Gingerbread House

Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

I haven’t grown up with gingerbread around Christmas, it is something that I found later on as I started baking. My first every gingerbread house happened when my little man was 2-year old. He is 8 now and we have established making a gingerbread house as a rule in the house for Christmas. We bake and decorate together and starting with this year, he said he would like to make his own tiny house. Exciting times!

The gingerbread house is the best thing you can do with your kids during the holidays. It’s so much fun to bake and then decorate as colorful or as simple as you want! We like to use plenty of Royal Icing together with lots of candies and then a rain of powdered sugar. Despite what you might think, the house is fairly easy to make if you have the right dough on hand. Once the fragrant dough is ready, all you have to do is cut out the walls and roof and then bake. I use a pattern that changes pretty much every year. We like to customize our patterns to the point where 2 years ago we made a mansion instead of a simple house. That fun making a gingerbread house is!

Planning your Christmas baking? See all 21 Christmas cookies & holiday treats.

The recipe below has been tweaked by my mom and myself a lot before ended up at this stage. We love the final result of this recipe, although I am sure there is still place to improve!

Sa aveti spor!

Not a single Christmas without a gingerbread house. It has become a special moment for our family!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Gingerbread dough:

150 g butter (softened)
150 g light brown sugar
230 g caramel sauce*
1 egg
1 egg yolk
5 g vanilla extract
40 g molasses
700 g all-purpose flour
10 g grated orange zest
2 g cinnamon powder
2 g ground ginger
1 g ground cardamom
2 g salt
4 g baking powder
3 g baking soda

Royal Icing:

50 g egg whites
315 g powdered sugar (sifted)
5 g lemon juice

You will also need:

food coloring
candies (marshmallows)

Instructions

Gingerbread dough:

Mix the butter and light brown sugar for 5 minutes until light.
Add the caramel sauce, egg, egg yolk, vanilla and molasses and mix well for a few more minutes.
Add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices and knead the dough a bit until you can gather it into a ball.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Once chilled, place the dough on a floured working surface and roll it into a 4-5mm thick sheet. Cut out your desired shape – you can make a gingerbread house or you can use various cutters to shape small gingerbread pieces.
Place the cut out shapes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven at 170C for 10-12 minutes or a bit more, depending on the thickness of the dough or its size. The final gingerbread should still be a bit soft when removed from the oven as it will dry out more as it cools down.
Allow the shapes to cool down completely.

Royal Icing:

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix for 8-10 minutes or until fluffy and light.
At this point, you can add food coloring if you want – I like to keep the frosting white and play around with candies for decoration.
Place the walls of the house on a cardboard, making sure they stick to the bottom of the board. Use glasses to support the walls if needed.
Allow to dry out for 30 minutes then attach the roof, sticking it with more royal icing for support.
Decorate the gingerbread house as you wish!

Notes

*Caramel sauce is obtained by caramelizing 250g white sugar in a pot then pouring on top 100g of hot water. Mix well then allow to cool down completely.

Keyword Cinnamon, Ginger, Gingerbread, Spices