I love making homemade gingerbread. It smells so wonderful with all it’s spices, sugars, and molasses. And of course, children love to help put them together and decorate them with all the colorful candies. This Gingerbread House with Royal Icing goes together easily and will make enough for the house as well as a handful of Gingerbread Men.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Gather your ingredients so that you have everything close at hand on the counter or table.
Prepare the Gingerbread Dough
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 may become stiff. If necessary, continue kneading by hand until the dough is smooth.
Using parchment paper or a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough between 1/8 – 1/4″ thickness.
I like to use parchment paper, which can easily be transferred to a baking sheet. Parchment paper or a baking mat will prevent the need for adding more flour, which will produce a more tender dough. If you need to add flour, do so sparingly.
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.
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
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!
Next, add the other side wall to the front, followed by the back. Add the roof top, attaching along the top of the side walls, front, and back. If desired, you may glue the center of the roof together.
If you’ve opted to include a chimney or other attachments, do this last.
Decorate the House
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.
Place the house on a heavy piece of cardboard or even a baking sheet, which will be temporarily turned into a gingerbread courtyard.
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.
Decorate the Gingerbread Men
Don’t forget to decorate your gingerbread men, so you can enjoy munching on him while you decorate!
This recipe will make one medium-sized gingerbread house and 4-8 gingerbread men, depending on their size.
Notes
*Please only allow adults to run the hot glue gun to prevent accidental burns.