The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (2024)

December 20, 2017

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The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (1)

For the past 15 years or so, our family has been making gingerbread houses every Christmas. It is one of our favorite family traditions and leaves our house smelling amazing for weeks afterward.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (2)

Each person in the family gets there very own house to decorate (we must keep our artistic freedom ha!) and we spend an afternoon listening to Christmas music and bedazzeling our houses with candy.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (3)

Making gingerbread houses takes a bit of planning but it is so worth it. I always think of it as a two day project. It is way too exhausting to make the gingerbread and decorate the houses in one day so I always dedicate one day to baking and one day to decorating.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (4)

My recipe makes 2 (7 inch) houses. To make 6 houses for our family I always triple the recipe.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (5)

I can only fit one batch at a time into my kitchen aid. So I mix up one then start on the next.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (6)

Once the dough is all mixed up it is important to refrigerate it for a couple of hours. I separate each batch of dough into two rectangles of saran wrap and pop them in the fridge.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (7)

Once the dough has been chilled, I roll it out onto a lightly floured counter and start cutting around the house templates.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (8)

My best helper is always Emma. She loves to make her own mini house.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (9)

It takes a couple of hours to bake all the pieces but I love the rhythm of rolling out the dough, smelling all the delicious smells and listening to Christmas music 🙂

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (10)

Usually by the time all the dough is finished baking, I am completely tuckered out and ready to be done with gingerbread for the day. I let the gingerbread sit on the counter overnight then do the assembling and decorating the next day.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (11)

To assemble the houses it is important to use Royal Icing (recipe below). It is a great consistency for piping and hardens fairly quickly. It is important that when you are making your icing that you beat it until stiff peaks form. That means that the little peaks don’t bend over when you lift out a spoon.

To create the bases for the houses to sit on, I cut squares from an old cardboard box and cover them with tin foil.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (12)

I find that a larger round tip works great for putting the houses together. I usually use a #11 size tip.

Below is a little video of me putting together one of the houses. Now keep in mind this was filmed by my 8 year old, Emma, ha! The cinematography is lacking a bit but hopefully it will give you an idea of how I put them together. The most important thing to remember when assembling the houses is that once a piece has been placed try hard not to mess with it.

Pictured below I am using an actual pastry bag but you can use parchment triangles or disposable pastry bags too. I bought these bags this year and they worked like a charm.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (13)

The American Girl Doll getting in on the action 🙂

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (14)

It’s almost time!

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (15)

While I am putting together the houses, I usually have the kids get the candy ready by putting everything into bowls.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (16)

Now the fun part! Decorating time!!!

For the actual decorating of the house I like to use a smaller round tip #4 or #5.

Here is a short little clip of our family this year.

The finished product!!! 7 little houses all in a row on our dining room table.

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (17)
The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (18)

Our houses from last year…

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (19)

1 batch= 2 gingerbread houses (7”)

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups flour
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 2 t. ginger
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 1/2 t. nutmeg
  • 1/2 t. ground cloves
  • 1 c. butter (softened)
  • 1 c. brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  1. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
  2. In another large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and egg until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add molasses and vanilla and beat until evenly blended (about 1 1/2 minutes).
  3. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture 1 cup at a time. Dough should be firm.
  4. Divide dough in half, place in place in plastic wrap and flatten dough into a thick rectangle. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
  5. Heat oven to 350. Working with one piece at a time, remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on a generously floured surface. With a lightly dusted rolling pin, roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
  6. Place cut out gingerbread templates on dough and cut each piece using a sharp knife. Carefully transfer cut pieces to a cookie sheet using a spatula. Be careful not to misshape the dough.
  7. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until golden brown. Transfer pieces to cooling rack and let cool a couple of hours.
  • 4 egg whites
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 t. cream of tartar
  1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Using wisk attatchment beat on high until stiff peaks form (5-6 minutes). Cover bowl with plastic wrap until ready to use.

*Recipe Originally published in Family Fun Magazine November 2006

If you end up making these houses I would LOVE to hear about it! And remember sharing is caring so please remember to pin on Pinterest and share with your friends if you loved this post.

Please reach out with any questions and I hope you have the Merriest Christmas ever!!!

The Ultimate Gingerbread Houses! Free Template and Recipe • Tessie Fay (2024)

FAQs

How do you make the strongest gingerbread house? ›

Once the gingerbread has cooled, start spooning dollops of melted white chocolate onto the edges of the walls, roof, and sides, working bit-by-bit. Assemble one corner, put it in the fridge to set, then add another wall, and so on.

What is the most expensive gingerbread house ever? ›

Thus, the baker, Debbie, crafted the world's most expensive gingerbread house, valued at 6.3 million pounds, inspired by Dolce & Gabbana and adorned with diamonds. Debbie, a seasoned baker with experience creating cakes for royals and celebrities like Kim Kardashian and RuPaul, dedicated weeks to this unique project.

What is the best ingredient to keep a gingerbread house from falling apart? ›

So I was thrilled to discover the secret to sturdy construction: sugar!

What makes the best glue for gingerbread houses? ›

Fit Everything Together with Melted Sugar or Royal Icing

The traditional technique is to use icing, such as our Royal Icing (with Meringue Powder). Generations of home bakers have used this tried-and-true method, and it works like a charm and tastes amazing. The second way is to use burnt sugar as your glue.

How do you spice up a gingerbread house? ›

Let the fun begin!

You can decorate your gingerbread house any way you want to you - you can colour the icing, add sweets, add candy canes or chocolate.

Where do the Kardashians get their gingerbread houses from? ›

The Kardashians star showed off the collection of gingerbread houses from Solvang Bakery, which cost up to $500 each. In the series of Instagram Stories, Kim, 43, pointed the camera at the rooftop of the gingerbread house, which had round cookies with the names of her children.

How do I make Minnie's gingerbread cookies? ›

The ingredients to make Minnie's Gingerbread Cookies are wheat and ginger. Even if it's not too difficult to make and even if it doesn't restore too much energy, this is meant to be a festive recipe to put players in the mood for this seasonal cheer and it has proven to do just that.

What was the first ever gingerbread house? ›

The tradition of decorated gingerbread houses began in Germany in the early 1800s, supposedly popularised after the not-so-Christmassy fairytale of Hansel and Gretel was published in 1812.

Where is the giant gingerbread house? ›

The Gingerbread House at the Fairmont San Francisco is a sight to behold, boasting 7,750 real gingerbread bricks, 1,500 pounds of royal icing, and 700 pounds of candy.

What is the rule for gingerbread house building? ›

All Gingerbread Houses must be 100% edible candy/embellishments/materials except the base board and candy wrappers. Non-edible support structure material other than the baseboard may not be used. No artificial interior materials, such as Styrofoam, are to be used to construct or decorate the house.

How long do Gingerbread Houses last? ›

How long do the houses last and how long are they edible? You can keep a gingerbread house for years with proper storage. Our houses will stay fresh to eat for up to 12 months depending on how they are displayed and/or stored.

How to strengthen a gingerbread house? ›

So to make sure our walls could stand strong, we sandwiched melted marshmallow cement between two graham crackers. The marshmallow adds weight, which helps stabilize the structure. It also acts as a sealant, ensuring that the cracker won't crumble.

What is one trick or strategy to creating a sturdy gingerbread house? ›

Icing for Perfect “Glue”

Unlike traditional cake or buttercream icings, royal icing is stiffer and dries hard. Both of these qualities are ideal for gingerbread house construction as you'll need an icing that is both pliable yet dense and will dry quickly enough to hold everything together.

What makes gingerbread so strong? ›

A 1:4 ratio of butter to flour makes the gingerbread strong. Corn syrup keeps freshly baked gingerbread pliable and soft, so it's easy to cut while warm. Rolling the dough directly on parchment makes it easy to transfer to the pan.

How to build a structurally sound gingerbread house? ›

Bake and cut

We chose a pretty basic gingerbread house shape, but added two bonus triangles to act as structural supports. Use a paring knife or x-acto blade to cut out the shapes. Make sure to leave some of the excess dough around the edges, since this will help prevent the straight edges from spreading.

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