I’m sharing with you how to make a gingerbread house from scratch. From the gingerbread recipe
and the template to the decorating. This is a fun recipe leading up to Christmas that
you can eat at the end or use as decoration for the rest of the month.
Welcome to recipes by Carina where I show you how to make classic and simply delicious
recipes, make sure to subscribe for a new video each week. I also have a bunch of other
Christmas recipes here on my channel so make sure to subscribe and take a look.
The first thing we need to do is make the gingerbread dough for the house. This gingerbread
recipe is a bit different from you standard gingerbread cookie as it needs to be strong
enough to hold up a house for a good length of time. I usually have mine all throughout
December and it holds up perfectly.
In a saucepan measure out your butter, 1 stick, half a cup or 113 grams. You’ll notice I
give all of the measurements in metric and imperial so no matter where you are from it
should be easy enough to follow. If you would like the full recipe and printable template
for this gingerbread house it will be on my website as well as the full measurements in
the description box below. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel and take a look
at my other Christmas recipes.
To the butter add the golden syrup, molasses or corn syrup - whatever you can get your
hands on. Molasses is more traditional for gingerbread and it will also give the best
colour, it may also be called Treacle although if you can’t find it, substituting with
others works fine. For spices we’ll need ground ginger and ground cinnamon, 4 teaspoons
of each. These have a the best aroma that will make your house smell of Christmas, and
finally add a cup and a quarter or 250g of brown sugar.
Let me know in the description box below if you’ve ever made a gingerbread house before?
I usually make one each year, challenging myself to a more complicated design each time.
This template is super simple which is best when you’re first starting out but if you’re
wanting something a little more complicated I would recommend looking for inspiration
and drawing up your own template using the measurements from this as a starting point.
Place the saucepan over medium to low heat and stir occasionally until the butter has
melted and the ingredients are well combined.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer measure out your flour. You’ll
need 6 and a half cups or 810g. This may seem like a huge amount but we’re making a lot
of gingerbread dough here. Make sure you’re using a large enough bowl to be able to mix
everything together.
You might be noticing there’s no baking powder or baking soda in this recipe but flour
is the only dry ingredient we need. Add baking powder or soda would make the dough rise in
the oven, causing it to change shape even the smallest amount which is something we
don’t want. There’s nothing worse than baking all of the pieces then finding out
they’ve changed shape and don’t fit together anymore, trust me I’ve had it happen. It’s
completely normal for your pieces to shrink a little in the oven but they should all do
this the same amount so it shouldn’t effect you.
Pour your melted butter mixture into the bowl with flour along with the cup and a quarter
of milk. Using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer combine the dough together. This is
a really good arm work out if you’re doing it by hand. The dough should be very thick
and extremely sticky.
Cover the mixed dough with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for at least 4 hours
or overnight. During this time the dough will firm up, meaning its so much easier to roll
out and will hold it’s shape while cutting out the house pieces.
When you are ready to roll out your dough you’ll need a template. I have a printable
one that I’ve designed for this house on my website which you can find by clicking
the link in the description box below or by going to recipesbycarina.com. Alternatively
if you don’t have a printer I have measurements listed on the template which you can use to
draw it yourself with a ruler.
You’ll need two side pieces, two roof pieces, a front and back, a door and four sides to
the chimney. The roof pieces and the side pieces are the same on both side so make sure
to remember you need 2 of each.
Once you have printed out or drawn up your template, cut it out and set it to the side
while we work with the dough.
The easiest way to roll out the dough is between two sheets of nonstick paper. This way you
can transfer the house pieces straight to a baking sheet. Basically the less you in
need to handle it the better so it doesn’t change shape. Take about a cups worth of gingerbread
dough, you don’t need to measure it just an estimate and place it on a sheet. Top with
the next sheet and using a rolling pin or if you don’t have a wine bottle actually
works just as well, roll out the dough until it is about half a cm or a quarter of an inch
thick. It will be very hard to roll at first as it is straight out of the fridge but just
be patient and you’ll get there.
Check the thickness of the dough and when it is correct check it’s big enough to fit
the template you are using. If it’s big enough you can do 2 different cuts but I tend
to do them all separately and just the door and chimney together.
Before you cut place the dough on a baking sheet and place it back into the fridge for
about 15 minutes or if your freezer is large enough place it in there for 5 minutes instead.
One tip I have for you is make sure your dough is as cold as possible. If the dough gets
soft there is no way you’ll be able to get a clean cut, it sticks to everything and it’s
just too difficult to work with.
After 15 minutes in the fridge remove the top piece of paper and place your template
on the dough.
Using a large sharp knife, line it up against the template and do one straight cut, this
is much more precise than using a small knife and cutting along. Repeat until you have cut
all of the outside lines, pulling the template off and removing the excess dough placing
it back into the bowl to be used again. As you pull of the excess dough off you may notice
some untidy lines, just use your knife here to sharpen them up.
You can leave the house like this without windows and draw them on after or use a smaller
knife to cut them out. I’m using the template but also doing it free hand to cut out 4 small
windows instead of one large window. Another option here is you can create a stained glass
effect by using crushed up candies or lollies which will melt in the oven like in my Christmas
Cookie recipe. This can look really impressive if you put some sort of lights on the inside
of the house.
Place your house piece back on the baking sheet and place into the fridge again for
15 minutes before they go into the oven. It’s important you do this as it helps to reduce
any shrinkage of the dough.
Bake your gingerbread in a 180C|350F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are golden
brown. They will be soft when you remove them from the oven but they’ll firm up as the
cool.
Repeat this process with the remaining dough until you have 2 sides, a back and front,
2 roof tiles, 4 chimney pieces and a front door. You can bake all of the pieces together
or bake a few at a time while you’re working on the rest. You’ll probably have left over
dough, you can use this to make trees or gingerbread men or even a fence for out the front of your
house.
Leave your gingerbread to cool completely before decorating or assembling the house.
To decorate and assemble the house we’ll need royal icing. It’s incredibly sticky
and hardens like concrete so it works great for gingerbread houses.
In the bowl of your stand mixer or large bowl add in two egg whites. You can seperate these
by hand using the shells or crack them into a seperate bowl and scoop out the yolks with
your hand. Pour in your icing sugar or powdered sugar, these are both the same ingredient
just different names depending on where you live in the world. You’ll need 4 cups or
500g. Turn your mixer or hand mixer on low and whisk the ingredients together for a minutes
or so until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to get all of the sugar and turn
the mixer on high for about 5 to 7 minutes or until the royal icing is thick and bright
white.
It’s actually incredibly easy and simple to make. Cover the icing well when your not
using it as it dries out super fast, It can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.
Your first thought may be to assemble the house first but it’s much easier to decorate
while the pieces are flat. Use the royal icing in a piping bag with a fine tip - I’m using
a wilton #1 round tip - pipe on any type of decoration you would like. There are so many
different ways you can decorate, I’m going for a minimal all white them to my house although
my line work isn’t the best so I’m covering most of the roof up with a dusting of icing
sugar after. Colourful lollies or candy are great, chocolate or candy canes, just use
the royal icing as your glue for sticking everything down.
Make sure to leave your decorating to dry and harden for about 6 hours or overnight
before trying to assemble it. You don’t want to smudge it while you’re trying to
hold the pieces up to stick together.
When you are finally up to the stage of assembling your house, as I know this can seem like forever
away, you’ll need something to stick it on. You can use a chopping board, a cake board
or anything else flat. I’ve gone for a chopping board that I’ve covered with nonstick paper.
Take the tall side piece of your house and using a piping bag or a knife, add a line
of royal icing along the edge. Take the front of the house and placing it on the board,
pressing the pieces together. Use a mug, a glass or anything else to give the pieces
some sort of support while they are drying so there’s no chance of them falling over.
Attach the back of the house next, using the same technique of piping a line of royal icing
along the edge and sticking it firmly to the side piece. The royal icing should be thick
and strong enough to hold the pieces in place but I always use some sort of support just
incase so there’s no chance of the whole thing falling down. Before adding the fourth
side I’m putting some battery operated lights inside so I can switch them on so the house
glows, this looks really great when it’s dark.
It should be quite firm and strong once you have all four sides attached as they hold
each other in place. It’s also a great idea to pipe some icing on the inside joins, just
for some extra support. I recommend leaving this to dry for about 6 hours or overnight
before attempting to attach the roof so it won’t fall apart under pressure.
When you’re ready to attach the roof use the same technique. Find something that is
the right height to give the roof support while it dries, for me this was a tin can.
Pipe lines of royal icing along the top of the front and the tips of the side pieces
of the house as well as the edge of the roof. Press the roof pieces in place, they should
be resting against the support as they won’t just stay up on their own. You can also attach
the chimney here, using the icing as glue to stick down both angled pieces that go over
the roof, then attaching the two side pieces as well as the front door.
If you have any trouble with the house falling apart, don’t fret. Pipe on more icing and
use some more supports to hold it in place while it dries. The royal icing dries like
concrete so give it overnight and nothing is going to be moving around or falling apart.
Use the royal icing to cover up any gaps in the house as two pieces may not have fit together
perfectly as well as adding any other decoration. I’m using the excess on the ground to look
like snow and thinning some out with water to pipe on the house so it drips down like
snow. For other decorations I’m using cinnamon stick to look like wood and also some trees
I made with the left over gingerbread dough.
Finally you’ll need a good dusting of icing sugar or powdered sugar to finish it off and
you’re complete. I would love to see a picture if you try out making one for yourself, try
not to be too overwhelmed by it, just break it down into steps to do over 2-3 days. I
hope you enjoyed this recipe. Make sure to subscribe and take a look at my other Christmas
recipes. Thank you for watching and I will see you in my next video.