Christmas Gingerbread House Recipe
Christmas is coming, how exciting! I love the carols, trees, twinkling lights, advent calendars and of course the kids’ delighted faces on Christmas morning.
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Christmas Gingerbread House Recipe
Makes enough dough to make one house using this silicone mould.
125g (4.41 ounces) or 1/2 cup plus 2 tsp brown sugar
180g (6.35 ounces) or 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
300g (10.58 ounces) or 3/4 cup plus 3 Tbsp golden syrup or you can use treacle
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1 ½ Tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves
500g (17.64 ounces) or 3 cups and 3 Tbsp plain (or all purpose) flour
Preheat your oven to 170°C (338 degrees Fahrenheit).
Beat the butter, sugar, golden syrup and spices on low speed for a couple of minutes
Add the flour and mix until it forms a nice dough.
Split the dough between the sections of the house as shown in the video and push down into the mould.
Place the moulds onto baking trays and bake for 20 minutes, swapping the trays after 10 minutes.
Gingerbread House Icing Recipe
1kg (2.2 pounds) or 7 and 3/4 cups plus 3 Tbsp icing sugar
50g (1.76 ounces) powdered egg white or 114g (4.02 ounces) pavlova magic mix (one packet)
100millilitres (3.38 fluid ounces) water
plus an additional 2 – 5 Tbsp of water to get the correct consistency
To decorate the gingerbread house as shown in the video you will need:
1 packet of mint leaves
white fondant
green gel food colour
red fondant
10 red and 10 green Smarties
soft sugar pearls to decorate the tree
375g (13.23 ounces) or 2 1/2 cup white chocolate melts
50g (1.76 ounces) or 1/3 cup milk chocolate melts
1 packet hundreds and thousands
1 tube mini M&M’s
icing sugar for dusting the snow
2014
by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
I have been busy over the last year planning, writing and overseeing the photography and layout for my first ever cookbook! There are heaps of my favourite dessert recipes in there with a chapter on pastries, ice-cream, yummy cakes, artistic desserts and of course chocolate desserts. Each chapter has its own intro explaining the food science that you'll need to know for success every time. Booksellers where you can pre-order your very own copy: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
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Hi Ann,
For coating the gingerbread house, can I use real chocolate instead of compound chocolate
i have just orderd that gingerbread house mould i am so exited to use it thanks for the inspiration ann 🙂
You are the best Baker ???
I have been using this recipe for 5 years now and I keep coming back, this is the best gingerbread recipe I’ve ever used!
Ann, I have to tell you my 7 year-old daughter loves your show. She was so inspired by this video and your other gingerbread house videos especially that she decided to make her very own and even won first place in our community’s gingerbread house contest. She had so much fun and learned a lot. I wish I could show you more pictures of her details. Thank you for inspiring her! 🙂
Hi. I thought I had cloves, but I’m out and I’m baking tomorrow. Grrr. Is there a sub for cloves or can they be left out? I doubt theres a sub for cloves but I really dont want to go to the store on Christmas eve day. Yikes. Also, is it ok to bake tomorrow and put together on Thursday? Thank you so much. I got this mold and it had zero instructions. I so appreciated your post! Merry Christmas
Thank you for all your helpful videos Ann. They helped me make this cute little Gingerbread Cottage for my website.
Looks great Mary, well done. I’ve just finished making this years gingerbread house – now to edit the video!
Just finished mine for this year. Well it is my first gingerbread house 🙂 Merry Christmas
Hello Ann- My five year-old daughter marvels at your gingerbread houses, and we are constructing a few for a kids’ Christmas party. After extracting the pieces from the mold, I found that they seem to stay a bit moist, to the point that our first house caved in a bit. (The character is not bad, actually.) It’s beautiful dough. Should I leave them in longer, not fill the molds so full, or simply expect some give in the pieces? I’ve even rebaked a few to harden them a bit. They still seem to show a glisten from the molasses. I did use margarine, simply because we are making so many, and it’s cheaper. Perhaps that is the problem. Thank you kindly for your suggestions and for sharing your talent with the world. (We will probably try to mold a saguaro cactus for ours, as that is native to our area in AZ. )
Hi Sarah, Once removed from the mold and cooled if they are too soft re-bake – you don’t need to put them back in the mold just put the flat side down on the tray. It can be hard to judge when it is done perfectly because they are still soft when hot. The best way is to let it cool them put it in for another 10 minutes if it needs it.
Hi Ann,
Just wondering if there is a reason you prefer powdered egg white or pavlova mix instead of real egg white for royal icing?
Love your work!!
Hi LIndy, It is a much safer, more convenient and more stable frosting. If you are usinfg real egg white, you can risk the icing being contaminated with Salmonella. Slmonella tends to be found in the yolk of the egg, but it’s possible for it to be in raw egg whites. So to minimise the risk, you need to use egg whites that are pasturised or powdered.
Hi Ann after watching your videos for months I finally decided to try to replicate this gingerbread house. It’s my favourite one of yours. It took me hours but I did it. Thanks so much for the inspiration 🙂
Hi Darcey, Your house looks fabulous!!
I was gifted these molds last Christmas and am going to try my hand at your recipe this year with my boys. I was wondering if I can substitute the golden syrup for molasses? If so will it be the same measurement?
Hi Kristina, Yes you can. Here is a more recent recipe that uses Molasses: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/gingerbread-house-2018/
Thank you!
Here’s the cute house my family made using your recipe. Thank you so much
How long ahead of Xmas can the house be made. Does it store well
Lynn laverack
Gingerbread houses keep beautifully. We make ours about 3 weeks before Christmas.
Hi Ann! I’m making your gingerbread house tomorrow with a friend so the molds won’t arrive on time. Can I just role out the dough and use a random template to cut it?
Hi Sofia, You can get good molds from baking stores or use an online template. Here are some to check out: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/gingerbread-house-ideas-best-of-the-web/
Hi Ann It’s me Justin from the peanut brittle recipe video on YouTube 😀 Heere is my gingerbread I made 🙂 Also entered the contest for the Kitchen Aid lol
Great work Justin. You house looks fab!
Hi Anne I made your gingerbread recipe I hope you like it – It’s me Justin from the YouTube Peanut Brittle Recipe 😀
HI Ann,
I am in QLD and it is crazy hot at christmas,will this gingerbread hold up in the heat?
Thanks
Hi Megan, It is hot in Sydney and Melbourne too and the gingerbread has always been fine. Sometimes the decorative bits dont cope quite as well. Chocolate and sugary sweets can get a bit sticky. However they are usually fine if stored away from direct sunlight or heat.
This is a really great video with instructions. I just bought those silicone molds and was concerned about a perfect recipe. Thank you so much!!
Our please Sandy J.
Hello Ann!! I was just wondering do I have to use what’s chocolate for the walls or can I use normal brown chocolate instead?
Hi Lila, You can decorate your gingerbread house however you like. Ann made the walls from gingervread and coated them in white chcolate.
Elsa ginger bread house:) Ukraine/US
wow, that looks amazing! well done Anna