Gingerbread House
Build your own homemade Gingerbread House from scratch with this easy recipe and FREE printable template. Made with sturdy gingerbread biscuit pieces and assembled with icing, this festive bake is perfect for Christmas baking, decorating with kids, and creating an edible centrepiece for the holiday season.
PRINT RECIPE
Servings: 1 house
INGREDIENTS
- 200 g Block Margarine or Butter (at room temperature)
- 200 g Soft Light Brown Sugar
- 80 g Golden Syrup (see Golden Syrup note below)
- 400 g Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 3-4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
To Decorate:
- 400 g Icing Sugar
- 3-4 tbsp Boiling Water
- Sweeties (for decorating)
EQUIPMENT
- Sharp Knife
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 170°C (150°C for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 3 or 325°F) and line a couple of baking sheets with
greaseproof paper . Set aside. - In a large bowl, cream together your butter/margarine and sugar until light in texture (the colour will remain darker due to the brown sugar) and fluffy. Add your golden syrup and stir through to combine.
- Sift in your flour,
bicarbonate of soda , ginger and cinnamon. Mix your dry and wet ingredients together to make a stiff dough - you will probably need to use your hands! - Gently knead the dough together before rolling with a rolling pin on a well-floured surface to around 5mm-1cm thick. Using the gingerbread house template, cut out the walls and roof shapes (6 pieces in total) and transfer to your pre-lined baking sheets, leaving a little space between them. Using a large palette knife to support the pieces as you move them will prevent them from breaking.Knead together any off-cuts before re-rolling the dough, and use any excess to cut out small biscuit shapes to decorate your house.
- Bake your gingerbread biscuits in your pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes. When they are golden and dry looking, remove from the oven to cool. Be careful not to overbake your biscuits - this can happen quickly due to the presence of golden syrup in the dough.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and gently push - not cut! - the edges of the biscuits with a large palette knife (or just a normal knife) to help straighten them out a little - they may have spread and curved a little whilst baking, this helps correct this. Allow the biscuits to cool completely on the trays - they will continue to harden as they cool, so don't be tempted to try and lift them before they are completely cool.
- When cold, you can start to construct your gingerbread house. Mix 200g [half] of the
icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp of boiling water to make a thick, sticky icing that is still spreadable but not runny. Start by attaching your walls together - if you can have someone help you hold the walls upright, this will help; alternatively, you can prop them up with some mugs or drinking glasses. Be generous with the amount of icing you use, and don't worry about being overly neat - you can easily cover it with some decor. Once your walls are upright, stick the roof pieces on with plenty of icing too. Allow your gingerbread house to dry before decorating. - Once the icing has dried, you can start decorating your gingerbread house. Mix the remaining 200g of
icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp of water until it is a piping consistency. You can use a piping bag, or simply drizzle/spoon it onto your house before adding whateversweeties you'd like. Be creative and have some fun!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
RECIPE NOTES:
Golden Syrup: Golden syrup is a classic British baking ingredient. If you don't have any, light corn syrup is the closest substitute. For more information, including all possible substitutions, where to buy it and how to make your own, see my Golden Syrup Ingredient Guide.
Storage: If you plan to eat your Gingerbread House, it will keep to be edible for about 1 week if stored somewhere cool and dry. You can, however, keep it for longer if you only plan to use it as decoration, but I wouldn't recommend eating it beyond a week.
Template: Don't forget to download your FREE Gingerbread House template, which you can print and cut up to use at home.
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