The Gingerbread House

The gingerbread house is a wonderful holiday tradition.  When you start out making your own dough, it really becomes a project.  So, plan your time accordingly.​Christmas is in three days, you better start now.

​Use this easy recipe so that you can start making your own gingerbread creations right now. The ingredient amounts shown here will yield you enough gingerbread dough to make a house as big as this one. Or you can make a couple of smaller houses. There so much dough here, you can make any gingerbread anything you want.

“Be inspired to create masterpieces from
​your own kitchen”.

Keep in mind. The amount of flour in this recipe was to accommodate the structure of the house. I wanted the 'cookie' parts, the facade of the house, to be sturdy, so I needed a sturdy dough. That's the purpose of all of that flour. The cookie needs to be a tough cookie to be able to support itself as a structure, and strong enough to support the embellishments.  That's why, generally people don't eat the gingerbread house and just the candies. The cookie is too hard to eat. But, you can eat. It's still edible. Just dunk it in some coffee. Also keep in mind, everything on the house should be edible. That's the pastry rule. 

Your Mise' En Place'

 Tools are specific and important in the task of building a gingerbread house. These tools will help you build and decorate your house. 

​Before you even begin this project, make sure you have everything you need to streamline your success.

The Gingerbread Recipe

Ingredients	Amounts
​Molasses	2 Cups ​
​Dark Brown Sugar	1 ½ Cups ​
Butter or Margarine	​1 ½ Cups
​Flour	​9 Cups

There so much dough here, you can make gingerbread anything you want.

Ingredients	Amounts
​  Salt	½ Teaspoon  ​
Cinnamon	2 ¼ Teaspoon
​Ginger	2 ¼ Teaspoon   ​
Allspice	1 ½  Teaspoon   ​
​  Cloves	1 ½ Teaspoon    ​

Procedure

                    
 Part 1  

1. Sift the flour and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and brown sugar.
3. Add the molasses and the egg.
4. Mix until smooth.

 Part 2

1. Add the flour. One cup at a time.
2. Mix on medium speed.
3. Mix the flour in just until it combines into the mixture.

Part 3

• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Dough can be made at least 2 weeks ahead of time.

Part 4

• Roll out the dough. 
• Lay templates onto the dough and cut them out.
• Carefully lay the cut pieces of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake each piece at 325 F for 15 to 20 minutes, to dry out the dough.

How to Make a Gingerbread House
​The Template

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Before you can begin to decorate your gingerbread house, you need to make the dough and bake it first.

Royal Icing

1.  Add the sugar to your mixer, ​     first.
2.  Add remaining ingredients.
3.  Whip until fluffy. 

Ingredients	Amounts
Egg Whites  ​	2
Powdered  Sugar ​	​  4 Cups
​Water   ​	2 Tablespoons

Ingredients	​Amounts
Meringue Powder	3 Tablespoons
Powdered  Sugar ​	4​ Cups
Water	2 Tablespoons

Build the Gingerbread House

Use the royal icing to glue your house together.  You can manipulate the consistency of the royal icing in numerous ways to accommodate your need. When putting the house together, the consistency should be a little thick, but not too thick for you to push it through the piping bag.

​That way when you're pressing the edges of the house together, the pieces will stay in place. 
A No. 23 star tip is perfect in size for gluing. Start with the four walls first. Allow them to dry before gluing the roof on.
At least six hours to overnight.  

How to Make a Gingerbread House
​The Build

You've made the dough. You have cut out your templates and baked the pieces that make up the gingerbread house. You have even prepared the royal icing. It is now time to build your gingerbread house. 

Covering the Facades of the

​Gingerbread House

You may also cover your house with the royal icing. You have the four sides of the house and the two roof panels to cover. You may need to make two batches of the royal icing.

​This should be enough to cover the house and enough to glue it together. You might even have enough left over to cover the doors and shutters, too. Do this before the build. It is much easier to cover the facade before putting the house toegether.

Decorating the Gingerbread House

Time to decorate the house. Use your royal icing as your glue and glue the pieces of candy anywhere your creative heart takes you.

The Gingerbread House

I hope you are as inspired as I was to make a gingerbread house. A  fun project everyone will get a kick out of. 

There's More
​

Interested in more creative baking details? Click on any picture below!

The Gingerbread House

Find out more details to gingerbread house making.

Basic Buttery Sugar Cookies

Decorated sugar cookies are cute additions to your gingerbread house decor. 

Rolled Fondant

You can make your own fondant figurines, fondant trees, and many other gingerbread house decor when you make your own marshmallow fondant.

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