A favorite pastime for many families during the holiday season is to make traditional gingerbread houses. Inherently, gingerbread houses aren’t the most structurally difficult to create, but there are some things you can do to better improve your chances for success if you’re not an engineer by trade.
From choosing the right dough recipe to formulating the perfect gingerbread house “glue”, we’ve got you covered with these gingerbread house tips and tricks.
Choosing the Right Gingerbread for the Job
While choosing the right decorations and “themes” for your gingerbread house will be important down the line, it’s paramount that we put this tip first and above all others: get your gingerbread right.
Now, to be clear, gingerbread cookies should take on a completely different texture from gingerbread used for houses. They’re both edible, delicious, and acceptable holiday fare, but you would never use a cookie recipe for house-building and never use house gingerbread for cookies. The two are different animals!
That said, start by using a gingerbread dough recipe that can help hold up and maintain the structure of your holiday concoction. (This one from The Spruce Eats is a great starting place.) It may take a couple of attempts to get the dough the right consistency and baked to the right hardness, but all of that time baking means more snacking along the way!
Icing for Perfect “Glue”
Secondly, let’s address what’s going to hold your gingerbread house together. The icing you use will make or break how well your house holds together or “glues” to itself.
For this task, it’s important to make or purchase royal icing. 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.
There are three basic ingredients for royal icing: confectioner’s sugar, egg whites or meringue powder, and/or water. For the uninitiated, it’s probably best to go with an egg white-based recipe as it will be easier to find the ingredients and you won’t have to purchase a one-use kitchen item.
Prepare Your Templates
Before you get too far into the dough and icing making part of your gingerbread construction, it’s best to create some simple templates to use in order to better assist you in the cutting and assembly of your house. Begin by making templates out of cardstock, thick construction paper, or thin cardboard to make master templates.
From there, you can cut several disposable templates out of parchment paper and even use the parchment paper to cut and bake your gingerbread house pieces!
Finally, use either a long straight knife or a pizza cutter to cut your gingerbread components. If you keep your design simple enough, a paring knife or pizza cutter should be plenty sufficient to cut your dough to the correct shapes and dimensions.
Plan Your House’s Theme
This will likely be the first step in your planning process after you’ve dialed in some quality recipes. Choosing a gingerbread house theme will dictate how you choose to make your templates, what colors and accessories you will use, and to what degree of detail you’ll make your house.
You can make your gingerbread house as ornate or as simple as you’d like. Want a cabin in the woods? How about a two-story Victorian? Maybe a simple Hansel and Gretel house is more your speed. Whatever the case, plan ahead in order to simplify your gingerbread house build day and make sure you have everything you need on hand.
Finally, if you’re looking to make a model of your dream home, then maybe a gingerbread house won’t quite do. Find just the right home for you and your family and get in touch with the loan experts at Tidewater Mortgage Services, Inc. to get pre-qualified and into the perfect home for the holidays!
