Gingerbread Houses...

Ever thought of starting a family tradition that will turn into wonderful life long memories ~ How about creating your own gingerbread house. Making a gingerbread house is a great way to spend time with your children or grandchildren around the holidays. If you’ve ever been enchanted by gingerbread houses and thought it was too much trouble to make one, a quirky creation of your own might be easier than you think.

One suggestion before you start, keep it simple. There are packaged kits available or use the gingerbread and icing recipe below. You’ll be baking the gingerbread using a template for the walls and roof. The frosting is the glue that will hold you gingerbread house together, and decorations like gumdrops, pretzels, and candy canes will give it enough charm to distract attention from any flaws. I have provided a good recipe for gingerbread and frosting as well as a basic template, although there are probably thousands of others to use. Here is a great house template from allrecipes.com that gives you the simple building elements for walls, roof and doors. Just bake your gingerbread on baking sheets with sides and cut out the structure elements using the template.



It’s important to bake the best gingerbread as possible, so you don't want to burn the edges of your gingerbread pieces, so test the temperature of your oven with an oven thermometer before you begin. If you think your oven cooks unevenly, rotate the cookie sheet halfway through the baking process.

The trickiest part of making your gingerbread house is putting it all together, and for that you will need the gingerbread equivalent of glue...icing. Royal icing starts to dry as it is exposed to the air, so once you have a good consistency, keep it covered. If it starts to get too thick, add a little water at a time until it gets back to a consistency that works for you.


To apply icing, you will need a pastry bag. In a pinch you can use a freezer or storage bag in which you have cut a small hole in one bottom corner. A tip placed at the open end of the bag from the inside will produce a decorative pattern as you lay a bead of icing.

As you start to assemble your pieces, put them together on a sturdy base like a chopping board. Remember, you are going to have to move your finished house to a place of honor in your home. Many a gingerbread house has come crashing down because it was built on an unstable base, so do a little planning. Cardboard isn’t the best choice unless it’s very thick and strong. I like to use a decorative serving tray, that way it is sturdy no matter where you place it. Also, while you are assembling the gingerbread walls, lean them against soup cans from your cupboard to hold them upright. That way the walls can dry without the added stress of standing alone.


One of the key ingredients to having a great time creating your gingerbread house is in having a wide variety of edible decorations to trim the house with. Buy bulk candy, where you can purchase as much or as little as you want, makes it easy to get a lot of different candy varieties.


The traditional gingerbread house should be completely edible, so look around for unexpected additions that have good texture but aren't necessarily sweet. Breakfast cereal makes authentic looking roofing shingles, and some crackers can be fashioned into realistic shutters and doors. Gumdrops make great scrubs and candy sticks & pretzels make interesting fencing around the house. Sugar ice cream cone make wonderful Christmas trees. So, go wild and use your imagination. The skies the limit on decorations… just remember to have fun!



Gingerbread House

Ingredients:
House dough
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
1¾ cups dark corn syrup
1 cup light brown sugar
¾ cup butter

Royal Icing
2 cups confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
3 egg whites

For the house:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Set aside.
In a saucepan, melt the corn syrup, brown sugar and butter over medium heat. Stirring occasionally until well blended. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and stir to blend until even in color. Divide dough into four equal parts; wrap in plastic. You may start rolling out dough or refrigerate up to 2 days.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and roll out dough into a 9-by-13-inch rectangle about ¼-inch thick. Cut out shapes for your house according to your plan. Leave shapes on baking sheet and bake at 350° F for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Trim if necessary while shapes are warm. Cool until firm enough to handle.

Royal Icing:
In a mixing bowl, beat sugar, tartar and egg whites for about 7 minutes, until smooth and firm. This icing is used as the mortar for the sides and roof of the house.
Recipe makes 2½ to 3 cups. Repeat recipe for decorating. Do not double the recipe!

Use assorted colorful candies and gum drops to decorate.

Recipe provides enough gingerbread for one standard size house.
(click here for a printable simple house template)

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George’s notes:

• If you want to really be creative, I turn to Teresa Layman’s books Gingerbread for All Seasons and Gingerbread: Things to Make and Bake for larger more intricate templates and inspiration.
• Remember constructing your gingerbread house is no "brain surgery" ~ if you have crooked walls, so what. It just adds to the charm.