{"id":146846,"date":"2023-12-22T19:29:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T08:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/?p=146846"},"modified":"2024-09-23T17:12:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T07:12:27","slug":"invented-gingerbread-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/invented-gingerbread-houses\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Invented Gingerbread Houses?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m15766FPnq0?si=w3chu-46PxMNjrI_?rel=0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I was struck by the beauty of what I thought was a gingerbread house in a 150 year old cookbook.  But according to the book it was a decoration made of gum paste.  Not to be deterred I drew up a template for it and baked it out of gingerbread.  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cookbook-gingerbread-house-150-years-old-ann-reardon.jpg\" alt=\"150 year old coookbook gingerbread house\" width=\"550\" height=\"369\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-146849\" data-wp-pid=\"146849\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cookbook-gingerbread-house-150-years-old-ann-reardon.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cookbook-gingerbread-house-150-years-old-ann-reardon-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cookbook-gingerbread-house-150-years-old-ann-reardon-400x268.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><br \/>\nSource: Drawing by E. RONJAT in The Royal Book of Pastry and Confectionery (le livre de patisserie) by Jules Goufffe chef de cuisine of the Paris Jockey Club, translated from the French and adapted to English use by Alphonse Gouffe head pastry-cook to Her Majesty the Queen.  London, 1874<\/p>\n<p>This image started me on a quest to find the first ever gingerbread house.  A task that proved to be more difficult than I imagined.  The earliest gingerbread recipes were for mixtures that could make soft cookies or a gingerbread cake.  It was not until much later that recipes for firm doughs that could be rolled out started to appear in cookbooks.  But those cookbooks don&#8217;t mention gingerbread houses.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_keqLvYstZJ-550x135.png\" alt=\"old gingerbread recipe\" width=\"550\" height=\"135\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-146852\" data-wp-pid=\"146852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_keqLvYstZJ-550x135.png 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_keqLvYstZJ-300x74.png 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_keqLvYstZJ-400x99.png 400w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_keqLvYstZJ.png 601w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><br \/>\nEarly Gingerbread Recipe. source: Two fifteenth-century cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), &#038; Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, &#038; Douce ms. 55<br \/>\nby Austin, Thomas Publication date 1888<\/p>\n<p>Most websites state that gingerbread houses were &#8220;popularized by Hansel and Gretel&#8221;.  But when I looked at the original publication of that story in 1812 I found that it was based around the great famine of 1315 in (3340.1 centimetres) Europe.  And the house that the children stumbled upon in the woods was made of bread, not gingerbread.  New editions of the book in 1840 still say bread, not gingerbread.  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1-550x309.png\" alt=\"hansel and gretel\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-146857\" data-wp-pid=\"146857\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1-550x309.png 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1-1200x675-cropped.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1-400x225.png 400w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/hg-1.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><br \/>\nSource: Brueder Grimm Kinder- und Hausmaerchen. Band 1, Erstausgabe 1812 <\/p>\n<p>Am dritten Tage gingen sie wieder bis zu Mittag,<br \/>\nOn the third day they went again until midday<br \/>\nda famen sie an ein hauslein,<br \/>\nthere they saw a little house<br \/>\ndas war ganz aus Brod gebaut und war mit Kuchen gedecft,<br \/>\nit was built entirely of BREAD and was covered with cakes (pancakes),<br \/>\n und die Fenster waren von hellem Zucfer<br \/>\nand the windows were of light sugar.<\/p>\n<p>The first written mention that I could find of &#8216;gingerbread&#8217; and &#8216;house&#8217; was in a document was ones that referred to it as the style of architecture of a real house.  And there was the court case below with a squib, or firework landing on a gingerbread stall.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_hMrIZKPxjs-550x685.png\" alt=\"history of gingerbread houses\" width=\"550\" height=\"685\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-146943\" data-wp-pid=\"146943\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_hMrIZKPxjs-550x685.png 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_hMrIZKPxjs-241x300.png 241w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_hMrIZKPxjs-300x374.png 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_hMrIZKPxjs.png 739w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_pe3G4HAN56-550x737.png\" alt=\"history of gingerbread houses\" width=\"550\" height=\"737\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-146942\" data-wp-pid=\"146942\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_pe3G4HAN56-550x737.png 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_pe3G4HAN56-224x300.png 224w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_pe3G4HAN56-300x402.png 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_pe3G4HAN56.png 666w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The earliest mention I could find of an edible gingerbread house was in a story in The American Kitchen Magazine in 1896.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_peOZhxg2AL-550x797.png\" alt=\"first gingerbread house ann reardon\" width=\"550\" height=\"797\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-146853\" data-wp-pid=\"146853\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_peOZhxg2AL-550x797.png 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_peOZhxg2AL-207x300.png 207w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_peOZhxg2AL-300x435.png 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_peOZhxg2AL.png 687w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_mTM30Yw9YQ-550x616.png\" alt=\"first gingerbread house\" width=\"550\" height=\"616\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-146854\" data-wp-pid=\"146854\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_mTM30Yw9YQ-550x616.png 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_mTM30Yw9YQ-268x300.png 268w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_mTM30Yw9YQ-768x860.png 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_mTM30Yw9YQ-300x336.png 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/msedge_mTM30Yw9YQ.png 944w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you can find any other historical documents that pre-date 1896 and refer to gingerbread houses please do let me know.  The only earlier references that I found were talking about the architectural style of real buildings.  There is likely to be more information written in languages other than English.  It would be great to find some written references that may help uncover the true history of gingerbread houses.<\/p>\n<p>To make this house&#8230;<\/p>\n<h4>Step 1. Print and cut out the template<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-550x309.png\" alt=\"gingerbread house template\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" class=\"size-large wp-image-138690\" data-wp-pid=\"138690\" \/\n\n<strong srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-550x309.png 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-1536x863.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-2048x1151.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-1200x675-cropped.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-12-at-10.59.31-am-400x225.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/>Hexagonal Gingerbread House Template<\/strong><br \/>\n\t<p class=\"product woocommerce add_to_cart_inline \" style=\"\">\n\t\t\n\t\t<a href=\"?add-to-cart=146885\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-product_id=\"146885\" data-product_sku=\"\" data-quantity=\"1\" class=\"button buy-it-now-button add_to_cart_button product_type_simple\"><span class='button-label'>Buy<\/span><span class=\"woocommerce-Price-amount amount\"><bdi><span class=\"woocommerce-Price-currencySymbol\">&#36;<\/span>5.99<\/bdi><\/span><\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n&nbsp; <\/p>\n<h4>Step 2. Make the Gingerbread Dough<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Gingerbread Dough Recipe<\/strong><br \/>\nMake <strong> 4 batches<\/strong> of this recipe.  Don&#8217;t just quadruple the recipe unless you have a huge commercial mixing bowl &#8211; make four batches.  Note my bowl is 4.8L (1.27 gallons) and only one batch fits.<\/p>\n<p>430g (15.17 ounces) or 2 cups butter or margarine, melted<br \/>\n430g (15.17 ounces) or 2 cups caster (super fine) sugar<br \/>\n250g (8.82 ounces) or 2\/3 cup glucose syrup<br \/>\n260g (9.17 ounces) or 3\/4 cup molasses (note you can swap glucose and molasses for other syrups that you like.  However if they have more water in, as some syrups do, then you will end up with a very runny dough and therefore will either need to add a lot more flour or reduce the milk).<br \/>\n180 mL (6.09 fluid ounces) or 2\/3 cup milk (4%)<br \/>\n1195g (42.15 ounces) or 7 1\/2 cups plain flour<br \/>\n12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 tsp bicarb soda<br \/>\nSPICES (optional, you can adjust the quantity of all the spices to make it taste how you want)<br \/>\n20g (0.71 ounces) or 3 Tbsp cinnamon<br \/>\n12g (0.42 ounces) or 2 Tbsp ground cloves<br \/>\n30g (1.06 ounces) or 5 Tbsp ground ginger<br \/>\n1\/2 teaspoon ground mace (gives it a slight peppery kick)<\/p>\n<p>Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix until just combined.  Cover and put the bowl in the fridge for 2 hours to make the dough thicker and easier to cut out.<\/p>\n<h4>Step 3. Cut your Pieces &#038; Bake<\/h4>\n<p>Preheat the oven to 180\u00b0C (356 degrees Fahrenheit).<br \/>\nRoll out the dough on a sheet of baking paper.  Sprinkle the dough with flour and add the template on top.  Cut around the template.  If the template piece says &#8217;rounded edges&#8217; then bake without a border.  Otherwise bake with a 1cm (0.39 inches) border of gingerbread dough in place to stop spreading.  Re-do the cuts part way through baking.  Also double check which pieces say cut 2 or cut 6 etc.<br \/>\nBaking time will depend on the thickness and sizes of the pieces.  The larger parts took 30 minutes, then pull out of the oven and redo the cuts, remove the borders and then bake for a further 10 minutes if needed.  Smaller and thinner bits took 10-15 minutes.  For large thick pieces once you think it is done, let it cool, if it still feels at all soft flip it over and bake for a further 10 minutes.<\/p>\n<h4>Step 4. Decorate<\/h4>\n<p>Some parts of the house are easier to decorate while they are flat<br \/>\nFor this you will need:<br \/>\nchocolate<br \/>\ngold luster dust<br \/>\nred, white and black fondant for the curtains and other decorations.<br \/>\nWatch the video to see how to make the curtain doorways.<\/p>\n<h4>Step 5. Assembly &#038; more decorating<\/h4>\n<p>For assembly you will need:<br \/>\nA sturdy wooden base board covered in wrapping. (Choose waterproof wrapping so that you can wipe it clean when you inevitably drip chocolate on it.)<br \/>\nGold luster dust<br \/>\nChocolate for joining and decorating.  I used compound chocolate because it has a higher melting point, and it&#8217;s summer here in Australia.<br \/>\nA glass jar the height of the pillars.  Place this in the center of the base board, so the archways are not carrying all the weight.<br \/>\nCurly Wurlies, a store-bought chocolate coated caramel, for balcony rails.<br \/>\nAnd for the green vines I used royal icing coloured with green gel food colouring.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Royal icing<\/strong><br \/>\n1kg (2.2 pounds) or 7 \u00be cups icing (powdered) sugar<br \/>\n50g (1.76 ounces) powdered egg white or 114g (4.02 ounces) pavlova magic mix<br \/>\n125mL (4.23 fluid ounces) or 1\/2 cup water<br \/>\n1 teaspoon vanilla or other flavouring essence of your choice<br \/>\ngreen gel food colouring<br \/>\nplus an additional 1-3 tablespoons of water to get the correct consistency<br \/>\nWhip all ingredients together on high speed until white and thick enough to hold its shape.<\/p>\n<p>Note: When joining the 6 walls together it is easiest to do this on baking paper and then add it to the gingerbread base after it is set.  This makes it easier to center each section.<\/p>\n \n<h4 align=center>My Cookbook<\/h4>\n<p align=center>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/cook-crazy-sweet-creations-cookbook-ann-reardon\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"40%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/hardcover-book-mockup-of-a-woman-reading-3409-el1.png\" alt=\"ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook\" title=\"Crazy Sweet Creations Cookbook\" style=\"opacity: 0.8; -moz-opacity: 0.8;\" class=\"fade\" \/><\/a>\n<\/br>\nStores that sell my book listed by country:  \n<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/ARcookbook\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/bit.ly\/ARcookbook<\/a>\n<\/br>\nAll recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/invented-gingerbread-houses\/\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cookbook-gingerbread-house-150-years-old-ann-reardon-150x150.jpg\" class=\"alignleft tfe wp-post-image\" alt=\"150 year old coookbook gingerbread house\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cookbook-gingerbread-house-150-years-old-ann-reardon-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cookbook-gingerbread-house-150-years-old-ann-reardon-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" data-wp-pid=\"146849\" \/><\/a><p>I was struck by the beauty of what I thought was a gingerbread house in a 150 year old cookbook. But according to the book it was a decoration made of gum paste. Not to be deterred I drew up a template for it and baked it out of gingerbread. Source: Drawing by E. RONJAT in The Royal Book of Pastry and Confectionery (le livre de patisserie) by Jules Goufffe chef de cuisine of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,3824],"tags":[31,206,2188,18,468,477,3734,952],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146846"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146950,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146846\/revisions\/146950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}