Ginger-Cream Bars

Four weeks. I took Monday off work. I needed a day to not do anything wedding-related. I made a cinnamon roll dough from scratch, let it rise, braided it into a round, baked it, and ate three rolls with coffee at my kitchen table while reading a novel I have been reading for a month. It was the most restful day I have had in 2022.

Jisoo and Jun-ho got their flight confirmations. They arrive at Sea-Tac at 4:15 PM on Thursday, September 22. I will pick them up with James. Jisoo asked me, in a voice memo on Sunday, whether she should wear the hanbok on the plane. I laughed. I said — Umma, you will be uncomfortable. Wear something soft. She will wear a navy sweatsuit and bring the hanbok in her carry-on.

Kevin and Lisa fly up on Thursday too. Ming and Wei-Chen on Wednesday. Maya and the college friends on Friday. Jihoon and Bora on Friday. The airport the last ten days of September is going to be a pilgrimage site for my people.

I had my bachelorette-adjacent debrief with Maya this week. She called from Chicago and we talked for two hours. We covered: the bachelorette weekend, the guest list, Eunji, the in-laws, and, at the end, her recent breakup, which I had noticed she was not talking about. Maya is thirty-two and has been single-ish for a year after a long relationship ended. She was worried her emotional state would be a downer at the wedding. I told her — Maya, you are not a downer. You are my best friend. You get to be whatever state you are in. She said, "You are the best." I said, "We are both the best."

Karen had a good week. She went to the Parkinson's support group on Thursday and came back energized. One of the men in the group has a daughter getting married in the fall too. Karen said, "Steph. He asked if you and Alicia could be pen pals. Isn't that nice?" I said, "Mom. I don't have time for a pen pal right now." Karen said, "Fine. After the wedding." I said, "After the wedding." Karen writes checks I will have to cash. I love her for it.

James proposed, yes, but he also renewed something small this week. On Thursday night he slid a small folded piece of paper across the kitchen counter while I was making stew. It said, in his handwriting: "I choose you. Today. Also tomorrow. Also four weeks from now. Also always." I kept it. I put it in my notebook. It is going in my bedside drawer for the rest of our life.

Dr. Yoon: we talked about rest. She said, "You are still doing too much. Cancel three things this week." I canceled two (dentist cleaning postponed to October; a call with a recruiter I was not going to respond to anyway). I did not cancel a third. Dr. Yoon said, "Two out of three is progress."

The recipe this week is my cinnamon rolls — a brioche dough, enriched with egg and butter, rolled around a cinnamon-brown sugar-butter filling, baked in a round pan, drizzled with a simple powdered sugar glaze. Not Korean. Not Taiwanese. Just the thing I wanted on Monday when I needed rest. A recipe for the day you take off from everything and cook something sweet for yourself.

The cinnamon rolls were Monday’s gift to myself, but these ginger-cream bars are the recipe I keep coming back to when I need something warm and unhurried—a pastry that asks very little of you and gives back something soft and spiced and good. Four weeks out from the wedding, with airport pickups multiplying and Maya’s two-hour phone calls and James sliding love notes across the counter, I wanted to share something in that same spirit: a recipe for the day you cancel two out of three things and call it progress.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 16 bars

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two sides for easy removal. Lightly grease the parchment.
Make the crust. In a medium bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt. Cut in the softened butter using a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes, until the edges are just barely golden. Remove and let cool slightly.
Prepare the ginger-cream filling. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and brown sugar together until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Stir in the ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until evenly incorporated.
Assemble and bake. Pour the ginger-cream filling over the warm crust and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Return to the oven and bake for 18–20 minutes, until the filling is set and the edges are lightly puffed. The center should still have a slight jiggle.
Cool and cut. Let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, at least 1 hour. Use the parchment overhang to lift the bars out. Dust with powdered sugar and cut into 16 squares.

Nutrition (per serving)

Ginger-Cream Bars — The Recipe for the Day You Take Off