Gingerbread Cake Bars with Lemon Glaze

The first time I tasted the combination of gingerbread and lemon was when I made very time-consuming (but worth it!) homemade gingerbread ice cream sandwiches with a lemon sorbet/ice cream. They were delectable, but painstaking. This is an easier alternative made from a gingerbread mix and baked in a 13 X 9 glass baking dish, and it lends itself well to the colder months when I'm not quite craving frozen treats. During the holidays, the lemon glaze is a nice change from the heavy, overly sweet white icing I usually find on gingerbread cookies. Lemon juice from a bottle saves all that messy squeezing time and the glaze is so simple to make that there's no reason to buy pre-made lemon-flavored icing instead.

Step 1 Prepare

In addition to the minimal ingredients below, you will need a 13 X 9 baking dish (preferably glass), whisk, fork, small bowl, teaspoon, rubber spatula, knife, and measuring cup.

Ingredients:

1 14.5 oz gingerbread (cake and cookie) mix
1 1/4 cup + 2 tsp warm water
1 egg
1 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
Non-stick cooking spray (optional)

Comments

[jessyratfink]

These look so wonderful!

[stasia-realsimple]

Yum! This is unique and probably impresses people who think you have to be an expert to make something like this. Any ideas on how to make this a chocolate gingerbread?

[aliciak]

I would add 2 tbsp cocoa powder when you're mixing the ingredients in the glass pan.

[winchester883]

very yummy. what about trying the reverse? a lemon poppy seed cake with ginger frosting. might be cool to serve them side by side.

[zachninme]

Could you just use 2tbsp of lemon juice, instead of 2tsp of it being water?

[aliciak]

You can try! I've tasted the icing pre-water and it's very lemony, so that's why I added the water. It depends on your taste preferences I guess.