Chai Gingerbread Bars

To me, these weren’t quite spicy enough, but my two boys told me they want this for their birthday cake, so I guess it passed muster.
--Denise

Chai Gingerbread Bars

2 cups whole wheat Flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice*
1 teaspoon chai tea leaves (I used 2 tsp. vanilla Big Train Chai mix)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 whole large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger (I used 1 tsp. ground ginger)

Preheat oven 350F. Spray a 9×13 baking pan.

In a bowl, put flour, all the spices, chai tea and baking soda. Mix together.

With a mixer, beat the butter with the sugars until soft.

One at a time, add the eggs and beat until they are combined.

Mix in the vanilla and grated ginger.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture. Blend until the flour is blended in.

Scoop the batter into the pan. Spread it around evenly over the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle the top with white sugar (totally optional).

Bake for about 25 minutes.

You are supposed to let these cool or even to chill them in the refrigerator, but we couldn’t wait.
We have a gingerbread man cookie cutter and had fun cutting these into that shape.

*I did not have allspice and so found this recipe for homemade allspice: 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. of nutmeg, 1 tsp. of ground cloves – and so I mixed this and used 1 tsp. However, I also saw another note that you can’t “make” allspice, that it comes from a certain kind of berry, so . . . but this worked in a pinch.

Adapted from: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/chai-gingerbread-bars-2/