How to make a gingerbread house

Making a gingerbread house is not that difficult. You can purchase a gingerbread house making kit or you can bake the house pieces yourself. If you choose to bake the pieces yourself, you will need to cut out a pattern of the house design that you have chosen. Then when the gingerbread dough is ready to cut, lay the pattern onto the dough and cut the pattern out with a knife.

RECIPE FOR GINGERBREAD

2 tsp of ground cinnamon

1 ½ tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of ground allspice

1 cup of butter or margarine, softened

1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

1/3 cup of molasses

2 whole eggs

Use marzipan for attaching house pieces and decorations.

Mix flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda and allspice in medium bowl. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer for about five minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy. Mixture will not be completely smooth. Beat in molasses and eggs until blended and scrape down the side of the bowl once. Beat in flour mixture at low speed until well blended. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and flatten each piece of dough into a circle. Then wrap pieces in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease large cookie sheets.

Remove plastic wrap from one piece of dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough with a lightly floured rolling pin to 1/8 inch thickness. Keep the remaining dough refrigerated until needed.

Cut out the dough and place onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for ten minutes or until golden brown. Let pieces stand on a wire rack until cooled completely.

After all of the pieces are finished, you are ready to form your house and decorate. Use one piece of gingerbread as the bottom of the house and “glue” it to a piece of cardboard. The cardboard should be large enough to hold the house and any other decoration around the house that you decide to make. Take the sides of the house and “glue” them together with the marzipan. Hold sides until stuck together and then move on to the next pieces. After the house is formed and “glued,” you can then begin to decorate using the marzipan and the decorations you have bought. Use cellophane to wrap your house up when you are finished decorating it. Use your house as a gift or as an edible decoration.

Here are some suggestions:

Use pretzels or gumdrops as a fence around your house.

Use nonpareils as a walk way to the house.

Turn a small waffle cone upside down, cover it with green frosting and decorate it as a Christmas tree.

SUGGESTED DECORATIONS TO BUY

Pretzels, gumdrops, nonpareils, snowcaps, licorice whips, waffle cones, frosting, food coloring, oreo cookies, hershey’s kisses, m&ms, peppermints, colored sugar, sprinkles, chocolate, etc…