Molasses Gingerbread Houses Built with Royal Icing
I have been wanting to make some gingerbread houses for quite a while, and I finally got the chance this past week...
- Prep
- 30 mins
- Cook
- 12 mins
- Total
- 42 mins
- Makes
- 10 houses
I have been wanting to make some Homemade Gingerbread Houses for a long time, and I finally got around to it this past week! Huge thanks to my mother-in-law for the stack of gingerbread house books she lent me, along with her go-to gingerbread house recipe! She has probably built enough gingerbread houses to fill a football stadium, so I am very grateful for her help!
The 5 Keys to a Well-Built Gingerbread House
- A really good gingerbread dough, rolled out evenly for cutting,
- A solid gingerbread house template and a step-by-step build guide,
- Royal icing with a glue-like consistency,
- Plenty of drying time, and
- Patience...lots and lots of patience.
This gingerbread house dough comes together quickly and tastes wonderful thanks to the rich molasses in it.
I rolled the dough out to an even 1/4″, which to me was the right thickness for building the houses.
The other key ingredient for a sturdy gingerbread house is royal icing with a glue-like consistency. If it is too thick, it will be hard to pipe. If it is too runny, it will slide everywhere.
The recipe for these gingerbread houses is easy, and so is the royal icing. The part that takes the most time is the building.
Each section of the house needs a lot of drying time. If you rush it, the house will likely collapse on you. Patience is your best friend here.
I should mention that while this is a flavorful gingerbread recipe that can be eaten, this tutorial is really meant for people making gingerbread houses to display in their home.
If you plan to eat your gingerbread houses, they are best enjoyed within a day or two of making them and stored properly so they do not dry out.
Should You Decorate a Gingerbread House Before or After Building It?
In my opinion, this comes down to personal preference. I decorated each panel before building, but you can absolutely decorate after!
If little kids want to join in but are not quite ready for the building part, you could let them do that step first and then turn them loose on the decorating!
Decorating Gingerbread Houses with Candy
You have so many options for decorating your gingerbread houses! Keep in mind the size of the house (the gingerbread house, not your real one!) and how the candy will look next to it.
My gingerbread houses are on the small side, so I stuck with tiny decorations: red and green sparkling sugars, small red and green balls, small candy canes, blue and white snowflake sprinkles, and these small candy cane sprinkles. I also used a little red royal icing for the berries on the wreaths on some of the houses.
Other candy ideas include M&M's, gumdrops, crushed candy canes, licorice, mini Reese's peanut butter cups, and so much more!
Search Pinterest for gingerbread house candy ideas and I am sure you will find plenty of great options! Speaking of Pinterest, be sure to pin this post along with the free gingerbread house template and step-by-step guide to your holiday boards!
Download this FREE Gingerbread House Template and Step-by-Step Guide!
The Best Order for Building Your Gingerbread House
Before you start building, decide whether you will build on a cardboard base (useful if you are giving them away as gifts) or inside a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.
I built mine on a jelly roll pan for a few reasons: 1) cleanup was easier, since I could lift the dry, finished houses to pour out the extra sprinkles and candies; 2) I plan to use them as cake toppers; and 3) I wanted to photograph them without a cardboard base.
- Step 1. What worked best for me was starting with the front of the house and adding the sides one at a time, using a piping bag filled with royal icing as your “glue.” I waited an hour between each side so it could dry completely.
- Step 2. Next I added the back of the house, again waiting an hour so it dried fully. The next step is the trickiest, and it needs some extra support.
- Step 3. When it is time for the roof panels, you need something to hold up the bottom of the roof so you do not have to sit there for an hour holding it in place. Without support, the roof panel will slide thanks to gravity. I used some spare gingerbread house pieces, but a book or two or a piece of cardboard works too. Use anything that stays put long enough for the roof panel to dry.
Extra Tip for Building Gingerbread Houses
One thing I left out of the step-by-step build guide: if you have pets that like to jump onto tables, chairs, or anywhere else you are working, keep the house somewhere higher up where they cannot reach it.
Nothing is worse than finding your pet has jumped on the table to go Godzilla on your cute houses (speaking from experience), haha!
More Fun Tutorials to Enjoy!
If you tried this Homemade Gingerbread House Tutorial or any other tutorial on my website, please leave a star rating and tell me what you thought in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Molasses Gingerbread Houses Built with Royal Icing
Gather some family or friends and make a day of building these fun, homemade gingerbread houses! Design your own from scratch or download this FREE gingerbread house template!
- Prep
- 30 mins
- Cook
- 12 mins
- Total
- 42 mins
- Makes
- 10 houses
Ingredients
homemade gingerbread houses
- 5 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Gingerbread Spice
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup Full Flavor Molasses, like Brer Rabbit's brand
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- Candy Decorations
royal icing
- 8 tbsp Water
- 3 tbsp Meringue Powder, I use Wilton's brand
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, baking soda, gingerbread spice, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the unsalted butter, then stir in the granulated sugar and full flavored molasses. Keep stirring until combined, then take it off the heat.
- Slowly pour the molasses mixture into the dry ingredients and blend everything with a baking spatula. Once it starts to form a dough, switch to using your hands. Trust me, it is much easier this way! Keep working the dough with your hands until the flour has taken in more of the moisture. The dough will be soft at first but will firm up as you work it.
- Set your oven rack to the 2nd level position (just above center) and preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll some of the dough out on a floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out your pieces with my homemade gingerbread house template (or a template of your choice or gingerbread house cutters). Move the pieces onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet with a serving spatula.
- Bake at 350ºF for 12-15 minutes (mine only needed 12 minutes). Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack. Let the pieces dry out for several hours, or overnight, in a warm, dry spot before building your houses.
- For the best way to put the houses together, see my step-by-step gingerbread house build guide. You can decorate the pieces before building or wait until all the houses are built.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the water and meringue powder on high until frothy. Switch to low and add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Beat on high once all the powdered sugar is incorporated.
- The icing should be thick like glue and take some time to blend back into the bowl. To test it, lift the head of your stand mixer and let the icing drop back into the bowl. If it blends right back in, it is too runny.
- If the icing is too runny, add a little more powdered sugar. If it is thicker than glue, add a teaspoon of water at a time until it reaches a glue-like consistency.
- I used a No. 6 Wilton piping tip to pipe the icing onto the houses to “glue” the pieces together. For detailed work like the wreaths and windows, I used these piping bottles from Sweet Sugar Belle. What I like about them is that you can swap out the tips. For the houses, I used the tips that came with them.
- While the houses dry, wrap the tip end of the bottle or piping bag with a little plastic wrap or aluminum foil. I like these silicone decorating tips from Wilton. You may need a toothpick or a damp paper towel to clear out any royal icing that has dried inside the tip. Give it a little shake after that and you are ready to pipe again.
Baker’s notes
- This is a flavorful gingerbread recipe that can be eaten, but this tutorial is really meant for people building gingerbread houses to display in their home. If you plan to eat your gingerbread houses, they are best enjoyed within a day or two of making them.
- For the best gingerbread houses, the dough should be very dry and firm once cooled. If it is not fully dried out, the pieces will keep picking up moisture as they sit, and your house could eventually collapse.
- When building gingerbread houses, use royal icing. Buttercream, or any frosting made with shortening, holds moisture that can make your house collapse. Royal icing dries rock hard, like cement, and holds your house together much, much better!
- If you pipe any decorations, like the wreaths I made, and you make a mistake, do not panic. Take a slightly damp paper towel and wipe it off very gently. I had to do this a few times on the roof panels because I goofed.
- You can also pipe wreaths separately onto wax paper and let them dry completely before carefully placing them on the house. Use royal icing again as the “glue.”
