Evolution of a Gingerbread House
I know what you are thinking, yes, we already made a gingerbread house. But this was not enough for us, we want to evolve, expand and advance. So this is version 2.0 with more, more gingerbread, more icing, more skill, more techniques, more time, and more love. This was a labour of love with 3 days work, and although a long process, it is one we enjoyed and one I hope you all get to experience. For this experience, you will need about 4 batches of my gingerbread recipe, and some planning. You could search for templates of gingerbread houses, or select a dolls house model, or even free style it all. But whatever you choose, put your own style and flair on it.
If you would like a template for our house email us for the link.
Enjoy
Gingerbread House 2.0
Ingredients
- 125g unsalted butter
- ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 ½ tbsps golden syrup
- 2 ½ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 4 tsp ground ginger
- Royal icing
- 2 eggwhites, lightly beaten
- 3 cups pure icing sugar
Directions
- Combine the flour, ginger, brown sugar and butter in a food processor.
- Process until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the golden syrup and egg yolk, then process until dough just comes together.
- Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth.
- Cut dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until well chilled.
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Roll dough, 1 portion at a time, between 2 sheets baking paper until 5mm thick.
- Remove top layer baking paper.
- Using house template cut-outs different biscuit cutters as a guide, cut shapes from dough. Place gingerbread in a single layer on lined baking trays.
- Place gingerbread on trays. Bake, 2 trays at a time, for 15 minutes or until firm. Cool on trays.
- Make royal icing: Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar, beating constantly until thick.
- Use icing to join walls together.
- Spoon the icing into a snap-lock bag. Trim 1 corner of bag and pipe windows and doors on house and frost on roof edges. Allow to dry. Spoon remaining icing into snap-lock bag.
- If decorating with lollies, pipe a little icing on the back of each lolly and attach to house to decorate. Dust roof with icing sugar.
Here was our previous houses, if you would like to start off easier.
I’m sorry but I’m pretty disappointed in the evolution of the gingerbread house recipe, I’m finding it is too crumbly to come together enough to roll out. I’ve been making gingerbread houses for ten years and thought I’d try a new recipe and this is the one I chose. I am a proficient baker so am aware of what consistency the dough needs to be. Any tips?
Hi Kirsty,
I’m sorry you are feeling disappointed. And thank you so much for reaching out! I appreciate all feedback and want everyone to enjoy my recipes!
This recipe does tend to be a little dry before you knead the dough, but becomes very soft after kneading.
Rest assured this recipe had been around way longer than me, it has been passed down through the family. Perhaps you could add a little more butter or reduce the flour slightly, as it can be possible that the weather could affect the amount of moisture required. But I have personally never had this issue.
Tasty Regards,
Chef Simonetta