Gingerbread Bars with Orange Cream Cheese Filling by Lonet Vaz Pereira

Ingredients

¾ cup butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 ¼ cups flour

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1/3 cup molasses + 3 tbsp hot water

Orange Cream Cheese Filling

½ package (4 ounces) cream cheese softened

1/3 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp orange juice

1 tbsp Cointreau, Grand Marnier

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 13 x 9 x inch baking pan with wax paper. Spray with no-stick cooking spray and dust with flour. Beat butter until smooth. Beat in sugar and egg. Gradually mix in dry ingredients, alternating with molasses/ water mixture. Spread in prepared pan.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in sugar, orange juice and Cointreau. Spoon by teaspoons over butter in pan. With a knife, swirl through batter with long strokes in each direction to create marbled effect. Bake for 30 minutes or until gingerbread begins to pull away from edges. Lift out of pan using edges of wax paper. Cool on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.