Gingerbread Houses

Tis’ that season — time for sweets, classic holiday movie favorites, Christmas tree hunting, snow angels, and of course, gingerbread houses! It’s that special moment of the year to build everyone’s favorite surgery house. What better way to enjoy arts and crafts than by creating edible architecture with candy, frosting, and gingerbread! We’re here to provide you with a little history, a rundown of the must-have ingredients, and provide you with a helpful recipe to get you started.

A Brief History of the Gingerbread House

Research will uncover all sorts of gingerbread origins, from the invention of gingerbread in Greece in 2400 BC to Chinese recipes in the 10th century. But the classic gingerbread house that we know and love today originated in Germany during the 16th century. Specifically, it can be linked to the Grimm fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, when the two children come upon a house made of bread and cake covered in frosting and candy. However, unfortunately for them, it was also the house of the wicked witch. Soon after that, German bakers began to craft small decorated houses from lebkuchen, spiced honey biscuits. It’s not entirely clear, but sometime after that, bakers began to make gingerbread for the construction of the houses.

Nowadays, you can spot gingerbread houses in Christmas markets around the world. In fact, in 2013, just a 4-hour drive up from the Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend area, the Traditions Golf Club set the world record for the World’s Largest Gingerbread House! It was constructed using 1,800 pounds of butter, 7,200 eggs, 7,200 pounds of flour, and close to 3,000 pounds of brown sugar. Add to that 22,304 pieces of candy that were attached to it, totaling 35,823,400 calories!

Obtaining The Right Ingredients For Your Gingerbread House

Now, to build an authentic gingerbread house from scratch, you’ll need to get all the raw ingredients that go into the walls of the structure. That includes:

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup dark molasses
• 1 Tbsp water

After that, you’ll need a basic icing to glue everything together:

• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted
• 25g butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon milk, or water

After that, you’ll want to get all your favorite candies for decorating your gingerbread house! Here are some popular ideas:

• gumdrops
• M&Ms
• candy canes
• peppermint swirl candies
• sprinkles
• edible metallic beads/dragees
• marshmallows
• coconut for “snow”
• cinnamon sticks, Hershey’s Kisses, chocolate chips, cereal pieces
• icing decorations such as these snowflakes

Helpful Recipe to Get You Started

Now that you have all the ingredients, it’s time to start having fun!

The Gingerbread Dough

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy and well blended. Beat in the eggs, molasses, and water until well combined.
3. Beat half of the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in the remaining flour. Knead (or use your mixer’s dough hook) until well blended. If the dough is too soft, add a little more flour.
4. Divide the dough in half, pat into disks, and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F, with the oven rack in the middle. Have several flat cookie sheets ready, preferably ones that you know will not warp in the oven heat.
6. Spread parchment paper on a large flat surface for rolling. Dust the paper lightly with flour.
7. Rub a little flour over the surface of the dough. Place the pattern pieces on the dough, as many pattern pieces as will fit on the dough. Use a small sharp knife to cut out the pattern pieces from the dough
8. Bake in a 350°F oven until the edges are just beginning to darken, 11-15 minutes for the large pieces, 6-8 minutes for the small pieces

Basic Icing

1. 1. Using a wooden spoon, combine icing sugar, butter and milk in a medium bowl until smooth.

After that, you can start constructing your gingerbread house! Just remember that it’s always easier with a little help from someone else. You’ll want to hold the edges together until the icing starts to hold the pieces together. It’s also a good idea to wait an hour before adding the roof, just to be sure the base is sturdy enough. Once the structure is complete, it’s time to start decorating your gingerbread house and making it your own by using the icing as an adhesive for the candies!

Are you interested in other sweets and goodies for the holiday season? Order custom specialty cakes and desserts from Sugar Botany for your family and loved ones by calling (512) 815-2766.