Gingerbread House with Royal Icing

Shop for Candy Decorations

Start at the beginning of the holiday season to pick out your candies. I like to start shopping for these early to get items that may not last long in stores. Dollar General is a great place to shop for specialty items like marshmallow snowmen, Christmas trees, or Santa on a stick.

Some of my favorite candies for decorating are: holiday M&M’s, Skittles, gumdrops, holiday marshmallow shapes, cinnamon candies, chocolate kisses, candy canes, peppermints, Christmas sprinkles, pretzels (not a candy, but great for creating a wood log look), licorice, Necco wafers, and red and green Sixlets.

Next, decide whether you want to construct your own house or use a gingerbread house baking kit. In my early years, I did everything from scratch, from planning the pattern, to building the house, and decorating it. Believe me, my cardboard pattern was well used.

These days, I’ve come to appreciate the small building kits you can buy that are inexpensive and that can be used over and over again. See a similar kit to the one I own Here. 

Now that we’ve covered those two items, lets move on to the recipe!

More Holiday Cookies

Ingredients for Gingerbread House with Royal Icing

(As a Walmart Affiliate, I earn from qualified purchases at the links below. See the full recipe at the bottom of this post.)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Gather your ingredients so that you have everything close at hand on the counter or table.

In a small bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Mix to combine.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the vegetable shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses to combine.

Gradually add in the dry ingredients, alternately mixing with the water. The dough will become stiff. If necessary, continue kneading by hand until the dough is smooth.

Roll and Cut Out House

Using parchment paper or a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough between 1/8 – 1/4″ thickness.

I like to use parchment paper on the bottom and a sheet of wax paper on top for easier rolling. Then remove the wax paper and transfer the cut outs and parchment paper to a baking sheet. Parchment paper will prevent the need for adding more flour, which will produce a more tender dough.

Cut out shapes for the walls, sides, roof, chimney, and any other add-ons, including gingerbread men. Remove excess dough and carefully transfer the parchment paper to a baking sheet.

If you aren’t using parchment paper, you can use an off-set spatula to transfer pieces to a baking sheet, but do so carefully, so as not to alter the pattern pieces. 

Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until edges just start to brown. Allow to cool on the pan before removing. Repeat until all the pieces have been baked.

If you are baking gingerbread men, too, feel free to spread a little brown sugar over the dough for a jacket to keep the little guy warm this winter.

Prepare the Royal Icing

In a large mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, cream of tartar, egg whites, and lemon juice. Beat on low to medium speed for about 5 minutes, until the icing is glossy and smooth.

Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form, about 2-3 more minutes.

Once icing is made, spoon it into a container or plastic pastry bag to prevent it from hardening. If it does begin to harden, you may add drops of water, as needed.

Assemble the Gingerbread House

Prepare a heavy piece of cardboard to set the house on by covering it with aluminum foil. You want the cardboard to be large and strong enough to hold the house and courtyard. A baking sheet would also work, if you can spare one.

To assemble the house, begin with one side wall and the front of the house. If you want to do this the traditional way, stick it together with strips of Royal Icing. Or use a hot glue gun, which makes building a house very easy! *Please only allow adults to run the hot glue gun to prevent accidental burns.

In my years of assembling gingerbread houses, I learned that using a hot glue gun is a wonderful way to build the house. No waiting for the frosting to dry. No falling walls. It’s quite wonderful. Who eats the house anyway? Kids just want the candy. And by the time the candy is gone, the house is so old, no one wants to eat it.

If you’ve used a glue gun, it’s time to decorate. But if you are using the Royal Icing to build the house, you’ll need to give the house time to dry and set up before decorating. FYI, houses can be made 2-4 weeks in advance before decorating.

As you use the Royal Icing, be sure to keep the end of the decorating bag closed, to keep the icing as fresh as possible, without it hardening.

I like to begin decorating the house with the roof, using candies as desired.

It helps to divide the candies in little bowls so you know how much candy is available to decorate the parts of the house. 

Use the Royal Icing to decorate the roof, doors, windows, and lots of “snow.” Our daughters always liked to add a courtyard for the house, with sidewalks, bushes, trees, or even a mailbox. Use your imagination.

It might also help your inspiration by browsing the Internet to see how other people have decorated houses.

Through the years, I’ve collected many pages of gingerbread houses that I’ve gathered from cooking magazines to help with ideas. I still have them and keep them with my gingerbread pattern kit. 

Decorate the gingerbread people for boys or girls, and feel free to give the cookies long hair or a dress, if you want.

Be sure to download my Free Large Gingerbread Man PDF Template to print and cut out.

This recipe will make one medium-sized gingerbread house and 4-8 gingerbread men, depending on their size.