Gingerbread House
Decorating gingerbread houses are an absolute must during the holidays!
Everywhere you look right now, there is some sort of kit that you can buy to build and decorate a gingerbread house. And honestly it never ceases to amaze me how creative companies have become to one up what they did the last year. As convenient as those kits are, let’s be honest, they taste like trash. If you just want to have fun, then sure, buy the kit. But if you want something you can eventually munch on, then keep on reading!
For the past few years, I’ve made my own houses from scratch and I enjoy the process so much! From making your own dough to gluing together the pieces to decorating, it makes for such a fun activity that you can share with your friends and family!
What you’ll need for the gingerbread house:
this will make 2 houses
– 3/4 cup butter, room temp (6 oz)
– 1 cup sugar (200g)
– 1/4 cup molasses (60mL)
– 1 egg
-4 cups flour (480g)
– 2 teaspoons cinnamon
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon cloves
– 1 teaspoon ginger
– powdered sugar, as needed
What you’ll need for assembly:
– 1 cup sugar
What you’ll need to decorate:
– Royal icing (recipe below) or the cookie icing from Walmart
– Powdered sugar (optional)
– Holiday sprinkles (optional)
– Sprigs of rosemary (optional)
– Seasonal candies (optional)
What you’ll need for Royal Icing:
– 1 Tablespoon meringue powder
– 2 cups powdered sugar (224g)
– water, as needed
What you’ll do:
– Cream together butter and sugar until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds.
– Beat in molasses until fully incorporated.
– Beat in the egg.
– Combine dry ingredients (except powdered sugar) and add to wet mixture in thirds, scraping down the sides and the bottom of the bowl often.
– Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill over night or for at least 2 hours.
– Divide dough in two and roll out on a surface floured with powdered sugar. Roll out dough so that it is 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter or template (see notes for options) cut out the pieces of your house. For me this was 4 rectangles to make the sides and roof and two pentagons to make front and back. Complete this process with the second half of the dough. Place each piece on a lined baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.
– Preheat your oven to 350F and bake the house pieces for 10 minutes. Carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool.
– Once cooled, make your sugar glue by heating the 1 cup sugar in a pan over medium high heat, using a rubber spatula to stir the sugar. This will take 5 – 10 minutes. Once fully melted, turn off the heat and quickly glue the pieces of your house together. You can do this by either spreading the glue on the sides with a knife or dipping the pieces directly into the glue. Just be sure to work fast as it will quickly harden.
– While your glue is setting, make your royal icing by combining the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Whisk in 4 Tablespoons of water. When you lift your whisk, the icing should not fall into itself like a liquid, but rather slowly melt into itself. You can whisk in more powdered sugar or water as needed.
– Divide between 2 piping bags fit with a #1 tip.
– At this point you can now decorate your gingerbread house to your liking. I recommend looking up some pictures for inspiration or even sketching out what you think you want.
– You can leave your house on your counter for the entire holiday if you like or break it apart and ENJOY!
A few notes:
– If you don’t like the taste of gingerbread, you could also use my Cut Out Sugar Cookie recipe!
– The cookie cutter set I have is just 2 pieces. I wasn’t able to find it but this one is quite similar. If you don’t want to buy a cutter set (though I promise it’s worth it!) then you could also look up a printable template to use.
– If you cookies spread a little in the oven, you can either use a knife or the cookie cutter to clean up the edges.
– If you don’t want to make a house, you could absolutely use this recipe just to make gingerbread men!