gingerbread houses

[kimmurphy94]

I want to make gingerbread house kits to give away to a few friends this year. I found the house-shaped cookie cutters at HomeGoods for $5.00, so that's a start. But now what??

Has anyone ever done this before?
Are there any good gingerbread recipes out there?
Any ideas for packaging, etc?

I'd love to hear your advice!
Thanks!

[penguin]

I know there was a lenghty thread on this same topic last year. If you do a search, you should come up with it.

[kimmurphy94]

I actually did try to search and was a little overwhelmed by the number of threads that had nothing to do with what I wanted...

Thanks, now that I have a time frame, I'll try searching again.

[penguin]

Here is the thread I was thinking of from last year:

Gingerbread House (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17430&highlight=gingerbread+house)

I am sure there are others out there as well. Hope that helps! :)

[ChristineLiu]

Do you mean a house-shaped gingerbread or making a house out of gingerbread?

My friend made a house and a cathedral out of gingerbread before. Kinda cool. Icing held the pieces together and she also made support colums because the houses were getting too big. :)

[kimmurphy94]

yes, I mean pieces of gingerbread in the shape of a house with candy decorations, etc. i thought it would be fun for the kids.

And I found the link from last year. Here it is, if anyone else is interested!

gingerbread house thread 2001 (http://64.4.18.250:80/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=201008c08fbafacfd41521b539ad6bf5&lat=1037972193&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fcommunity%2ecookinglight% 2ecom%2fshowthread%2ephp%3fthreadid%3d33026%26goto %3dnewpost)

hmmm... I've never done a link before, so I hope that is right.

it seems like a lot of people were trying this last year, so if you have any advice, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!

[claire797]

I had good luck with the gingerbread dough recipe from The Cake Mix Doctor. The dough was easy, sturdy and tasted very good.

Oh. It took me a YEAR (see the old thread) but I finally figured out how to post a picture of the gingerbread house. Here is LAST YEAR'S gingerbread house which I made with a 3 month old. That is my excuse for why it's so shabby looking. This year I'll make it with a 15 month old and the house will actually be much WORSE or a little better.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid39/paad9dee5ff7da57103716679d333b051/fd04a307.jpg

[ChristineLiu]

that's a great-looking house there! My friend's always made gigantuan houses--at least a couple of rooms. Let's see, make the gingerbread, cut into desired shapes and sizes, glue pieces together with icing. Roof stays on top longer if you place a support column (i.e. rod of gingerbread) from the floor to where you want the roof. So you glue the roof pieces on the support column(s). You wn't be able to see these columns once the house is finished. The longer you let it sit out, the softer the gingerbread will get because it'll absorb the moisture in the air. I don't know how people do it over multiple days; my friend does it the day of.

[Gracie]

Originally posted by ChristineLiu
I don't know how people do it over multiple days; my friend does it the day of.

It's a 3-day process for me. Baking the pieces on day one, "gluing" them together on day two and after letting the pieces sit and the icing harden overnight, decorating it on day three.

It also keeps DD from getting too antsy from too long a process. I've never noticed my house get soft, on the contrary it gets harder, as does the icing. I think you can build real houses from royal icing!

Loren

[schuh]

Two of my friends and I had a gingerbread house decorating evening last year. Two of us assembled three gingerbread houses and brought them assembled to the hostess's house. The hostess provided tons of decorating goodies. Each family decorated its own house.

This year we're planning to do the same thing only make large ones for each mom to decorate and smaller ones for each kid to decorate on their own. I have two Pampered Chef gingerbread molds -- a house and a train -- and plan to make them for the kids. I love those gingerbread molds!

The one piece of advice I have is that Martha Stewart's royal icing is absolutely the best for gingerbread houses. It calls for a lot more egg whites/merengue powder than other recipes but I think that's the trick. This stuff sticks so well that it literally took us five minutes to assemble each house. You can put the sides together and roofs on without holding them into place for ages.

My other tip is that I used powdered egg whites in the royal icing because merengue powder costs a lot more. The powdered egg whites smell nastier than the merengue powder but I figure it doesn't make all that much difference when you're making a gingerbread house. It didn't seem to taste bad -- my kids indulged in our New Year's Day tradition of eating the gingerbread house without a complaint. (They usually just eat a few pieces off the house).

Hope this helps!

[Gracie]

Originally posted by schuh

The one piece of advice I have is that Martha Stewart's royal icing is absolutely the best for gingerbread houses. It calls for a lot more egg whites/merengue powder than other recipes but I think that's the trick. This stuff sticks so well that it literally took us five minutes to assemble each house. You can put the sides together and roofs on without holding them into place for ages.

Schuh - could you please post Martha's royal icing recipe? That would take my project down to two days instead of three.

Thanks!

Loren

[schuh]

Here's the link to the recipe on her Web site:

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe1300

I seem to remember her recipe having a lot more egg whites than that. I'll double check last year's holiday baking issue to double check.

[Gracie]

Thanks, schuh. I just looked at it, too. Juice of 1 lemon? How much do you think that is?

Let me know if you find anything different from the holiday baking book.

Loren

[schuh]

The juice of 1 lemon??? I must not have read the recipe closely enough. I didn't use lemon at all.

Here's the recipe from last year:

Royal Icing

1 pound confectioner's sugar
5 tablespoons meringue powder or 2 large egg whites (I have also used powdered egg whites equivalent to 2 large eggs -- I'd only do this with gingerbread houses, not regular cookies, as it doesn't taste as good)
Scant 1/2 cup water

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine all ingredients on low speed. Mix until fluffy yet dense, 7 to 8 minutes. Use icing immediately or transfer to an air-tight container (royal icing hardens quickly when exposed to air). Beat well with a spatula before using.

Like I said, this is the equivalent of gingerbread house super glue! (OK, not quite that sticky but it works great.)

Let me know how it works.

Tracy

[claire797]

Does anyone have any gingerbread house pictures to post this year? We made one yesterday and I am debating whether or not to share it.

[Gracie]

Oh please share!! This is the one with the 15-month old, right? :)

There's no way I'm going to get to that this year with the construction, but it would be great to see other houses!

Loren

[claire797]

Originally posted by Gracie
Oh please share!! This is the one with the 15-month old, right? :)



Well, we skipped last year (bad!) so my helper was actually 28 months old. Kind of looks like she made it herself, eh? ;)

Has anyone else made one this year?

http://www.ginsberg.com/anna/smallgingerhouse.jpg

[schuh]

I went into my kids' former preschool and decorated a gingerbread house with three different classes (one house each class). What a trip!

Tomorrow I'm going into my son's first grade class to do the same thing -- we'll do a house and a train. I have a Pampered Chef mold for these. I'll try to remember to take the digital camera to post the results.

In my opinion, Martha's Royal Icing is still the ticket to success!

[Laura B]

I'm making one today! I will post a picture when it is done. The assembly may not be complete until tomorrow.

[Hoodone]

A women's group that I am in made gingerbread houses for a home tour that were decorated by four-year-olds. We made the houses themselves by using icing to paste sugar-coated graham crackers to those small, one-cup milk cartons. These were small houses, but so easy to put together. When my daughter gets a little older, I plan to make these with her as they are "child-sized". You can easily make several and everyone gets to decorate their own. A fun party idea!

[claire797]

Next year I am going to build a cardboard frame first and then assemble the gingerbread house over it. My problem this year was that I did not let the base of the house dry before adding the top-heavy roof and the whole thing caved in on itself forcing me to have to re-build with A LOT of extra royaol icing. Building around a cardboard frame should eliminate that.

Laura, can't wait to see your picture. I guess not a lot of people are making gingerbread houses this year.

[maizeyoats]

hi anna,

it's val (masquearding as my mom).

did you use the CMD recipe again?

val

[claire797]

Originally posted by maizeyoats
hi anna,

it's val (masquearding as my mom).

did you use the CMD recipe again?

val

No. This year I was too lazy to even do that. I used a Wilton kit so the base was pre-cut and cooked. The kit comes with cut gingerbread, some candy (which we didn't really use) and powdered icing to which you add water and beat. Since I destroyed my house by being impatient, I ended up having to make a batch of homemade Royal icing from scratch to supplement. What a mess that was.

But I stand by the Cake Mix Doctor's base recipe. That recipe was tasty (for scrap eating) and sturdy.

[AndreaU]

If anyone is interested, I found this at the Food Network website:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_christmas/article/0,1972,FOOD_9832_1746157,00.html

[Laura B]

Hmph. I admit defeat. I had my house fully assembled and was relaxing before making some icing to decorate with. And then... I broke it. The roof crashed to the ground and shattered. I realize I could just make a new roof panel, but that seems like a lot of effort to me right now.

I don't have the energy to do it again! So, I'll just try again next year. :D

It was the cutest thing, too. If anyone has The All American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett, I was making the house in there. It is adorable. :(

[cminmd]

If all that broke was the roof I would still decorate the house using sheets of garham crackers as roofing instead.
Also about the lemon in the icing. I have always heard that if you really eat your gingerbread house then use lemon, but if they are strictly ornamental just use egg and powdered sugar.

[LaurenP]

Anna
Do you have the CMD house recipe to share? I made a house last year that came out so-so. I didn't like the gingerbread recipe because it puffed up to much and the house pieces didn't fit together well. Lots of royal icing filler needed. Would like to try again. TIA.

[claire797]

Laura, that is exactly what happened to me. I didn't wait long enough for the base to dry and when I put the roof on, the whole thing caved in. Next year, I'm going to the cardboard frame with cookies attached. Also, you still have plenty of time to try again this year ;).

Lauren, here's the Cake Mix Doctor recipe for the base. It's actually very tasty too

Gingerbread House Base

2 packages (18.25 oz each) plain spice cake mix (Duncan Hines because it has no pudding in the mix)
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup molasses
1 to 2 tablespoons water if needed
1/4 cup flour

Royal Icing

5 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
5 large egg whites

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375. Set aside 3 ungreased baking sheets.

2. Place cake mix, ginger, oil and molasses in a large bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture comes together into a ball about 1 minute. You may need to stop the machine to add water to make the dough come together and be firm but still workable.

3. Sprinkle flour over a clean work surface and roll the dought out to a 1/4 inch thickenss.

Cut shapes (you can use diagrams Andrea posted from Food Network or elsehwere on the web)

4. Bake cut shapes for 15 to 17 minutes or until dough is lightly browned. The dough may puff up a little. If it does, just press it back down while it's soft.

5. Cool overnight

6. To prepare Royal Icing, place the confectioners sugar and egg whites in a bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape sides. Beat 2 minutes more or until icing looks smooth and thick.

[LaurenP]

Thanks Anna.

[Beth]

Originally posted by Laura B
It was the cutest thing, too. If anyone has The All American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett, I was making the house in there. It is adorable. :(

Laura, I do have that book and had to look it up. That is a cute house with some architectural interest but not a huge size or intimidating comlpexity. Even so, I bought a Wilton kit and we will put it together next weekend. I wasn't even up to doing it from scratchy the firt time, so my hat's off to you.

[Laura B]

Beth, yes, it is a pretty simple house. I made it two years ago and decided to do the same one again this year because it is so cute. This time I even took the time to make the indentations in the roof to look like shingles. It looked really good. But I did forget to make the little half-circles to glue under the eaves.

DH wants me to make it again, but I am adamant that I just don't have the energy. They are simple things to make, but I just don't want to spend another entire day making the dough, chilling it, cutting it out, baking it, making the dang sugar glue, etc. I get tired just thinking about! :D Next year I might tackle the Notre Dame Gingerbread Cathedral from Rose's Christmas Cookies!

[britneyelise]

I made a gingerbread house from scratch for the first time today. Usually we order a few from Swiss Colony, but decided not to this year. It doesn't look half bad (it doesn't look half good either). I did the royal icing with egg whites and it was a pain in the you know what to work with. Squeezing it out of the bag gave me quite a workout! Is it easier using the powdered egg whites or meringue powder? I did put a picture of my niece and nephew with Santa in the front window, heath bar crumbles are the walkway lined with chocolate chips and the siding is white chocolate chips which I have to finish tommorow since I ran out of icing. I used the unsweetened coconut flakes for snow. If I get the guts up to post a picture, I will, it is by far not my best work, but it was fun. In a couple of days I will make another one, assemble it, then give it to my nephew to decorate.

Shannon

[claire797]

Originally posted by britneyelise
If I get the guts up to post a picture, I will, it is by far not my best work, but it was fun. In a couple of days I will make another one, assemble it, then give it to my nephew to decorate.

Shannon

Hey! I posted mine. It's only fair that you post yours. It sounds adorable.

I had a tough time squeezing out the royal icing too, so I don't think using egg whites or powdered egg whites makes a difference. I think the key is putting just enough water in the royal icing to make it squeezable, but still strong. Not that I'm an expert!