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Last Updated on December 18, 2021 by Yvette’s Treasures
A Fun Old Fashioned Gingerbread House Recipe
Building a gingerbread house is an easy, fun way for kids and their families to get into the spirit of Christmas. Use this old fashioned gingerbread house recipe to make the perfect gingerbread house allowing you to spend quality time with your family during the holidays, and create memories that can last forever!
However, if you have never built an old fashioned gingerbread house before then this can be a bit of an intimidating task. In this blog post we will discuss how to make a gingerbread house from scratch so that you can enjoy this Christmas tradition with your loved ones!
Gingerbread Dough Ingredients:
- – ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- – ½ cup butter, softened
- – ¼ cup molasses
Old Fashioned Gingerbread House Recipe Supplies:
- baking sheet
- rolling pin
- knife for cutting dough into shapes
- candy decorations (i.e.: gum drops or M&Ms)
- you will also need royal icing
Make The Gingerbread Dough
Mix together all of the ingredients for the gingerbread dough and roll out to anywhere from a quarter inch to an eighth inch in thickness.
Create And Cut Out The Pattern Pieces
Create templates for yourself out of cardboard that are the exact size and shapes you will need for your old fashioned gingerbread house recipe. You can also look online for a simple gingerbread house template.
Once you have your templates, cut them out of the gingerbread dough. You can do this by hand with a knife or use cookie cutters to make it go faster!
Bake The Gingerbread Pieces
After you have cut out your pieces, lay them on a baking sheet and bake in an oven at 350 degrees for six to eight minutes until they turn golden brown around the edges.
Make sure not to overbake though as this will make them brittle and hard to put together later! Let them cool completely before assembling your house.
Related Recipe Post: Christmas Mason Jar Recipes
Make The Royal Icing
Mix together the egg whites, vanilla extract and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add water one tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency of icing that will hold your gingerbread pieces together.
The royal icing is going to be the ‘glue’ you use to stick your house pieces together. You can use a piping bag or just spread it over the gingerbread pieces with a knife.
How To Assemble A Gingerbread House
Now you need to know how to assemble a gingerbread house. Once removed from the oven allow time to cool, about an hour should do if working quickly, but longer is better.
Put the royal icing in a piping bag and use it to glue pieces together. Make sure to take care of any gaps and to build your house on a flat surface so that it does not topple over!
After you are finished assembling your house, let it sit overnight to dry.
Decorate Your Old Fashioned Gingerbread House
Once the house is dry, there are many ways to decorate it. First you can use royal icing – this will harden and allow for a more sturdy structure in case kids want to play with certain parts of your creation.
It’s also common at Christmas time (and other holidays) to add candy such as M&Ms, gumdrops or sprinkles; try adding chocolate pieces like Hershey Kisses for an added twist!
In this article, we’ve covered everything from the ingredients you need to what kind of tools work best. We hope that you have a successful gingerbread house building experience and enjoy our recipe!
My Thoughts On The Old Fashioned Gingerbread House Recipe
My family and I love building gingerbread houses during the holiday season using this old fashioned gingerbread house recipe. We all get together, put on some Christmas music and set about making a bit of a mess in the kitchen (and on ourselves).
But there’s always loads of fun and laughter while we try to outdo last years gingerbread house creation. Coming up with new creative ideas to make it bigger and better. We love this time together and wouldn’t change this family tradition for anything.
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