How to Make a Gingerbread House

Gingerbread Dough:

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the black treacle (or molasses), followed by the egg and milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, ntmeg, and kosher salt.

Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix on medium-high speed until just combined.

Flatten dough into a large disc. Wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill, at least four hours and up to two days.

Gingerbread House Pattern:

On a piece of paper or baking parchment, draw two pattern pieces: A 3-inch x 4 1/2-inch rectangle, and a 4-inch x 4 1/2-inch x 4 1/2-inch triangle.

Trace two of the rectangle pieces and two of the triangles onto a piece of cardboard. Cut out, then use tape to secure the pieces together, forming a gingerbread house shape. (Don’t worry if it’s not pretty. The purpose of the cardboard house is to serve as a guide/support during assembly, and to double-check that your pieces fit together. Nobody will see the cardboard!)

Cutting and Baking:

Line baking trays with silicone mats. (I used six small trays, but one or two large trays will work, too. Just make sure the trays will fit in your refrigerator.)

Unwrap the chilled dough and cut into quarters.

Dust countertop or a silicone rolling mat with flour. Place one quarter on the floured surface, and return the rest of the dough to the refrigerator.

Roll the dough to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. When rolled, it should be large enough to accommodate the paper rectangle and triangle pattern pieces.

With a sharp knife, cut one of each shape.

Repeat with the remaining dough quarters, then re-roll the gingerbread dough scraps. When finished, you should have six of each shape.

Transfer pieces to prepared trays.

If desired, use a small metal cutter (I chose a star) to create cutout shapes on the triangular pieces. You can skip this step if you prefer a window-less gingerbread house.

Transfer trays to the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. While dough chills, preheat oven to 350° F / 176° C.

Bake in preheated oven, one tray at a time, for 15 minutes per tray or until pieces are just beginning to darken around the edges.

Cool gingerbread on tray for ten minutes, then transfer pieces to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sugar Windows (optional):

Place baked triangular gingerbread pieces on trays lined with silicone mats.

In a small saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup, and water.

Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until the syrup reaches 300° F / 149° C on a digital candy thermometer.

Remove from heat. Stir in food coloring and edible glitter.

Immediately pour hot syrup into cut-out window shapes.

Allow to cool completely. Sugar will harden as it cools.

Royal Icing:

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip egg white to soft peaks.

Add confectioner’s sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix on high speed until all sugar has been incorporated and meringue is thick and glossy, with stiff peaks.

If necessary, add lemon juice (1 teaspoon at a time) to adjust consistency. The royal icing should be pipeable, but not thin or runny.

If desired, separate royal icing into bowls and tint with gel coloring. I used white and purple, but you can add more colors if you’d like. You can also use white royal icing only.

Transfer royal icing to piping bags fitted with very small round tips. You’ll also need one slightly larger (about 1/4-inch) tip to pipe the royal icing when joining the house pieces.

If reserving some of the royal icing for later, cover it with a wet j-cloth or tea towel. This will prevent the royal icing from solidifying in the bowl.

Decoration:

With gel food coloring, tint fondant into desired colors. (For each gingerbread house, I used two tennis ball-sized balls of fondant (about 100 grams each), one purple and one white.

With a rolling pin, roll the fondant to about 1/8-inch thickness.

With a sharp knife, cut the fondant into strips, each about 5/8-inch wide and about 5 inches long. (They should be long enough to cover the rectangular gingerbread piece from end-to-end, lengthwise.) I used six strips per roof piece, but you can make them wider or narrower if desired.

Apply the strips lengthwise to the rectangular pieces, forming a striped pattern. Use your fingertips to “pat down” the fondant to help it adhere to the gingerbread.

With a knife, trim away excess fondant from the edges

Pipe thin lines of royal icing to hide the seams.

Set roof pieces aside to dry while you decorate the front and back of the house.

Roll additional 1/8-thick pieces of fondant. With small metal cutters, cut desired decorations. (I created a wreath, bow, and door, but you can make whatever you’d like! Windows, stars, hearts, candy canes—feel free to be creative here.)

Place the fondant shapes on the triangle pieces as desired. Use your fingertips to “pat down” the fondant to adhere it to the gingerbread, then pipe royal icing as desired.

Pipe royal icing on triangular pieces, using any shapes or patterns you’d like. You can also add sprinkles, silver balls, sugar pearls, glitter, lustre dust, foil stars, or other edible decorations.

Allow royal icing to dry before proceeding to assembly. (This will happen quickly, about 10 minutes).

Assembly:

Pipe thick strips of white royal icing on inner edges of one of the triangles. Join it with one of the roof pieces, holding it in place for a few minutes as the icing hardens.

While working, use your cardboard “house” as a guide. I found that the cardboard was also helpful in keeping the pieces upright and in place as I worked.

Repeat with remaining pieces, adding more royal icing as needed to hold everything in place.

Set house aside to dry. Meanwhile, cut two 1 1/2-inch wide x 4-inch long strips of fondant, then use a triangle or other cutter to create a decorative edge.

Place these fondant pieces on the roof to hide the top seam.

Finish roof with additional royal icing piping or decorations.

You now have a miniature gingerbread house!