Do you use the premade gingerbread houses frosting to make the gingerbread house or order one as a tradition? If yes, then you would be amazed to know that the hustle of getting premade gingerbread houses can be avoided if you find out that they can be easily made at home with only a few things.
According to the first American cookbook, American Cookery – written by Amelia Simmons, gingerbread can be prepared with three varieties. Preparing gingerbread at home is definitely cost-effective. While preparing the gingerbread, the implausible aroma of the bread wafting around the house brings out the creativity to the fore.
Now, it’s time to take on the challenge and try this wonderful finger-licking recipe to make gingerbread house at home. It means you can get rid of those expensive premade gingerbread house kits.
How to make a gingerbread house at home
Step#1: Find out the printable template of a gingerbread house, print it, and cut it out. Paste the printed template onto the cardboard or the cereal box and cut through all the pieces.
Step#2: Next put vinegar, molasses, sugar, and fat on the stove and bring the mixture to boil. Let it cool and add eggs to the mixture
Step#3: Gently knead gently all the dry ingredients together with the molasses mixture including bicarbonate soda, flour, and ground ginger to form a smooth dough. Let the dough rest before you go ahead with your rolling pin.
Step #4: Now roll out the dough on parchment paper, place the cut-outs of templates on the dough. Cut all the pieces of the gingerbread house and place them nicely on the greased baking sheet or parchment paper. Straighten the pieces using the same cardboard cutouts if necessary.
Step#5: Preheat your oven on 350℉ and bake the bread pieces for 12-15 minutes, if you want to have a larger house. For a smaller house, baking for 10 minutes would be enough. Take them out, and without letting the pieces cool, cut out the edges to give them fine and sharp straight lines. Place the pieces over a rack and let them cool down completely.
Step #6: It’s time to assemble. For this purpose, you should wrap a card box or the pizza box with wrapping paper to give your house a base (foil can also be used instead of wrapping paper). Now, melt 2 cups of sugar to prepare a sugar glue on medium heat.
Step#7: Now use this sugar to glue all the pieces together starting from the base, sides, front, back, and doors in the position to the top lid of the house. Drizzle some sugar to keep the house in its place.
Step# 8: To prepare royal icing, you should mix egg whites, sugar, and meringue powder and beat them for about 8-10 minutes. Use the mixture immediately and cover it up with a damp towel or paper to avoid the frosting from drying out.
Step# 9: Keep all things in place. Decorate your house as you like
Candies to decorate your gingerbread house
There are so many ways to decorate your gingerbread house. But for a quick list of candies, here you go:
- M&Ms
- Gumdrops
- Peppermint swirl candies
- Candy canes
- Marshmallows
- Edible beads
- Sprinkles
- Cinnamon sticks
- Coconut for a snowy effect
- Icing decorations
Gingerbread house making – Pro tips to follow:
- If your dough is sticky, then it’s fine don’t add an extra spoon of flour to it. Just leave it for a few more minutes
- Always use parchment paper when baking the bread. It lets the bread off the paper easily without breaking it into pieces.
- When putting your template on the dough, avoid pressing it too hard, otherwise, it would stick to the dough and spoil all your work.
- Assemble the house quickly before the sugar gets dried out, else your bread would fall apart again and again.
- If your kids just like to eat the candies rather than the gingerbread, then keep it at a cool place and stick it again with the hot glue gun and keep it as room décor.
- You can reuse gingerbread dough even after 12 months. For this purpose, you should store it in an air-tight jar.
Additional note
If you really want to cut down the cost, ask your friends and your family members to bring out the candies or any other thing they want to decorate the house with. You can also make small houses for them to decorate and take home. Trust us, it will be more fun this way.