Gingerbread House Christmas 2016
What a week! My days were filled with packing boxes, then even more packing … then unpacking to find some items I needed for filming! Then the world’s deadliest spider crawled just centimeters from my feet while I worked at my computer. And finally I came down with ‘slap cheek virus’ which for kids is like getting a cold and a headache. But according to the doctor is “much more severe in adults”. I can confirm that statement to be true. Three days of chills, sweats, exhaustion, headaches and intense bone pain, followed by a tell-tale rash once I started to feel better. A week like that really makes me appreciate being healthy and well most of the time.
It wouldn’t be December in our house if I didn’t bake a gingerbread house. My eldest came home from school and declared: ‘It smells like Christmas’. Here’s the recipe so you can join in the fun and make your own house.
Gingerbread House Recipe
To make this house you will need:
1 batch of this dough recipe. You can adjust the amount of spices to suit your personal preference, these amounts give a mild ginger flavor.
430g (15.17 ounces) or 1 3/4 cups plus 3 Tbsp butter, roughly chopped
430g (15.17 ounces) or 2 cups caster (super fine) sugar
250g (8.82 ounces) or 2/3 cup plus 2 tsp glucose syrup
260g (9.17 ounces) or 3/4 cup molasses
180 millilitres (6.09 fluid ounces) or 2/3 cup plus 1 tbsp milk (4%)
1195g (42.15 ounces) or 7 1/2 cups plain flour
12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 tsp bicarb soda
20g (0.71 ounces) or 3 Tbsp cinnamon
12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 Tbsp ground cloves
12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 Tbsp ground ginger
Candy to decorate
gelatin sheets for windows
200g (7.05 ounces) compound chocolate for assembly
cake board
Preheat oven to 180ºC (356ºF)
In a large bowl mix together the butter, glucose syrup, molasses and sugar. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can warm up this mixture in a microwave to soften the ingredients making it easier to mix by hand.
Add in the milk, mix thoroughly. Then add in half the flour and all of the dry ingredients. If your bowl is too full, place the remaining flour on the counter and mix into he dough. Once all the flour is mixed in, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours.
Now that it’s firmer, you can roll it out using a little bit of flour on your rolling pin and some baking paper underneath. Put your template on top and using a pizza cutter, cut straight along the edges. Use a knife to cut out the windows, but leave them in place. Leave a border of dough around each piece to prevent the edges from getting over-cooked. Peel off the template, before you put it in the oven.
For the little front part of the house, roll the dough quite thinly so that it’s easy to put together.
Bake for 15 minutes then take your trays out of the oven and re-cut the lines and remove the windows. Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes until it has dried out.
With the rest of the dough, I cut out stars of various sizes to make a Christmas Tree. You can get creative and make what you like.
Icing Recipe
1kg (2.2 pounds) or 8 cups icing sugar
50g (1.76 ounces) powdered egg white or 124g (4.37 ounces) pavlova magic mix
100mL (3.38 fluid ounces) or 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp water
plus an additional 4 – 10 Tablespoons of water to get the correct consistency
Food coloring
Decorating
If you are piping patterns on your walls then it is easier to decorate them while they are flat. Colour your icing to make the house uniquely yours and create your own designs and patterns, or follow the directions in the video.
Pipe the chocolate along the base of two walls and up one side of the back wall. Position those 2 pieces into place. Add more chocolate to the other side of the back wall and add your third wall to that edge. Once that is setting, pipe along the front edge of the house and outside edges of both side walls and position your front piece in place.
Add in the centre support piece then add windows, candy and lights (make sure your lights do not get too hot though).
Place the front door section at the front using more chocolate and add the little roof.
Add your big roof pieces by piping chocolate along the top edges of the house and hold them in place with your hands for a minute. Pipe more chocolate along the joins to make sure there are no gaps or cracks.
Decorate the roof with candy as shown in the video, add white chocolate to the board followed by a Christmas tree made from gingerbread stars then sprinkle with icing sugar for snow.
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Tried the flood icing idea last Christmas. Was originally going for a red and white theme, but I could only get the frosting pink. Me and mom just went for it and made the whole thing pink making jokes of how it was Barbies Life in the Dream (gingerbread) house! Thanks for the idea!
I love watching your videos its amazing and I in joy make them but make it kind style to it. I also want to say happy new years and we love you and I even love you. I just want to say that keep on doing what your doing because you are a amazing youtuber and if I was the owner I would give you a lot of money. When I mean a lot I mean a lot so yea I just wanted to say happy new years and keep on doing the thing you love doing. We love you and I love you.
Thanks Michael Miranda, Ann so appreciates hearing from people who who loyally follow her channel and blog. Have a fabulous New Year!
You have such wonderful videos of great foods and sweets that I wanted to give a shout out!!! I know you live clear across the world from me as I am in the western USA and you are in Australia. Hoping someday we meet.
THanks Julie for the great feedback. Ann does make it to the USA occasionally so you never know you might meet one day!
Hi
Can I use real chocolate instead of compound one? I guess I just have to temper it.
Hi Valeriya, Yes you can use real chcolate but for best results you will need to temper it.
Hi! Could I do the recipe without the golden syrup? I can’t find it or the substitutes mention in my country (Perú)
Hi Marina, I believe you can order molasses /treacle and corn syrup online in Peru, but I am not sure how expensive it might be. These products help provide the flavour, texture and longevity of the gingerbread, so it is good to use them if you can. If you can’t then look for something similar that is available in your market and then trial a small bake quantity to see hw it works. You need to look for a sugar syrup that is thicker than honey.
Hi Ann, I love your vids!im 9 years old and I’ve been watching your channel for a while now.i really like your vids!
If you’re gluten free can you substitute the plain flour for gluten free flour or will that mess up the recipe?
Hi Jenna, Ann a hasn’t experimented a great deal with Gluten free flours for this recipe. Usually gluten free flour often makes it hard to form a dough and the result can be crumbly. Some people recommend adding xantham gum or gelatin powder to the flour but Ann finds this can still produce a crumbly result when baked. She recommends testing a quarter of the recipe with your preferred flour and one of these additives and seeing if you are happy with the result.
Hi Ann, Thank you for sharing the gingerbread house recipe. I made my first gingerbread house and it took 8 hours! It was lots of fun though – really enjoyed making it and putting it into my tummy. I looked at all your recipes and videos. You are right about the subtle gingery taste – so I added another tablespoon of it. It is very yummy. My house didn’t collapse when I tried to deliver it to my boyfriend’s house (it was a nice surprise!). Have a merry christmas.
Hi Jo,
Thanks for the feedback. Glad your house turned out well.
I want to try this recipe, was wondering if I could just use brown sugar instead of the white sugar and molasses, not sure where I would find molasses in the USA.
Hi Ryan, A quick search online and I found Molasses is available at Walmart. You will get a good result using the ingredients given, but here is an alternative recipe you could try: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/christmas-gingerbread-house-recipe/
Thanks, I managed to buy a jar from Amazon and it worked out great!
Hi Ryan, That is great to hear.
I bought a ready-made house that I decorated using blue icing (on the walls) because I really liked the idea of using something else than just white! Thank you for the great videos, when I make sponge cake I always follow your recipe and people love it.
Great work Sofie. Your house looks fabulous!
Hi, Ann I was wondering how tall your house is. I’m planning a gingerbread house decorating party and was wondering how many batches I would need for 12 small 6-8 inch houses, thanks!
Hi Barbara, The templates give a good indication of the house measurements and it is definitely bigger than than what you are thinking of making. This recipe would probably make at least two smaller houses depending on the pattern you use. Here is another recipe which provides a quantity suitable for a smaller house: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/christmas-gingerbread-house-recipe/ .
Hi Ann!
Your gingerbread house video last year helped encourage me to make one of my own for the first time and enter it in our annual gingerbread house competition just recently. I was so proud of how it turned out (I even placed first in the adult category!!!) So thank you for posting videos that inspire others!
Little details
This is truly amazing Rickie, WELL DONE! I love the details, you’re an artist 🙂
That is so cool!
how did you make that?
Hello, Ann. Love the recipes and I have some questions I hope you can help. What can I substitute molasses and glucose syrup with? I live in London but surprisingly, I can’t find them! ? also what is the effect of molasses and glucose syrup on this recipe and to what does it differ from the ones you posted the previous years? Thank you!
Hi, Rania. I live in Manchester, UK. You can substitute molasses with treacle and glucose syrup with golden syrup. I hope this helps 🙂
Hi Rania, Glucose syrup can be replaced with corn syrup (light is best). Molasses is very similar to treacle. It can sometimes be replaced with golden syrup. You will see Ann uses golden syrup in some of her earlier recipes. It really comes down to what is readily available. The molasses gives a malty sweetness that is characteristic of gingerbread. The glucose syrup is a form of sugar without the same level of sweetness. It caramelizes like sugar but at a lower temperature. THis helps to give the gingerbread its firm biscuit texture and longevity.
if I purchase the template, how long will it be take until it arrives? I live in Sweden
it is a digital download, so it should come immediately (although some email providers block it for some weird reason). Just let us know if there’s any troubles by emailing [email protected]
I once heard this quote and have thought of it often in my life…
“What a I once thought of as a good personality & fun nature, was actually good health”
Once your health is compromised, everything else goes out the window! Glad to know you’re feeling better!!
corrie
Great tips on your video! I’ll certainly keep them in mind for next year. This year two of my high school students made a giant gingerbread house for a community fundraiser. They did it all in two days, it was a lot of fun.
that is amazing, well done everyone involved 🙂
Hello Mrs Reardon! I absolutely LOVE ALL of your AMAZING CREATIONS! I was wondering how you keep this house from going stale before eating? Or do you just make it the day before?
Hi Jillian, The gingerbread is like a firm biscuit. They last very well depending on the environment. It is best to consume the gingerbread withing a couple of weeks.
Hi Ann,
I’ve made the two-storey one from last year with my daughters. Great template, thank you!
I am always looking forward to Fridays!
Cheers,
Sandra from Germany
looks lovely, well done Sandra 🙂
Hi Anne I love all your gingerbread house videos and this one was fantabulous. Next year you should go on the great Australian bake off maggy and matt would love your cakes and other sweets. I too would love seeing you on the great Australian bake off