Kitchen

[Constance2]

Have you ever made a gingerbread house? I did once and I vowed never again. I used a kit and it was much harder than I ever imagined. I admire anyone who has the ability to create one without lopsided wall's, crooked windows and unappealing icing and decorations. Mine was a mess. What has been your experience?

[panda1234]

Same as yours. If I wanted one I would just spend the money and buy one that was already made.

[Mary Bailey]

It was the same for me. One try then never again!   I used to buy the pre-made assembled house for my sons to decorate. 

[Mominohio]

I never have. But, if my son was still little or with grandkids someday, I'd venture at it, just for fun, with no expectations that it should look good, just be fun to do with the little ones. Then probably just let them eat it up!

[haddon9]

My experience has been the same as yours.  However it was many years ago and at the time my kids were young and had a great time making it!

I also vowed again to never bother.  I'm just not a baker and prefer to see the Gingerbread House display at Peddler's Village each holiday season.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

When our kids were small, during one of my Martha moments (more like Martha wannabe moments), I decided to buy a Longaberger stone baking form so I could bake my own pieces for a gingerbread house.  Then I started thinking about all the additional costs of frosting and assorted candies.  Too bad I didn't think about those things before buying the stone baking form.  I got rid of that thing as fast as I could. 

[glmama]

YES! For about 6-7 years I made one every single year. Every time I vowed to never do it again! Everything from scratch of course and it never quite turned out like those lovely gingerbread houses in home magazines or that win contests. In fact, my kids, DH, and I would give in to the insanity of it after one or two of the walls would inevitably collapse. Actually, one year my DH wrote in icing on one of the outside walls: "Condemned".  When these things occurred we would just eat the candy and sit around the dining room table laughing.  Since then, I purchase a Trader Joe's house and make that one! 

[Constance2]

Condemned! How funny! Sounds like you have a fun family. :;-)

[sfnative]

@Constance2

I would encourage you all to give this another go.  To that end, I'd recommend purchasing or looking in your local library for the book mentioned below.  It not only has terrific instructions, including a fantastic cookie recipe and royal icing recipe, but a number of templates for different kinds of gingerbread houses.  In "Recipes," I misinterpreted a question asked of a poster regarding my gingerbread recipe for cut-out cookies (not house), so wrote up instructions based on the book just mentioned. 

Gingerbread Dough for Making a Gingerbread House

From: Making Great Gingerbread Houses

“The Edibility Issue: Can you really eat them? The answer you’re likely to get from anyone who has put the time and effort into making one is, yes, but don’t you dare dig into mine.”

The following recipe makes enough dough to make a basic house that has a chimney and a porch. I followed the authors’ recommendation and use my KitchenAid mixer, as the dough does require kneading and it’s not soft like a bread dough.

Ingredients

2 sticks regular butter, room temp

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

¾ cup molasses

5-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

¾ cup cold water

Step 1. Cream until light and fluffy: butter and brown sugar

Step 2. Add and blend on low speed: molasses

Step 3. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Using a large spoon, add 2 heaping spoonfuls at a time until all the flour is absorbed,

Step 4. Add and blend the water, a bit at a time.

Step 5. Spread the dough out on a sheet pan, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you’re ready to roll it out (overnight-best; three hours minimum). It should keep well in the frig for three days.

Step 6. Using a clean countertop, lay out a large piece of parchment paper and place a piece of dough on it – enough to make a few pattern pieces. Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin to a thickness of ½.” This is so that your end product will be stable (house pieces). Other non-house pieces can be a bit thinner.  Roll out the dough to make a square. Also, make it a little bit larger than the pattern pieces you plan to use.

Step 7. Now you’re ready to cut dough. Lightly dust your dough with a/p flour so that the pattern pieces (templates) don’t stick. Then place as many templates as possible on your rolled-out dough. Before you cut, consider that most knives will drag on the dough. You’ve probably noticed this on previous occasions doing other dough projects: when using a knife and cutting dough toward you, the dough “draws” toward you and becomes distorted. You might consider using a floured pizza wheel for larger pieces. A small paring knife works well on smaller pieces. *The purpose of this step is to cut the dough, not to penetrate the parchment paper. At this point, we need the parchment paper as intact as possible. Now gather up the leftover dough pieces, place them in an airtight container and place the container in the frig for future use.

Step 8. Use a soft pastry brush to brush away as much flour from your gingerbread pieces as possible. Want to make your house even better? If you have time and space, after you’ve cut out all of your gingerbread pieces, find a nice room temp space, carefully transfer your pieces to the space and let them sit uncovered for a few days before baking them; or, just let them sit where they are. This allows settling and helps your pieces retain shape once they’re baked.

Step 9. Getting your pieces onto a sheet. Your pieces are on parchment paper right now. You will need a pair of scissors or small shears to cut the parchment paper around each gingerbread house piece. Transfer the shaped dough with parchment paper underneath it, to flat cookie sheets. Pieces should be about 1” apart. Large pieces and small pieces should occupy separate sheets, because the smaller pieces require shorter baking times.

Step 10. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake your gingerbread pieces until the dough is deep brown, but not black. This is usually about 20 minutes, but can vary according to your oven, the weather, etc. They can always go back into the oven. When done, they must cool for 25 minutes before transferring to a flat surface (NOT rack). Your gingerbread must cool for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best. Now you’re ready to assemble your gingerbread house!