Gingerbread House Recipe - EN

September 27, 2021

Gingerbread House Recipe

Quantity: 1 large Gingerbread House + extra for additional shapes

Time: 30 minutes + 2 hours chilling for dough; ca. 12 minutes baking; + assembly time

Ingredients & tools (included):

Flour Mix
Sugar Mix
Spice Mix
Topping Mix
Sprinkles
Piping bag
Baking paper
Gingerbread House stencil

Ingredients (not included):

100g butter, softened
100g sugar beet syrup (Zuckerrübensirup)
1 egg - for gingerbread dough
2 egg whites - for royal icing
cold water - for dough & icing

Tools (not included):

Hand- or stand-mixer
2 mixing bowls
1 small bowl
Rolling pin
Pizza cutter or sharp knife
1-2 non-stick baking trays
Strong cardboard or plate to build the Gingerbread House on
Additional cookie cutters(optional)
Scissors

Instructions:

Gingerbread dough:

Start by opening the Flour Mix & removing 3 Tbsp. Put this in a small bowl & set aside. You will need this later when you are rolling out the dough
Using a hand- or stand-mixer, combine the Sugar Mix & 100g butter until fully mixed. Add in 1 egg & 100g Sugar Beet Syrup & mix well
Pour the whole Spice Mix into the butter mixture & gradually add in the remaining Flour Mix in 3 batches, mixing after each flour addition. Once you have added in all the Flour Mix, the dough should be very dry & crumbly
Add 1 tbsp of cold water into the dough & mix well. If the dough is still very crumbly, add 1 more tbsp of water & mix until the dough just comes together in a ball
Leave the dough in the bowl, cover it, & place it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. Pro tip: the dough can be made up to 1 day ahead of time & stored in the fridge
Once the dough is chilled, remove it from the fridge, pre-heat the oven to 175°C, & line a baking tray with baking paper
Sprinkle some of the set aside flour on a flat surface & place the dough ball on the surface, sprinkling more flour on top of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to ca. 1 cm thick, sprinkling more flour on the dough if it becomes sticky
If you haven‘t done so already, cut out the paper stencils & place these on the dough. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to gently cut out the 6 house parts. If all 6 parts do not fit at once, re-form the leftover dough into a ball & roll it out again. Repeat this as many times as needed until you have all 6 parts cut out. Use the „additional shapes“ or cookie cutters to make additional cookies with the remaining dough (optional)
Bake the house parts for 11-13 minutes, until the edges are slightly browned. Bake smaller pieces for 6-8 minutes

For the Royal Icing:

Sift the Topping Mix into the second mixing bowl, add the egg whites, & using a hand- or stand-mixer, mix on high for ca. 5 minutes until the mixture is stiff & fluffy. (Pro tip: If using a hand-mixer, you may need to mix longer as it is not as powerful as a stand-mixer!) Add 1-2 tsp of water to the icing & remix to combine. This makes it less stiff & easier to use with a piping bag
Snip the end off of the piping bag making a small hole (ca. 1-2mm) & pour the icing into the piping bag. To use the piping bag, twist the opening closed. Use one hand to hold the twisted part & using your other hand, apply steady pressure to squeeze the icing out as you draw with it. Pro-tip: the icing hardens very quickly so have a wet dish towel on hand to cover the bowl / to wrap the end of the piping bag in when you are not using it

To assemble & decorate the House:

Use a thick piece of cardboard or a plate as the base for your House & start by „glueing“ 1 side house piece & 1 front piece to the base. Fill in the corner where the 2 pieces meet with icing as well. Hold it for a minute while the icing dries
Repeat with the remaining wall pieces, always gluing the bottom to the base & sides to each other. Allow the walls to dry before glueing on the roof pieces
Now, go crazy! Use the icing & sprinkles to draw doors, windows, wreaths, etc. on your Gingerbread House!

Wishing you a very happy holidays from all of us at Nick&Fritz!