Whether or not you have a kid in the house, odds are good you're going to try to do a gingerbread house at some point. You're going to get-together all of the right candies, make the bread, and realize somewhere along the line that you needed some better planning. So let's talk about making the perfect gingerbread house.
Before you even get to mixing things up, you need to seriously plan what you are about to do. This means you need to draw up actual plans for the house to figure out what pieces you will need, such as the roof, the walls, and possibly the floors. You need to be able to break it down to the simplest parts, and then cut out cardboard patterns that match those plans. Make sure that the plans align correctly, ideally by using them with tape to build your house, before you even begin putting your house together.
[Note that I'm suggesting you try to keep it simple, especially for your first house. Keep the surfaces flat and simple. Try to limit yourself to maybe cutting out doors and windows, but otherwise don't do all of the fancy things such as pipes and chimneys just yet. I'll include some hints on how to do them but that's for advanced builders.]
Once you have the plans you are happy with, mix the following together in a bowl, blending in the flour and water last:
1/2 cup (1 stick) room-temperature butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light molasses or dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
Put this in a refrigerator for half an hour or until firm. Meanwhile, make royal icing that will act as the cement:
1 pound (3-3/4 cups) powdered sugar (sift if lumpy)
1 to 2 large egg whites (4 teaspoons packaged egg whites and 1/4 cup water may be substituted)
1 teaspoon almond extract, vanilla or lemon juice (your choice)
Once mixed, put in an icing bag and make sure that it is thin enough to pass through a 1/4" nozzle, adding more lemon juice if needed.
Grease a pan and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Flatten the dough out to about 1/4", and start cutting out your pieces. Put the pieces onto the greased pan as you cut them out and once that is full put into the oven (assuming it's ready). Continue this process until you have all of the pieces you need. If you need more dough, make it; if you end up with too much make it into gingerbread cookies. Cook the pieces for 15 minutes.
[If you want to make more advanced pieces, create cardboard forms of them, and then cut those out. To start you off, a pipe starts out as a rectangle and a cone is a circle with a piece cut out. Before you cook them, assemble them taking care to not ruin them and then stand them up on the pan.]
Assemble as per your plan, using the icing as cement. Do not be in a rush; the pieces may take a few seconds to set properly. Assemble from the ground up; you may tempted to assemble sections first and then incorporate them into the whole, but that actually complicates things. Once the basic building is built, leave alone for about fifteen minutes, preferably in a refrigerator, in order to let it set more solidly. You may then charge ahead as far as decorating it goes. Gumdrops, licorice strands, candy canes, and hard candies are the traditional decorations, as well as gingerbread men.
Keep in mind that this for the house itself. If you want it on a cake, you need to build it on the cake, with all icing in place before you assemble the house. You can have all sorts of fun with this, and build whatever you want. You can also use different colors of icing, plastic figures, and anything else you want to make yours as unique as you wish. Just remember that you will need to demolish it at some point, and clear away the pieces. This will be a house you will enjoy destroying.
Before you even get to mixing things up, you need to seriously plan what you are about to do. This means you need to draw up actual plans for the house to figure out what pieces you will need, such as the roof, the walls, and possibly the floors. You need to be able to break it down to the simplest parts, and then cut out cardboard patterns that match those plans. Make sure that the plans align correctly, ideally by using them with tape to build your house, before you even begin putting your house together.
[Note that I'm suggesting you try to keep it simple, especially for your first house. Keep the surfaces flat and simple. Try to limit yourself to maybe cutting out doors and windows, but otherwise don't do all of the fancy things such as pipes and chimneys just yet. I'll include some hints on how to do them but that's for advanced builders.]
Once you have the plans you are happy with, mix the following together in a bowl, blending in the flour and water last:
1/2 cup (1 stick) room-temperature butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light molasses or dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
Put this in a refrigerator for half an hour or until firm. Meanwhile, make royal icing that will act as the cement:
1 pound (3-3/4 cups) powdered sugar (sift if lumpy)
1 to 2 large egg whites (4 teaspoons packaged egg whites and 1/4 cup water may be substituted)
1 teaspoon almond extract, vanilla or lemon juice (your choice)
Once mixed, put in an icing bag and make sure that it is thin enough to pass through a 1/4" nozzle, adding more lemon juice if needed.
Grease a pan and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Flatten the dough out to about 1/4", and start cutting out your pieces. Put the pieces onto the greased pan as you cut them out and once that is full put into the oven (assuming it's ready). Continue this process until you have all of the pieces you need. If you need more dough, make it; if you end up with too much make it into gingerbread cookies. Cook the pieces for 15 minutes.
[If you want to make more advanced pieces, create cardboard forms of them, and then cut those out. To start you off, a pipe starts out as a rectangle and a cone is a circle with a piece cut out. Before you cook them, assemble them taking care to not ruin them and then stand them up on the pan.]
Assemble as per your plan, using the icing as cement. Do not be in a rush; the pieces may take a few seconds to set properly. Assemble from the ground up; you may tempted to assemble sections first and then incorporate them into the whole, but that actually complicates things. Once the basic building is built, leave alone for about fifteen minutes, preferably in a refrigerator, in order to let it set more solidly. You may then charge ahead as far as decorating it goes. Gumdrops, licorice strands, candy canes, and hard candies are the traditional decorations, as well as gingerbread men.
Keep in mind that this for the house itself. If you want it on a cake, you need to build it on the cake, with all icing in place before you assemble the house. You can have all sorts of fun with this, and build whatever you want. You can also use different colors of icing, plastic figures, and anything else you want to make yours as unique as you wish. Just remember that you will need to demolish it at some point, and clear away the pieces. This will be a house you will enjoy destroying.
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