Children's Gingerbread House Recipe - Allrecipes.com
Children's Gingerbread House Recipe
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Children's Gingerbread House
This old-fashioned gingerbread recipe makes a sturdy, festive holiday house. See more

Children's Gingerbread House

Read Reviews (85)

"This is one my mum in England used to make when we were kids. It was always the biggest hit every year. Use your imagination and a variety of candies to make doors, windows, pathways, and a garden. Note, this gingerbread house takes 2 to 3 days to complete. You can buy a variety of candies for decoration." —  

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Original recipe makes 1 gingerbread house Change Servings
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Directions

  1. First cut out in thin cardboard: a side wall, 4 1/2 x 8 inches; an end wall, 4 1/2x5 inches; a triangular gable, 4 1/2x3x3 inches; and a roof rectangle, 4 1/2x9 inches. Tape the rectangular end wall piece to the triangular gable piece: match the long side of the triangle, 4 1/2 inches, to one of the 4 1/2 inch sides of the end wall.
  2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and molasses. Gradually beat in 2 eggs. Sift the flour, baking powder, and spices together; stir into creamed mixture. Wrap dough in parchment paper, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 6 portions, 2 slightly larger than the others. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the 4 smaller pieces to approximately the size of the side wall and the end wall with gable templates; cut out two of each. Roll out remaining dough, and cut into two rectangular roof pieces. Transfer gingerbread onto greased baking trays.
  4. In a preheated 375 degree F (190 degrees C) oven, bake gingerbread for 10 minutes, or until crisp. When removing from the oven, leave the gingerbread on the baking trays for a few minutes to set, then transfer to wire racks. Leave out overnight to harden.
  5. In a large bowl, lightly whisk 2 egg whites. Gradually beat in approximately 5 cups confectioners' sugar. The icing should be smooth and stand in firm peaks. Spread or pipe a 9 inch line of icing onto a cake board, and press in one of the side walls so that it sticks firmly and stands upright. If necessary, spread or pipe a little extra icing along either side to help support it. Take an end wall and ice both the side edges. Spread or pipe a line of icing on the board at a right angle to the first wall, and press the end wall into position. Repeat this process with the other two walls until they are all in position. Leave the walls to harden together for at least two hours before putting on the roof. Spread or pipe a thick layer of icing on top of all the walls, and fix the roof pieces in position; the roof should overlap the walls to make the eaves. Pipe or spread a little icing along the crest of the roof to hold the two pieces firmly together. Leave overnight to set firmly.
  6. When ready to decorate, make the remaining icing. In a large bowl, lightly whisk 4 egg whites, and mix in remaining confectioners' sugar as before. Use this to make snow on the roof, and to stick various candies for decoration. Finish with a fine dusting of sifted confectioners' sugar.
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Reviews More Reviews

Most Helpful Positive Review
Jan 08, 2007

This review is for the ICING and assembly tips only, as I used a different recipe for the actual cookies (Gingerbread Men): This icing is easy to make and holds like GLUE! It's perfect, and hardens well enough to keep decorating in 2 hours (at least in my low humidity area). I'm so happy with how our first ever gingerbread house turned out that I'm submitting my pictures. I did not use any frame, I simply glued the cookies together as directed in this recipe, walls first, wait one hour til dry, then roof added, wait another hour or two, then decorate in two steps. I did make the cookies 3 days in advance, not because they needed to dry that long, just because I got busy and the house had to wait. It turned out great though! I plan to keep this icing recipe on hand for anytime I need an easy to use and very sturdy icing for decorating.

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Most Helpful Critical Review
Dec 13, 2004

This could have been a 5 star. I agree with other's comments.. I had to add about 1 1/4 cup of flour for the dough to work properly. Once I had workable dough it was good from that point. I used another Royal Icing recipe (from this site)after reading others comments. I didn't want to chance that part. Cookie tasted great and my girls had a great time putting together our first gingerbread houses. (Had to make 2 so no fighting would happen) Will make again with adjustments to recipe. I know next time will be a 5 star!

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Dec 22, 2005

We thought this was a wonderful recipe. We made cutouts for windows, and spread crushed candy canes inside them prior to baking. They melt into stained glass windows. Thanks for a great recipe!

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Dec 23, 2003

I would like to add that you can trim the pieces of gingerbread after they are cooked to ensure uniformity.

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Dec 14, 2003

I really enjoyed this recipe. I had a lot of fun making the gingerbread house. At first, I thought I did something wrong with the dough because it was so soft and moist, but once I started adding some flour and began working with it, the dough was great! I recommend using wax paper for the cutouts. It was easier to get the shapes I wanted. Thanks for the recipe!

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Dec 11, 2004

What a great recipe! I've never done gingerbread before, and it turned out great -- both tasty and a wonderful building material. I made houses, cookie cutter cookies, and freeform dough shapes (the letters of my honey's name, specifically). I followed other reviewers' advice and added quite a bit of flour, and wasn't shy with kneading more flour in prior to rolling. (In fact, the more flour that ended up in the dough as I kept rolling it out, the better it turned out.) I used Royal Icing I, which was okay, and I used a "kid-sized" elf house pattern for the building plans. Didn't use cardboard backing, either. I posted a photo of my cookies and the initial stages of our very-sloppy gingerbread houses in my Cook's Photos if anybody's curious. Just remember... we've never done this before!!! Next time I might trim my cookies before gluing them together for a better fit. Or I'll cut the dough straighter in the first place!

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Dec 15, 2003

This was a very nice tasty cookie, however it needed quite a bit of extra flour to make it workable. My family likes nutmeg, so we also added some fresh ground nutmeg. With the extra flour added, we made free form dough figures for the gingerbread house, like fences and animals. A good idea for trees surrounding the house: use 4 or 5 round cookies in diminishing sizes to make a multi-tiered tree, alternating cookies and icing, and green sprinkles to finish!

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Dec 19, 2003

Are photos possible?

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Nutrition

  • Calories
  • 736 kcal
  • 37%
  • Carbohydrates
  • 159.7 g
  • 52%
  • Cholesterol
  • 53 mg
  • 18%
  • Fat
  • 10.3 g
  • 16%
  • Fiber
  • 0.8 g
  • 3%
  • Protein
  • 5 g
  • 10%
  • Sodium
  • 172 mg
  • 7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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