Gingerbread Squares

I'm a member of the National Honor Society (NHS) at my school. And our biggest fundraiser of the year is definitely the Turkey Bingo. It's a huge bingo where if you're the only one to win a bingo for that round and don't have to share your prize, you get a turkey. Otherwise you get money. This also means we haven't bought our turkey yet because my mom is hoping she'll win.

As a member of NHS you have to do a ton of stuff for this bingo; make a $50 dollar basket for the Chinese auction, buy a door prize, help set-up, work from 6-10, help clean-up, cut and staple bingo cards, sell tickets, and bring a baked goodie. All of which are pretty annoying, except for the last one. At one of our meetings they asked us right on the spot what we were going to bring. What? No googling? No looking at my favorite blogs for inspration? No checking our recipe bucket in the kitchen? Nope.

So I opted to sign up last in order give myself more time to think. Bad idea. I hadn't realized but only a certain number of people could sign up for each dessert category. When I got there here's what I saw. Brownines= full. Cakes= full. Pies= full. Cookies= full. Bread= still open! I wasn't super excited for bread, though. Pumpkin, banana, and lemon had all already been taken so there wasn't a ton of choices left. And then it came to me. Gingerbread! How appropriately seasonal, too.

I did, however, bend the rules. I made gingerbread, but I cut it into bars. Whatever, it's the same thing. It came together so fast! And it turned out so perfect! I used the recommended time and it cooked evenly.


from Pie Town
Gingerbread Squares:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- generous 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment.
Whisk together dry ingredients in small bowl, minus the sugar. In larger bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, molasses, eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix until combined, then pour into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick is clean, about 40 minutes.
Watch it before then, though. On another blog they said it was done a bit before then.
Cool in pan for 45 minutes, then spread on icing.


Icing:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tsp orange peel ( I prefer it from the jar actually. It's better texture wise and tastewise.)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Spread over gingerbread when it's completely cool. Add festive sprinkles if you like.

Unfortunately, I couldn't try any=((. But, I'll probably end up buying it at the bingo just so I can tell you how it tastes! I'll post it soon.

Added later on...: I tried them at the bingo and they were absolutely perfect! They were exactly as I could have hoped or imagined. They were dense and chewy with a dominant flavor. The icing, though from a different recipe, is my dad's favorite and well worth it. That orange peel adds so much dimension to it. It's also fabulous because there's a wonderful 1/4 inch layer of frosting that pairs so beautifully with the gingerbread... ahh. Gingerbread at its perfection. Look no further for a better recipe!