mine instead!
Once your healthy gingerbread cookie bars are at room temperature and your healthy cream cheese frosting is thick and creamy, just spread it on top, slice the pan into squares, and…
Enjoy! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ????) I’d love to see your healthy gingerbread cookie bars!
| Healthy Gingerbread Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting | | Print |
- for the cookie bars
- 1 cup + 6 tbsp (165g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp liquid stevia
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses
- for the frosting
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 4 oz (113g) light cream cheese, well softened (see Notes!)
- 1 serving (8g) fat-free, sugar-free cheesecake instant pudding mix
- ⅜ tsp liquid stevia, or adjusted to taste
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and coat an 8”-square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the cookie bars, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter, egg, vanilla extract, and liquid stevia. Stir in the molasses. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated.
- Using a spatula, gently press the cookie dough into the prepared pan in a thin, even layer. Bake at 325°F for 10-12 minutes or until the center feels firm to the touch. Cool completely to room temperature in the pan.
- While the cookie bars bake, prepare the frosting. Beat the Greek yogurt, cream cheese, instant pudding mix, and liquid stevia together using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for 2 minutes. Cover the bowl with foil, and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Once the cookie bars are completely cool, spread the frosting across the top. (I highly recommend an offset spatula like this to do so!) Slice them into 16 square bars.
Use store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) for the gluten-free option.
Remember to measure the flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much flour will make your cookie bars dry and crumbly, instead of soft and chewy.
The molasses is essential to create the gingerbread flavor. It’s inexpensive, shelf-stable, and keeps for ages. I do not recommend substituting for it! In a pinch, you can substitute pure maple syrup, honey, or agave for it, but the cookies will no longer have that classic gingerbread taste.
I highly recommend using the liquid stevia! It's one of my favorite ingredients, and you'll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too. I buy it here because that's the best price I've found. You cannot substitute additional molasses, pure maple syrup, honey, or agave for the liquid stevia because cookies require a precise balance of wet and dry ingredients. However, you may substitute ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) coconut sugar (or granulated sugar, if you aren’t concerned about keeping these cookies clean eating friendly) for both the molasses and stevia, but the cookies will appear “speckled” if using coconut sugar because it doesn’t dissolve as well. They won’t have quite the same classic “gingerbread” flavor as well.
Neufchâtel cream cheese, Greek yogurt cream cheese, and fat-free cream cheese will all work in the frosting. Just make sure they’re well softened first!
If you prefer not to use the liquid stevia in the frosting, then substitute 1 teaspoon of this powdered stevia OR 2-3 tablespoons of Truvia or granulated sugar.
You just need the dry instant pudding mix—don’t prepare it according to the package directions! You may omit it, but you’ll need to increase the liquid stevia (and just mix the ingredients together until incorporated—not for 2 full minutes!). Without the instant pudding mix, the frosting will be a bit runny and may slightly drip down the sides of your cookie bars.
{gluten-free, clean eating option, low fat, lower sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Gingerbread Cookies
♡ Healthy Iced Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Gingersnaps
♡ Healthy Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Gingerbread Blossoms
Hi Amy, I am curious about this recipe in adding sugar-free cheesecake jello. While I know that aspartame is controversial in its pros and cons, I really don’t like the aftertaste from it. I can tell instantly when something has aspartame in it. If I may ask why you choose this ingredient to go into your healthy gingerbread cookie bar? If it is to add some cheesecake flavor, what do you think about a cheesecake extract, like this: https://www.bickfordflavors.com/products/cheesecake-flavor.
You are one of my favorite chefs and I would really like to try this recipe so I’m looking forward to your thoughts on this. Thank you!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Dawn! I actually go over why I used the instant pudding mix in the blog post above the recipe. I know it can be easy to miss! 😉 The instant pudding mix isn’t there for flavor, but for texture instead. If you prefer not to use the instant pudding mix, then use the alternative that I’ve provided in the bottom of the Notes section instead (located directly underneath the Instructions). 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookie bars if you try them!
It looks like the instant pudding is used as a thickener in the frosting, not in the bar itself. The usual thickener is confectioners sugar. As a diabetic, I have often sought a confectioners substitute for frosting and never thought of instant sugar free pudding. Just might give this a try.
I’d love to hear what you think if you try these gingerbread cookie bars and cream cheese frosting Dominic! 🙂
Hi Amy, could I just only arrowroot powder to replace the pudding mix? Thanks!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Cynthia! Arrowroot powder won’t work in place of the instant pudding mix. The instant pudding mix doesn’t need to be heated in order to thicken the frosting, but arrowroot powder does — and it still doesn’t produce the same texture. If you’d rather not use the instant pudding mix, then use the alternative that I provided in the bottom of the Notes section (located directly underneath the Instructions). 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of these cookie bars if you try them!
Yikes, I am really disappointed to see someone (that uses “healthy” in their website) using dangerous and chemical-laden aspartame in a recipe. Please understand the dangers of this ingredient for the health of your followers.
I was really excited to try out the gluten free version of this recipe, but am not interested in using such ingredients.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Amanda! I’ve already included an alternative for the frosting that does not use the instant pudding mix in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions). I know it can be easy to miss! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cookie bars!
YUM, these look amazing, Amy, ESPECIALLY that frosting with the sugar-free pudding mix! Brilliant way to thicken up a frosting! Bahaha, you MIGHT have had a chance to build a gingerbread house that one time you came to my house IF we hadn’t gotten distracted chatting the entire time! Heehee! Happy Thanksgiving, friend!! <3 <3 <3
Aww you’re just the sweetest Andrea!! Thank you! ♡ Pretty sure I would’ve stayed the whole night to keep talking to you and build that gingerbread house if we had a chance… 😉 We’ll just have to try again another year!!
Hi Amy as I would still like to use the black treacle and I don’t have any vanilla stevia can I have the amount of coconut sugar or do something like that? Thanks.
I’m honored that you’d like to try this recipe of mine Lily! If you’d like to use black treacle, then you must use the liquid stevia as well. If you’d like to use coconut sugar, then you can’t use black treacle. I explain the science of why this is in the text of my blog post above the recipe — I know it can be easy to miss that section! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of these gingerbread cookie bars if you try making them!