Gingerbread House Recipe
Made this in 2020. It took us three batches of dough to make the pictured house. We also slowly melted sugar and dribbled it on with Popsicle sticks and grapefruit spoons to cement the sides and roof together. This house is about 16" high x 8" deep x 12" wide. Windows were melted package of Jolly Rancher candies. Brach's work great also. Make sure to cut the windows before baking, but don't remove the cutouts until after baking (makes sharper edges).
Ingredients
- Dough
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- nonstick cooking spray
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- Royal Icing
- 10 tsp water
- 8 tsp corn syrup
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ÂşF (180ÂşC). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Grease the bottom and sides of a heavy-bottomed pot (such as a Dutch oven) with nonstick spray. This will ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the pot as you turn it out.
- Melt the shortening in the greased pot over medium heat. Add the molasses and sugar, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.
- Gradually stir in 4 cups (500 grams) of the flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, making sure to fully incorporate each addition before adding more. You’ll have some of the flour mixture left over.
- Dust a work surface with some of the remaining flour mixture. Carefully turn the dough out onto the floured surface and work in the flour mixture. (You don’t want the dough to be too crumbly. You may have some flour mixture left over, which can be used for rolling out the dough.)
- Once the flour is incorporated, roll the dough to 3/8" thick.
- Set aside the smaller pieces of dough in the pot (it still should be warm, but not hot), cover with plastic wrap, and put the lid on. You’ll want to work with the dough while it’s warm as it tends to harden at room temperature. If it hardens, simply microwave for about 30 seconds.
- Cut the templates and set on a prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart as the dough will expand while baking.
- Roll out the rest of the dough and cut out the front, back, and sides of the house using the templates. Place on a baking sheet.
- Wrap the leftover dough in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 1 day. Microwave to soften and roll out to make decorations for the house or another gingerbread creation.
- Bake the gingerbread house pieces for 12-15 minutes, until they have hardened and baked through. Let cool completely.
- Make the royal icing: In a large bowl,mix the powdered sugar and water. Add corn syrup and lemon juice. Use an electric hand mixer. The icing will be very thick..Decorate the house with royal icing and your desired decorations.
