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Sunday 20 November 2011

How to make a gingerbread house


Making a gingerbread house is a german tradition and a wonderful thing to do with your kids. My daughter loves it!

And if it doesn't come out nicely, you can always eat it :-).

Here is a tutorial on how we did it:

You need to get the ingredients for the dough, the icing and some things to decorate the houses. We used smarties, little silver pearls, wafers, chocolate sprinkles and colorful sprinkles.

To make the dough for two houses, use:

720 g flour (sieved), this is about 3 cups
12 ml baking powder, about 0,4 ounces
20 ml Lebkuchen spice, this is about 0,7 ounces (if you can't get that, use 10 ml ground cinnamon, 5 ml dried ground ginger and 5 ml mixed spices)

Mix these ingredients together in a bowl

Then heat up 250 g golden syrup (about 1 cup), 400 g sugar (1,7 cups) and 60 g (about 2 ounces) butter in a saucepan.
Remove from heat and stir in 60 ml (2 ounces) of lemon juice.

Once it has cooled slightly, stir one third of the flour mix into the syrup mix and add one large egg.
Stir, then add the rest of the flour mix and start kneading the dough until it is elastic.




Divide it in two halves and roll each one out on a baking sheet (didn't have any so I used alu foil, worked just as well). Try and get it as even and smooth as possible



Bake the two sheets for 20 to 30 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius (325 degrees Fahrenheit) until golden with slightly brown edges



In the meantime, make a template for the houses





The small house is 9 cm wide (3.5 inches) and 7 cm high (2.8 inches)
You will need to of those pieces, one with door and window cut out.
You will also need two side pieces of 6.5 cm (2.6 inches) by 7 cm (2.8 inches)  and two roof pieces measuring 7.5 cm (3 inches) by 8 cm (3.1 inches)




For the large house, the width is 9 cm (3.5 inches) and the height 11 cm (4.3 inches).
Cut out two pieces, one with door and windows cut out.
You need two side pieces of 6.5 cm (2.6 inches) by 11 cm (4.3 inches) and two roof pieces measuring 7.5 cm (3 inches) by 8 cm (3.1 inches)













Very important: Cut the pieces out while the dough is still warm. We forgot about that step and only cut it the next day. By then it was rock hard and very difficult to cut.
It is also a good idea to keep the pieces for the two houses separate (some more learning by doing :-) ).




Now it is time to make the icing. Beat 2 large egg whites until foamy. Then slowly beat in 500 g (about 2 cups) sifted icing sugar. Now add a little lemon juice until the mixture is about as thick as toothpaste. Don't make it too thin, it has to keep its shape but must be spreadable



And then the fun starts! Put some of the icing in a small plastic bag (freezer bags work fine), cut the corner off and get squeezing




Then 'glue' the decoration on with the icing



 Also use icing to glue the sides and front and back together and to hold up the roof


And here are our gingerbread houses:

 
 



By the way, I did finish the advent calendar (without using the christmas tree :-) ) and will show it to you next week. The tutorial will also be a guest blog on Gluesticks next Thursday.

I am linking this post to the lovely blogs mentioned on my 'link parties' page. Please check it out and visit some of them!


24 comments:

  1. This is great! Thanks for the recipe and directions. Soooo much better than buying the yucky kind in the box!!!

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  2. So much fun and a lovely tradition! Your sweetie did a great job making her gingerbread houses! :)

    Kindly, Lorraine

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  3. Cute! I love gingerbread houses!

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  4. I;ve never made a gingerbread house from scratch I definitely need to try it out. I'd love you to link this to my party at http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-i-wore-wednesdays-1.html

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  5. How fun are these? I love them. I think I would end up more iced than the houses though!

    Would love it if you could show them off today at my second ever Christmas link party.

    http://twelvecraftsofchristmas.blogspot.com

    Rosie x

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  6. Thanks so much guys! I will be linking up. Love, Jutta

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  7. This is great! we always cheat and use a kit! (oh the shame of it)

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  8. I would probably use a kit too if I could get that here :-)

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  9. Yummy!!I've always wanted to make a gingerbread house. I would love it if you would share this at my You’re Sew creative' party going on right now!! I've also got some great giveaways this week, too!
    http://justmadethatway.blogspot.com/2011/11/blogoversary-party-day-eleven-jmtws.html

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  10. Looks nice and yummi. That´s what we planned to do in the next time. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. I'm going to try it this Christmas for the first time! Thanks for the turorial!

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  12. Wow! I'm super impressed that you did all this by hand. What a fun thing to do with your kids. I bet they love it.
    Shiloh
    everydaygameplan.net

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  13. Thanks so much for your lovely comments. I linked up to 'just made that way', thanks for inviting me.
    And Mandy, thank you so much for featuring me!
    I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Enjoy the weekend (can't wait :-) )
    Jutta

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  14. I've never actually made a gingerbread house before but maybe its tiem to try one - it looks like great fun.
    Thanks for linking to the Simply Christmas Inspiration Party.

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  15. How sweet your daughter is..licking the icing..that is what life is all about..having your cake and eating it too! in this case having her house..hahaha..lovely post and lovely job..

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  16. Hi Maggie and Kerryanne, thanks for offering these fabulous linking parties!
    Shirley, that is exactly it :-). thanks so much!
    A wonderful weekend to all of you

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  17. this is just too cute. I've always thought about making a gingerbread house but never get round to it. it look so fun, though. and how awesome is the snowman?!

    Jenni

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  18. Making gingerbread houses have always been on my "Someday to-do list". Maybe I'll use your recipe and instructions and finally just do it! Thanks so much.. and I agree with Jenni.. that Snowman is Super Cool!!!!

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  19. Hi guys, i do love the snowman too! It was completely my daughters idea, amazing what kids come up with :-)
    Please post a picture if you made a house!

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  20. Oh, that is so cute! Great job. Thank you for joining me at Home Sweet Home!
    Sherry

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  21. I love your houses they turned out great! I featured them at So Very Creative! Make sure to come by and grab a button!
    http://soverycreative.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-make-gingerbread-houses.html

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  22. Looks like so much fun. What a cool mom you must be. Thanks for sharing at Bacon Time.

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  23. That looks delicious! Your little chef did a great job!

    I am hosting a 12 Days of Christmas series at my Christmas blog and this weekend I will be featuring gingerbread houses. If you have time to visit that would be so wonderful. Maybe you could even link up this post!

    Best Christmas wishes,
    Natasha.

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  24. I love this idea so much – and I have featured it on this week’s edition of Makin’ You Crave Monday. Come by & check it out when you get a moment, and I would love it if you shared another one of your recipes again this week.

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