How to build a homemade gingerbread house

Hailie Pippin - Senior / Peyton Purgiel - Junior | Features

Gingerbread houses are a classic holiday creation for some families. This recipe by Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction is an easy recipe for the holidays. What you’ll need for this recipe is 145 grams of unsalted butter, 150g of packed light/dark brown sugar, 200g of molasses, one large egg, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, 437g all-purpose flour, one teaspoon baking soda, half a teaspoon salt, one tablespoon ground ginger, one tablespoon ground cinnamon, half teaspoon allspice, half teaspoon cloves.

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat butter with an electric mixer for one minute until smooth. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat until creamy. Next, beat egg and vanilla on high speed for two minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves together. On low speed, slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. One together, divide dough into equal halves. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours (up to 3 days).

After time has elapsed and you have rolled out the dough, you can create a template for the gingerbread house. For the sides, use a 6-inch by 3-inch rectangular piece of parchment. For the front and back, use a rectangular base of 4 inches by 3 inches along with a triangle with a slant of 3.5 inches. For both sides of the roof, use a 4-inch by 6-inch rectangle.

Bake cookies for 9-10 and house pieces for 18-20 or until lightly browned on the edges.

The icing is one of the critical components in making a gingerbread house as it’s the glue that holds everything together. It is imperative that the frosting used will harden once dry; royal icing will fit this purpose. To make royal icing, you will need 1 pound of confectioner’s sugar, ½ a cup of egg whites, and ½ teaspoon cream of tartar.

First, you must combine all ingredients into a bowl. Next, beat concoction with an electric mixer for 7 to 10 minutes or until thick; if the mixture is soupy, add more powdered sugar. When finished, transfer the icing into a piping bag.

Once you have the gingerbread baked and icing whipped up, you can begin building the gingerbread house. To put the pieces of gingerbread together, use the icing as glue and hold the gingerbread pieces until the icing hardens. Whatever frosting is left after construction can be used to decorate the house and gingerbread men.

Decoration is based on your own creativity, and you can use anything for it. Generally, people use different candies to decorate their gingerbread houses such as gumdrops, candy canes, and M&M’s. You also don’t need to follow a cookie-cutter formula for decorating and can make up your own story.