 Making a gingerbread house is labor intensive, but it isn't hard to do. Once the gingerbread pieces are constructed, everyone can have fun picking out the decorations to make your own original masterpiece.
Don't plan to make your gingerbread house all at once. It's better to spread the work out over a weekend. You can even make the gingerbread ahead of time and construct the house a week later. Just cool the gingerbread, wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in a cool, dry place.
The most important thing is a good pattern. Your gingerbread house needs to have the basic structure of a real house. And you aren't limited to the pattern provided with these directions. You can design your house in any shape - and make it as fancy as you want. If you cut your pattern out of posterboard, you can test it by taping it together. If the house stands up when it's taped together, it's probably solid enough to construct out of gingerbread. You can even use a loaf mold or bundt pan to bake the gingerbread. This can then be decorated without any constructing.
Your gingerbread house has to be built on a base so it can be moved. You can cover a piece of plywood with foil or use a large platter or tray. Some people like to put a flat piece of gingerbread on the base before they construct the house. This is a good idea if you want to serve this as a dessert for a lot of people. But the gingerbread house can go directly on the base, so the bottom layer of gingerbread isn't necessary.
Don't worry about mistakes. Once your house is together, you can hide any gaps or goofs with icing.
Maximum thickness for the dough is 3/8". For houses larger than 6 inches square, use 1/4" thickness. For smaller houses, use 1/8". Weight-bearing walls should be slightly thicker than the roof.
If you don't have pastry bags with tips, you can put the icing in a plastic zip-lock bag and cut a hole in the corner. You can also use a knife to spread on the icing.
If you don't have an extra pair of hands to help, you can stabilize the gingerbread with unopened cans while you are doing the construction. Each piece has to be held in place until the icing hardens. Unopened pop cans or any canned foods in your cabinet will work fine.
You can use the dough scraps for decorations. Just roll them out and cut whatever you want them to be before baking. You can add a chimney, tiles for the roof or shutters for the window. Or just use the scraps to make cookies or ornaments for your Christmas tree.
If you want the walls entirely covered with icing, you'll need to thin the icing with a few drops of water. Spread the icing on the sides and let it dry before you start the construction.
If you drip icing in the wrong place, just wipe it off with a clean, damp paper towel. Smooth seams the same way.
If you need more gingerbread dough, make the recipe again. Don't double the recipe. You will always need several batches of icing glue. Make these one at a time as you need them since they dry very quickly.
Some people prefer to bake slabs of gingerbread and cut out the pattern pieces after they are baked. If you do this, make sure you do your cutting while the gingerbread is still warm.
If you want to be able to nibble on the gingerbread house without the house falling in, here's how... Tape your pattern pieces together after you've cut out the gingerbread. Place this on the base and completely cover the cardboard house with foil or saran wrap. Then build your gingerbread house over and around the cardboard house. Pieces can then be pulled off without damaging the whole structure.
If you have trouble breaking off pieces of the gingerbread when you're ready to eat your masterpiece, take a tip from an old German tradition. Gingerbread houses were made for Christmas and then eaten on New Year's Day. One person welded a mallet to break up the house so everyone could grab their favorite piece.
Gingerbread houses can be made as Advent Houses. To do this, cut slots going up the corners of the house and stick a coin or a chocolate wafer in the slots. Each day of Advent, children get to pull something out of the slots.
 HAVE FUN!
|
