Directions: |
Directions:Your House
You will need to make a cardboard pattern for your gingerbread house. Cut it into the various pieces - 2 side walls, 1 front and 1 back, and 2 roof sections, etc. Try to lightly assemble the cardboard pieces into your house with common pins and/or tape to be sure you like the looks and fit. Adjust as desired.
Preparing Gingerbread Dough
Using a medium size mixing bowl, add flour, salt, ground ginger, molasses, ground cloves, egg, baking powder, cinnamon, vegetable oil and brown sugar. Mix well with electric hand mixer. Cover dough with a piece of wax paper and place in refrigerator for 1 hour.
Grease 11 x 15 cookie sheet with 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, sides and all. Take dough out of refrigerator and use a rolling pin to roll dough out on cookie sheet in uniform thickness, about ¼ to ⅜ thick. Preheat oven to 350º and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and roll dough again once or twice on the cookie sheet with rolling pin. Bake for another 10 minutes.
Remove baked gingerbread from the oven and cut it into pieces for the house while still hot, using the cardboard patterns you made earlier. Turn individual pieces over on cookie sheet and return to oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. I also cut out gingerbread men and woman, pets, etc. from left over pieces of dough and bake them with the bread.
The Frosting
Combine shortening, confectionary sugar, milk water and peppermint extract in a medium bowl and mix well. I use white for most of the assembly, but food coloring can be added to portions of the frosting to color it as desired. For example, I use green to color frosting for the Christmas trees.
Creating Your House
Assemble the gingerbread house on 11 x 14 inch plastic cutting board. You can also use a clean piece of plywood or other ridged board at least that big to assemble your house on. Cover both sides of the board with aluminum foil and scotch tape the foil to board so it stays in place while you frost it.
Frost one side of cutting board. Then decorate the individual pieces, including the roof any way you want, before assembling your house on the cutting board. I have used Nico waffers for roof shingles, or gum drops for the ridgelines. I enjoy shopping for candies that might decorate our houses throughout the year, including candy canes for posts, candy rocks for sidewalks, cinnamon candy hearts, or anything you might want. Ice cream cones make great Christmas trees.
I use a cake decorating bag to pipe the frosting into seams and decorate it. Pipe white icing onto the base of each piece of the house as you assemble it. Attach the front wall to the side walls by piping icing along the inside seam. Reinforce by piping more icing down the outside corner seams. Attach the back wall by piping icing along the inside and outside of the corner seams.
Ice along top edges of all sides and press on roof pieces, icing top seam where roof seams meet. Brace the roof if necessary, until dry. Pipe extra icing along the top seam of roof and decorate with candies. |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: I've made gingerbread houses with the grandchildren since Shannon was 5 years old. Oh! what fun. We have made many different ones. Grandpa even designed Paul and Patty's house, and we built it out of gingerbread. Amazing how it came out. All the grandchildren, Shannon, Conor, Nadia, Lydia and Trinity have enjoyed making the houses at Christmas time. I'm probably the one that enjoyed it the most!! Loved seeing their eyes light up and the smiles on their face when it is all put together. I'm so blessed to have had the grandchildren want to do this with me for so many years. Kids, I hope someday you will keep up with this tradition and remember who taught you how to make your 1st. gingerbread house. Love too all.
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