Gingerbread Houses are a yearly tradition in our house. I love the scent of the gingerbread as it cooks, filling the whole house with warm ginger and cloves. Nothing compares to that wonderfulness that we enjoy every holiday season. We bake the gingerbread from scratch, and have been for the last twelve years because we found store bought to be virtually inedible and I love nibbling on a piece of gingerbread with a cup of homemade eggnog or even a cup of coffee while watching the snow fall and listening to Christmas music. There simply is nothing like it. I love the feelings that making homemade gingerbread with my daughters invokes — it is a tradition I look forward to.
We sometimes make the dough with blackstrap molasses which gives a darker, stronger flavored dough and sometimes we use fancy molasses which gives a lighter dough in both color and flavor. We have used gingerbread house cookie cutters (there’s a plethora to choose from now) as well as designing our own patterns. No matter which way, it is such fantastic holiday fun for the whole family!!
Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.
– Edna Ferber
I have made gingerbread houses for my daughter’s and their friends to decorate. I have made them to sell. I have made them for friends to enjoy and I have received extravagantly designed gingerbread houses filled with caramel popcorn and I delighted in every moment. Making your own homemade gingerbread houses to decorate with friends and family can be a tradition in your home too or you can even use it as a homeschooling lesson in engineering and construction like I did this year.
Now that my girls are older, I decided to get them to design the patterns themselves, cut their pattern from the dough they made, and of course bake it. A great lesson in design and engineering, construction and baking too! It can be as simple as they like or as elaborate as they want. It is such a great learning experience — they will not even notice they are learning, it’s such fun!! We then let the baked pieces “dry” overnight which leaves the gingerbread more sturdy, perfect for construction and easier to build with.
I am going to share how we made them this year! This is a tried-and-true recipe and the only recipe I use for making gingerbread since it dries and hardens nicely which makes building with it perfect! If you want a softer gingerbread, leave the dough much thicker before cutting gingerbread people and other holiday shapes and do not bake as long.
Let’s get to it!!
Once the dough is mixed, I shape it into a circle, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it for an hour. Once the dough has been chilled, we are ready to roll it out. It is much easier to work with once it has been chilled.
Use gingerbread house cookie cutters or pattern (I make the pattern using cardstock paper so it is thicker and sturdier plus easier to use). I test the paper pattern to be sure it fits together before cutting the dough. There’s nothing like finding out the cookie pieces do not align right!!
Here my girls are rolling out their dough and cutting the patterns out that they have designed. Once baked, loosen on cookie sheet and leave to completely cool. We let them harden overnight before assembling. This year we decided to assemble the houses with royal icing and decorate with buttercream. Once the houses have been assembled, leave for several hours for the royal icing to completely harden. This is important to avoid the house from caving in and collapsing from the all of the candy and chocolate!
My girls found it a little tricky to put the roof on. One side always holds well while the other wants to slip off. They found unique ways to hold the roof up so they could continue on their construction.
I decided to make a house from all of the leftover dough. I assembled the house with royal icing and filled in any gaps. I always put extra royal icing on the top of the roof joints to avoid it from slipping and for strength to support all of the candy. I add icicles to all of my gingerbread houses so they have that wintry feeling. I always add foil wrapped chocolates of some sort, like these snowmen and sometimes a Santa chocolate in the chimney if I happen to use a chimney.
This year, I decided to put a mini kit together with the gingerbread house I made for our neighbor’s children to decorate. I thought they might enjoy sticking on an assortment of candy and marshmallows with delicious vanilla buttercream frosting!
We usually assemble the gingerbread houses on cake boards, but you really can put it on anything like foil wrapped cardboard, plastic tray, paper plate, parchment or silicone lined baking sheet or anything else you have handy to use. Using different decorating tips will help give the icing different effects. And of course you can use anything to decorate your house with – candy, chocolate, marshmallows, pretzels, cookies — there really are so many options to choose from!
Lesson in Gingerbread Construction 101 has been completed! Now that my girls have tested their patterns and constructed their houses, they know where to make necessary adjustments. The smaller house needs a roof adjustment and the larger house a chimney reconfiguration.
On paper, it’s completely different than the actual gingerbread construction! On paper everything might line up perfectly, but once the cookie dough is placed on the cookie sheet and baked and then royal icing is piped, it changes the way it all fits together. Royal icing is always used as the main “glue” to assemble and then left to sit several hours before decorating it! We used to decorate immediately because impatience often got the better of us, but then more times than not, we ended up with a broken and collapsed mess! We used a yummy buttercream icing to decorate with – just right to attach candy with, not too heavy but definitely takes longer to set and buttercream does not hold certain types of candy as well as the royal icing does. But that is part of the learning process!
I like that I can bring homeschooling lessons to various things we do to make learning fun! Not only is it a great lesson in math, design and architecture but it’s also a great way to incorporate science and engineering, construction and of course baking in a fun way!
Here is one of the completed gingerbread houses:
And here is the other gingerbread house, complete with a hedgehog Rudolph!
And here is my ever delicious gingerbread recipe that we use each and every year, for over 10 years now! I am sure it’ll be your family’s favorite too!
Gingerbread Houses
Dough:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add molasses and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Combine flour and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 additions, mixing well after each addition. Be sure dough is not sticky. Add more flour if needed. Wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour.
Roll on a floured surface, using more flour so the dough does not stick. Roll thin. Cut 2 pieces for the roof, 2 pieces for the walls and 1 piece each for the front and back of the house. Bake at 350F for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not overcook. Leave pieces on cookie sheet to cool before removing to wire rack. Let sit at least one hour before assembling, but overnight is better. Assemble house with the royal icing (recipe below) and let it sit for a few hours, or overnight, before decorating to avoid the house from collapsing.
Royal Icing #1:
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar
Beat egg white until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla. Add icing sugar slowly, 1 tablespoon at a time. Put into pastry bag and assemble house. Let the icing set before decorating.
Royal Icing #2:
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp meringue powder
water to bring it together
Beat egg white until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla. Add icing sugar slowly, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add meringue powder. Add enough water to bring it together. It will be a little sticky. If the icing runs off the spoon, add more icing sugar. It should hold its shape. Put into pastry bag and assemble house. Let the icing set before decorating. It sets quickly.
Decorate your house with an assortment of candy, chocolates, candy coated chocolates, holiday colored candies and so on. Don’t forget a Santa for the roof.
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours