Easy DIY Gingerbread House Recipe with perfect icing to hold it all together!

During the Christmas season one iconic tradition you have to do is making a gingerbread house! While you can buy these kits at the store, it is super easy to make you own DIY gingerbread house recipe!

Plus, you won’t find any strange ingredients and preservatives in this recipe. Which makes it perfectly safe to snack on too!

Whether you are decorating your house at home with your kids or hosting a big gingerbread house decorating party, this is the perfect delicious recipe, with the easiest construction, and the perfect icing to decorate with and hold it all together!

How to make an easy DIY gingerbread house

Simple DIY gingerbread houses to decorate with family and friends can actually be quite simple to make. You can, of course, use any template you like with this gingerbread house dough.

My favourite way to make an easy gingerbread house is with a square. You can use any size you like from the tiny little gingerbread house cookies that go onto the side of a cup of hot chocolate or a full large gingerbread house.

To do this use a perfect square, not a rectangle. You will need to cut out 6 squares for each gingerbread house. The gingerbread house is constructed as follows,

• 1 square for the base
• 2 squares for the roof
• 1 square cut in half horizontally for each side
• 2 squares with the top corners cut of diagonally for the front and back.
• The cut of corners make up the chimney

Can you eat the gingerbread house

Yes! This gingerbread house dough is delicious. This gingerbread house dough is stiff and sturdy to hold up to decorating.

Keep in mind that the cookies will dry out, if you leave your gingerbread house out for display during the holiday season.

Roll any extra dough out and cut into sweet gingersnap cookies. Perfect for dipping in tea or hot chocolate!

The scent and flavour for a gingerbread house

The spices and molasses in this DIY gingerbread house recipe gives that classic strong, warm, spicy taste and aroma we often associate with Christmas. The spices in the gingerbread house are:

Ginger (obviously) – A good amount of ginger is used, (it is in the name after all!). Ginger has a warm spicy flavour, with a slightly sweet citrus taste and aroma.

Cinnamon– A classic Christmas spice. Most people will be quite familiar with the taste and aroma of cinnamon, since it is a commonly used spice. It has a sweet, citrus, floral, and woodsy flavour and aroma.

Cloves– This is the strongest flavour and aroma of all and, in my opinion, gives gingerbread a very distinct flavour. The scent of clove always reminds me of Christmas. A little goes a long way when it comes to cloves! Clove has a sweet, bitter, and almost hot flavour. They are very pungent, but in small quantities are an amazing spice. If you bite a whole clove they will give you a topical numbing feeling. Clove oil is even used in dental product to calm and relieve tooth pain!

Nutmeg – Nutmeg is another common spice often used in Holiday baking. It is a warm, sweet, bitter, and mildly spicy.

Molasses– Which type of molasses to use for gingerbread? There are two main types of molasses in the stores where I live. Fancy molasses and blackstrap molasses. For these sweet cookies use Fancy molasses (sometime called light molasses). This is what gives gingerbread that dark brown colour.

Can I make my DIY gingerbread house in advance and freeze?

I often make batches of cookies, when I have time, during the holiday season and gingerbread houses are no different!

The parts to the gingerbread house can all be made in advance and frozen for later, or just make the dough, freeze, roll out and bake when you are ready.

How to freeze gingerbread house dough

• Split the dough into two equal portions.
• Shape the dough into flattened round disks.
• Wrap completely in plastic wrap.
• Place them in a labeled freezer bag, or air-tight container.
• Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• When you want to make the gingerbread houses, let the dough defrost enough to become pliable. Then roll out with a rolling pin, cut out, and bake!

How to freeze a gingerbread house

Yes, you can freeze already baked gingerbread house cookies. I would store them before assembling the house, just for freezer space, but if you have a big enough freezer, the cookies can be frozen assembled as well.

• After the cookies are baked, cool them to room temperature.
• Freeze in a single layer on a cookie sheet for 2 hours.
• Place into a freezer bag, wrap completely in plastic wrap, or place in a sealed container.
• Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

*The reason to freeze them separately first is so they do not stick together and freeze into a big clump.

Perfect Gingerbread house Icing to hold it all together

The best icing that will hold the gingerbread house together is royal icing. This icing can be made thick for the gingerbread house construction and then simply thinned with a little bit of water to decorate the rest of the house!

For the perfect royal icing to hold your gingerbread house together, use this thick royal icing,

ingredients

• 2 lbs. of icing sugar 900 g
• 5 Tablespoons meringue powder 75 ml
• ⅔ cup warm water 160 ml

To make stiff royal icing

• In a large bowl, add the sugar and the meringue powder.
• Mix to combine and break up any lumps.
• Add the water and mix on low until the icing starts to come together. (This will prevent the icing sugar from puffing up into the air.)
• Turn the mixer up to medium and beat for 4-5 mins, or until light, fluffy, and holds a stiff peak.
• Keep your icing covered either with plastic wrap or a damp cloth when not in use. It will start to dry and set when exposed to the air.
• The stiff consistency is perfect for glueing your gingerbread house together.

Perfect Gingerbread house icing for decorating

Follow the recipe above for the gingerbread house construction icing. To decorate with this icing, mix in a small amount of water, 2-3 Tablespoons. A little goes a long way when adding the water to this icing.

Simply add water until you have your desired consistency. If you are planning to tint your icing with food colouring, add this first. The liquid in the food colouring will also thin down the icing.

For easy decorating, place the icing in piping bags. If you don’t have any, place the icing in a sealable sandwich bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner.

This type of icing will go on smooth but will dry hard within 12 hours.

How to decorate a DIY gingerbread house

If you are decorating the gingerbread house with a more elaborate icing design, decorate the cookies first and then assemble the house after the icing has dried.

Decorating a flat cookie is much easier than decorating a cookie standing up vertically.This will also ensure the icing stays where you want it instead of dripping down the sides of the gingerbread house.

If you are just decorating for fun, and especially with kids, it is easier to assemble the gingerbread house first and allow the icing to set. Then let everyone decorate and customize their own house.

Don’t forget to provide an array of small candies and sprinkles!

How to make DIY Gingerbread House Cookies

Ingredients

¼ cup hot water 60 ml

½ cup fancy molasses 125 ml

1/3 cup shortening 68 g

2/3 cup sugar 135 g

½ teaspoon baking soda 2.5 g

½ teaspoon salt 2.5 g

1 Tablespoon ginger 9 g

½ teaspoon nutmeg 2 g

1 teaspoon cinnamon 3 g

½ teaspoon ground cloves 2 g

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting) 337 g

Method

1. In a large bowl, add the shortening and pour just boiled water over top. Stir to soften and melt the shortening.
2. Stir in the molasses and sugar.
3. Stir in the baking soda, salt, and seasonings.
4. Stir in the flour until you have a smooth soft dough.

5. Place the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten and cover completely.

6. Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

7. Place the dough onto a floured counter and roll out with a rolling pin. Make sure to flip and move the dough around often, to make sure nothing is sticking to the counter. Apply more flour as needed.

8. Roll to about ¼-inch thickness.

9. Cut into 6 squares. Cut one in half and remove the corners from two for the chimney. (*see diagram)

10. Collect the dough back together and continue cutting squares until all the dough is used up.

11. Place the dough cut-outs onto a lined baking sheet and place in the freezer to chill 15 mins. (This will help the cookies hold their shape in the oven.)

12. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) and bake for 9-12 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies)

13. Allow the cookies to set on the try 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely, before decorating and assembling the houses.

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