Harry potter has been one of the most influential films of the last twenty years. Its popularity has now made its way into the holiday traditions. Every Christmas, Harry Potter gingerbread houses are becoming more common.
Whether they are handcrafted or professionally made, the Hogwarts Castle and the Hogwarts Express train tend to me the most popular. However, there are new gingerbread creations every year.
Here are the newest and most common Harry Potter gingerbread houses.
Hogwarts Gingerbread Houses
Diagon alley
An iconic wizardly alley filled with shops, restaurants and where Harry Potter is introduced to his wand; Diagon Alley gingerbread houses are starting to become more popular.
Harry Potter House Cookies – Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor
Which Hogwarts House do you belong to? Take a look at these great Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor house cookie photos and make one this holiday season.
Hogwarts Express Train
This handmade gingerbread Hogwarts express train is simply incredible. The amount of details created by the frosting, plus the mini Harry, Hermione, Ron and Hagrid figures are beautifully crafted.
Harry Potter Gingerbread Men & Women
Continue the holiday tradition of baking gingerbread men and women by creating a Harry Ron and He Hermione gingerbread figures.
Wondering, where you should purchase your gingerbread house this Christmas? Walmart sells a large variety of gingerbread houses from October to the end of December.
You can find many different themed kits, ranging from classic gingerbread houses to a modern gingerbread manor and even a large gingerbread house village.
Also, Walmart offers a ready- to-decorate gingerbread cookie set which comes with pre-made gingerbread men.
The Pros of purchasing a gingerbread house at Walmart
Great selection of gingerbread house and cookie kits
Many gingerbread house decorations and themes to choose from
An incredible baking section for additional gingerbread house candy
Gingerbread house kits at different price points
Free pick up for online purchases
Good return policy for any issues.
Lay away for any kits out of
The Cons of purchasing your gingerbread house at Walmart
During the holidays, Walmart can be crowded.
They may have a lower gingerbread house selection than advertised
Walmart Gingerbread House Kit Review
For our review, we purchased the Wilton gingerbread house manor and Wilton ready to decorate gingerbread house kit.
These gingerbread houses came with the all of the standard materials:
The kit from Walmart had no issues and was easy to set up.
Overall, the gingerbread house only took 30 minute to make and came out great. Most of the gingerbread houses are very kid-friendly and easy to make. Besides the long line at Walmart, we felt that purchasing our gingerbread house was there was great. We highly recommend it.
Generally, Gingerbread can last up to 12 months with proper storage. Based on the type of gingerbread, there are different expiration dates. Here are the 3 different types of gingerbread and their expiration.
Fresh gingerbread dough – with standard refrigeration and proper wrapping, fresh gingerbread dough can last up to 7 days. If you freeze fresh gingerbread dough and store properly, it will last up to 12 months in the freezer.
Pre made gingerbread – if you open pre-made gingerbread from a package and store it properly in the refrigerator, it will last about 7 days. If pre-made gingerbread is stored in the freezer, it can last up to 10 months. But, is not advised to eat because of poor taste and texture.
Gingerbread houses – Most store bought gingerbread house kits, unopened, have a shelf life of 12 months if placed in the freezer. Once opened and decorated, a gingerbread house has about a month before it becomes uneatable. Please remember, if you leave a gingerbread house out as decor, it can collect dust and attract ants. Its recommended to put any gingerbread house in a plastic container.
Lastly, most gingerbread houses that are left out during Thanksgiving and Christmas should not be eaten. Not that they can be harmful, but the stale gingerbread and candy would not be enjoyable.
How can you tell if gingerbread has expired?
There are four ways to tell if your gingerbread has expired.
Expired gingerbread is extremely hard and no longer edible.
The smell of the gingerbread is faint compared to typical gingerbread.
Visually, gingerbread becomes discolored, changing to a lighter brown.
Lastly, if there is the presence of mold, the gingerbread is expired and should be thrown away.
How to store your gingerbread properly
Storing gingerbread is easy, just follow these steps:
Wrap your gingerbread in saran, plastic wrap or tin foil. Double wrap your gingerbread to ensure its maximum freshness.
Place your gingerbread in a tin or air tight plastic container. You can even use a
Mark your container with the current date and its contents.
Place in a refrigerator or freezer, all depending on when you will like to eat your gingerbread. A freezer will be the best option if you will not use the gingerbread for more than a week.
Decorating a gingerbread house for the holiday season is a fun tradition for the whole family. The themes and ideas to decorate a gingerbread house are endless.
Most gingerbread house themes are simple and easy to create.
Before you start decorating, consider how you will create your gingerbread house. You can make a gingerbread house from scratch, which could take many hours or purchase a gingerbread house kit and decorate right away.
Consider what style of gingerbread house you want to build and decorate. Will it be a login cabin, traditional gingerbread house, or unique? Also, think about what type of gingerbread house candy you would like to add.
Here are gingerbread house ideas to inspire you this holiday season.
1. Gingerbread House with Traditional Decorations Ideas
This traditional style gingerbread house is what anyone would envision when thinking about decorating a gingerbread house during the holidays. The whimsical colors of the gumdrops and hard candies are eye-catching and fun. The perfectly squishy looking trees and wreath above the door bring out the holiday-feel and also looks delicious! Our favorite is the use of the white frosting for the beautifully sheeted snow on top of the house.
2. Modern Gingerbread House with Chocolate Decorations Ideas
This modern chocolate gingerbread house looks too delicious not to eat! The use of the milk chocolate and white chocolate Kit Kat bars creating a checkered foundation for the walls makes for a unique gingerbread house look. The chocolate creates a look of a roof that is lightly dusted in the snow is smart as you won’t need to use too much frosting for this one. The red and green from the wreath adds a beautiful pop of color and hints at which season this is for.
3. Candy Roof Gingerbread House Ideas
This roof design is easier since it contains four gingerbread pieces compared to the six pieces that would be used for a traditional gingerbread house. The giant, colorful sweet tarts used for the roofing is the focal point of this gingerbread house. The intricate white frosting designs on the front of the house adds a feminine touch, while the greenery used around the house ties everything together.
4. Small Gingerbread House with Green Decorations
This small and green gingerbread house design has charming details. The house has red and green candies used as Christmas lights on the roof and a short chimney. The use of accessories like the snowman with the green hat, the candy canes and peppermint candies at the doorway, and use of gummies throughout really create a cute Christmas time feeling.
5. A Large Gingerbread House with Stylish Frosting Ideas
If you have a gingerbread house mold that is quite large, this large gingerbread house with stylish frosting patterns and templates can be a sweet inspiration for you. Framing the first floor of the house with large trees and adding a colorful bunch of candies surrounding the house is a nice touch. The fluffy white frosting on the roof with confetti sprinkles creates a playful touch to the elegant frosting designs on the front of the house.
6. Classic Gingerbread House Decorations Ideas
The classic gingerbread house-made small and compact and an excellent testament of what you can accomplish with just two simple ingredients. Although there are quite a few decorative flourishes, such as the hard candy and gumdrop window accents, most of the house is constructed from just clever use of frosting. With just a few pattern changes, you can create a diverse pattern that mirrors tiles if you only have gingerbread and icing available. Multi-colored candies like Sixlets make for a subtle but beautiful shingle effect that is both visually arresting and tasty as well.
7. Cute Pink Gingerbread House Ideas
A fun take on the traditional gingerbread house with more emphasis placed on the front of the house. Multi-colored gumdrops form a narrow little path out of the snow, bringing more focus on the frosting and candied details of the front door. From frosting mistletoe, peppermint centerpieces and Mike&Ike window frames; the bright pink aesthetic provides a vibrant and cheery feel that your typical gingerbread colors don’t provide.
8. Gingerbread House with Frosting Icicles and Powdered Sugar Snow
The frosting icicles with powdered sugar snow gingerbread house paints the picture that Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause are inside next to a fire looking at the ‘naughty and nice’ list. The use of the gingerbread cookies and powdered sugar snow around the gingerbread house helps to create an inviting and winter feeling. The perfectly symmetric details from the frosting windows to the peppermint on the roof, are cozy and cute.
9.Traditional Gingerbread House With Gumdrop Roof
Any kid’s dream as they think of gingerbread houses and with so much variety of tasty candies to eat and best of all, just about anyone can make this house. Gumdrops, hard candies and Sixlets dot the roof, offering you more color than just your typical gingerbread and frosting. The same candy combination also provides more color to your lawn and window accents. Symmetry is always lovely, but for a traditional house like this, imperfection offers more of a classic gingerbread charm.
10. Login Cabin Decoration House Decor Using Pretzel Sticks
The modern log cabin design using pretzel sticks is an excellent inspiration for those who love the outdoors and a more rustic look. You can tell with the icicles along the roof, and white frosting touches within the cookie tree that it is winter time and cold. The login cabin style can be simple look without the use of bright colors and having its focal point being the pretzel sticks for the log cabin walls.
11. Sugar Encrusted Gingerbread House with Frosting Decoration
The sugar encrusted gingerbread house with frosting design has an almost artificial look to it as it has meticulous and hardened frosting and candy details. The sugar adds a hint of glimmer and fun to this unique gingerbread house. This particular gingerbread house would look great as a piece to be shown off, not eaten, within a ceramic Christmas Village collection.
12. Classic Gumdrop Gingerbread House with Cotton Ball Smoke
This wonderfully whimsical classic gumdrop gingerbread house with cotton ball smoke coming from the chimney is quite intricate with its use of awnings and colorful details. The gumdrop details for the roofing is the focal point with its vibrant colors. The purpose of the red gummies for shutters and candy cane sticks for pillars, to the green frosting trees and rock candy and gummies surrounding the house paints the picture of the house being located in a forest.
13. Modern Pecan Gingerbread House with Rosemary Tree Wreath Decoration
It’s great to mix up the traditional decorations if you have an individual who doesn’t particularly like candy or too many sweets. This modern pecan gingerbread house is the perfect inspiration for that individual, and the rosemary wreath adds a nice touch as it would also smell amazing once finished. The popcorn is used as fluffy snow, the pecans as windows, the sesame seeds and dried cranberries used to outline the house, and banana chips to create the dimensions of the roofing.
14. Mini Gingerbread House with Peppermint Accent Windows
This gingerbread house is smaller than the average gingerbread kit. Clever use of green frosting, paired with white frosting form the base of the roof pattern. The green icing also serves as the door frame as well as the window trimming, giving the house beautiful holiday greenery. Peppermint candies add more color to the front of the house, with the windows made entirely of purple and pink lollipops. This house makes an excellent addition to your living room, allowing people to appreciate the detailed craftsmanship that went into it.
15. Gold and Foil Hershey Kiss Gingerbread House Decor
The foil from the Hershey Kisses brings out the gold and silver charm of a gingerbread house like this. For those with a limited amount of candy on hand, this gingerbread house shows you that you can build. A wonderfully detailed and unique looking gingerbread house with just clever uses of one candy and some frosting. The kisses provide the window accents, the shingles and the lawn decorations, all without a last-minute trip to the store. Plus, this house is lovely for all those that like a little touch of gold as well.
16.Smarty Candy Roof Decoration with Green Frosting Wreath
A house that breathes winter with its fun use of layering smarties to form a brilliantly multi-colored roof. An inspired use of frosting creates some very wintery icicles along with a beautiful decorative wreath. To round things out are some tasty looking gummy bushes along with lovely use of candied hearts to show the love and care to create this gingerbread house.
17. Blue Frosting Floral Themes Gingerbread House
A fantastic and whimsical design that shows off your artistic talents. A beautiful floral design is weaved throughout this house, ending with an even larger design and showing everyone what you really can accomplish with some just some inspiration and frosting. Blue frosting forms a lovely trim that provides just the right amount of contrast to showcase the floral pattern. From the small detail on the window frames, to the entire garden of blue and white flowers, you can quickly tell the amount of detail and care that was paid to this house.
18. Professionally Designed Gingerbread House With Detailed Frosting Decor
From candy cane pillars to pretzel railings, chocolate nonpareils shingles, you can easily see the planned construction of this gingerbread house, and it’s inspired design. With perfectly symmetrical frosting gilding on the front and windows to the frosting on the chimney, you can easily see the simulation of melted snow. With the amount of intricate detail paid to every inch of this house, all the candies blend seamlessly to help form the look of an ordinary house and one that would be a shame to be eaten.
19. Two Story Large Gingerbread House with Porch
A house that perfectly emulates a New England home in winter. This large mold uses chocolate bars to form the shingles of the roof with blue frosting emulating that shiny ‘blue paint’ finish. The wrinkles and air also help to reinforce this look, giving it the look of freshly painted wood. The porch is also a nice feature, made with chocolate bars as the walkways with candy cane supporting beams; it adds more the winter feel that much more.
20. Classic Gingerbread House with Snowman Decor
Another classic gingerbread design, but this time, complete with smiling snowman and a gingerbread Santa Clause to go with it! We see the regular gumdrop shingles with small Sixlet accents that bring out the color that the plain frosting and gingerbread lack. The windows and doors are constructed from peppermint candies and gumdrops and just a touch of frosting, really giving it a rustic feel.
21. Holiday Joy Gingerbread House
The pink Mike & Ikes give this house a Candyland feel with its vibrant colors and clever uses of red Sixlets for the juniper berries. Although it is subtle, the pink in this house stands out when contrasted to the rest of the house. With the frosting mistletoes, peppermint, and gummy trees, you can feel the joy radiating from this house.
22. Hershey Kiss Roof Decorations
For the chocolate lover in all of us, this house delivers. But ignoring the Hershey kisses and bars that form the roof for just a moment, we have a nice rainbow of jawbreakers that form a beautiful lawn pattern in combination with some candied hearts and some wonderfully patterned snowflakes. Mixed in with traditional designs like gumdrops and frosting trees, there is also beautifully symmetrical gilding of an almost professional caliber, which bathes the house with a lovely floral pattern reminiscent of Santa’s own home.
23. Festive Light Green Gingerbread House
For those that like the color green, this house provides you some wonderful choices, from your traditional peppermints to your less common Sixlets. On the roof we have jawbreakers that form the top, then your standard gummies and even some sour belts to create a more cohesive tile effect. The frosting and the belts help to simulate a subtle ‘house lights’ effect that one might see on Christmas night.
24. Traditional Gingerbread House With Simple Decor
Another traditional gingerbread house with some simplistic gilding designs. With more simplistic frosting designs and a broad array of candy, this house is every kid’s dream to eat. The roof is made with a combination of gummies and harder candies, with the roof being mostly made from frosting with some candies thrown into the mix. More gummies provide a colorful walkway with a decorative wreath of more floral candies. A simple house for those without a decent amount of frosting on hand that kids will still love.
25. Gingerbread Store with Candy Tape Roof and Lights
A store where you might even run into Santa himself. The roof is made from sour red belts, which give a beautiful look of red shingles, with a line of sixlets giving a playful vibe of powered Christmas lights. The spider is optional. Pirouette wafers provide the supporting beams while the door is made from butter cookies. The gummy snake, however, is not optional.
26. Classic Gingerbread Design with Frosting and Gingerbread Man
The classic gingerbread house complete with your very own gingerbread man. The M&M’s provide a chocolaty and very vibrant roof design, while the rest of the house has your more traditional trimmings. We have a wonderfully decorative frosting trim that looks precisely like melting snow, with multi-colored hard candies providing a rainbow look to your lawn and roof decorations. We even have more M&M’s as the wreath, making this house simple yet very delicious. No wonder the gingerbread man is so happy.
27. Mini Graham Cracker House Design with Green and Red Candy
Sometimes you don’t even have gingerbread on hand, or perhaps someone is allergic. No to worry, as this house shows you that a little ingenuity can make even a simple house look great. First, we have a candy cane archway to serve as the door, with red peppermints, green Resess, and Hershey kisses to form a cute little tree. We have graham crackers and a little bit of frosting to keep it all together and to finish it off, decorate it with smatterings of red and green candy.
28. Simple and Elegant Gingerbread House Design with M&Ms
This elegant gingerbread house brings a sense of warmth with its candy cane heart designs. With candy cane frames and peppermint decorations, the Christmas feel is very apparent. The plethora of M&M colors serves as a beautiful roof design with its multi-tiered look, supporting the candy cane roof. With a door made of chocolate, this house makes for one tasty treat.
29. Gingerbread Cottage with Wheat Cereal Roof and Pretzel Antlers
A picturesque image of a forest cottage and excellent use of extra cereal you have lying around. Chex makes up much of the roof with little sugar crystals thrown in for more of a snow effect, though any square-shaped cereal will work just as well. The pretzel antlers give this house a hunter’s lodge vibe with many of the logs constructed from cinnamon sticks, which provide an aroma that is very Christmas-like. Again, frosting is used to emulate the look of melted snow with gingerbread making up the smoky chimney.
30. Pretzel Cottage with Snow Frosting and Candy Lights
When you have an abundance of pretzels lying around, or you want to create a house with a more rustic feel, there is the log cabin. The design is quite similar to the regular gingerbread, except instead of gingerbread, you will be using pretzel sticks to emulate the logs. The sprinkles add a nice dash of color along with simulating the glow of Christmas lights where the frosting is spread very subtly around the sides and front of the house for snow. Finish off with a few decorative flourishes like the wreath and a few gumdrops on the roof.
31. Gummy Wreath With Multiple Color Candy Roof
For fans of hard candies, this house has it all-jawbreakers, peppermints, sour suckers, and skittles. Following a strict color scheme of only green and red, this house blends the more traditional design and simply builds on it, adding more layers of candy between each layer of frosting, giving it a very symmetrical look that is both Christmas like and delicious as well. The centerpiece of this house is the gummy wreath, that matches very well with the rest of the green and red color scheme. And if this house isn’t proving enough, the smiling Santa in the doorway seems to like it.
32. Simple Pink and Clean Frosting Pattern Design
Not everything needs eight different kinds of candy, three colors of frosting and chocolate bars-sometimes just the simplest things are the best. This is a more traditional gingerbread house with frosting trim all around, a candy cane heart at its center and candy cane ledges. The roof and accents are frostings, painted with little hearts to show someone your love and care, which for any gingerbread house, be they eight ingredients or three ingredients, is an essential ingredient of all.
33. Peppermint Roof and Camel Chimney with white Frosting Smoke
A little gingerbread house is allowing you to escape into the joys of Christmas time. Full of individual charm, the caramels provide a nice chimney stack, full of frosting smoke. The peppermint roof allows you to show off your Christmas spirit, with its brilliant greens and reds, contrasting well with your frosting wreath and trees. The multi-colored walkway enables you to show off your tootsie roll log pile and adorable little tootsie roll mailbox.
34. Gingerbread House with Very little Frosting Design
The frosting is great, but sometimes it can be much, both for taste and health reasons. This house trims down on its frosting use, using it very sparingly for some light accents along the front of the house and the shingles for the roof. The rest of the house is adorned with a tasty variety of candies, from the apple ring as the wreath, candy cane arches, to blue lollipops with smaller candies to form a makeshift flower. Then we have green jelly beans, arranged playfully for the roof, shadowing some peppermint shingles before we arrive at the broken kit-kits for some innovative windows.
35. Gingerbread House with Red Candy Accents
This gingerbread design is probably the more traditional-being just gingerbread and red-colored candies. With minimal use of frosting, more emphasis is placed on the sweets providing more of visual flair to the rest of the house. The sour tape is arranged creatively to form the bushes, with a good smattering of red Sixlets providing a brighter roof design. Candy canes form the framing with larger ones acting as door arches. The entire house is finished with a peppermint wreath and gumdrops.
36. Classic House with Great Window Decor
Another traditional gingerbread style, with a wide, vibrant array of gumdrops, gummies, and Sixlets filling every color of the rainbow. The windows of this house is a bit more intricate than the others, with more layering and details implemented so you can see the colors behind it-a mixture of red, yellow, orange and green. With such detail paid to the windows, it almost feels like a real home. We see the same generous smattering of frosting to form the roof with large gumdrops as shingles.
37. Light and Dark Gingerbread Accents with Wheat Roof
A larger design, and for those that prefer chocolate candies over the more fruity gummies. Different round chocolate candies, like milk duds and Whoppers, form the lawn and walkway decorations, while the majority of the house is made of gingerbread with a generous smattering of frosting. With wheat shortbread cookies creating the intricate straw-like roof, to the chocolate wreath and shingles, it’s easy to see why the gingerbread snowman is so happy.
38. Bright Blue Gingerbread House Decorations
A color explosion was showing that a traditional gingerbread house doesn’t have to be, well, classic. From the numerous blue decorations ranging from fish, flowers, small coins and even to rainbow-colored lollipops, it’s important to remember that a gingerbread house is what you want it to look like. This house uses plenty of unconventional designs like orange fishes on the door along with purple and pink roses for the roof design, but it’s still bright and colorful nonetheless.
39. The Small Multi Color Gingerbread House
This small, gingerbread house that has quite a lot of character. Clever use of the gummies for the door walkway as well as arches above the door. The windows are gummies as well with frosting trim. Multi-colored candies line the roof, creating a rainbow pattern that is visually very pretty, pairing well with the icing layer of ‘fake’ snow that the frosting creates. More gummies adorn the roof, creating the shingles with giant gummies adding more focus on the diamond-shaped centerpiece of the house, making this one both aesthetically symmetrical and tasty as well.
40. Gingerbread House with Fake Snow
41. Gingerbread House with Fence and Lights
42. Handmade Gingerbread House with Gingerbread Tree
43. Gingerbread House with Chocolate and Frosting
45. Gingerbread House with Advanced Frosting Design
A wonderful holiday tradition, the act of making a gingerbread house is both creative as well as tasty. But where did it all come from? How did we ever arrive at making delicious gingerbread houses and why during Christmas? Today, we will be discussing the origins of gingerbread and the houses that would sooner come from it.
Why is gingerbread called gingerbread?
The term gingerbread is an old french word, which actually means “preserved ginger”. The root was first cultivated in ancient China and was eventually discovered that it helped to preserve both flour and meat. Because of this, ginger was baked into little crisps, that eventually became cookies in Western Europe. These cookies or “fairings” as they would be called at the time, grew wide popularity at fairs, hence the name. Many fairings were decorated with gilded edges and would be the foundation of what would today be known as the gingerbread house.
What is a gingerbread house?
A gingerbread house is a confectionery house usually made from a hardened ginger biscuit, often referred to as a “ginger nut”. This house is typically decorated with an assortment of frosting and candied elements. This practice stems from the tradition of baking ginger into small cookies, called snap cookies during European and North American holidays. The general characteristics of a gingerbread house is that the end product should resemble some form of architect, but nowadays, it is very loosely applied. A gingerbread house can be made to look like anything, with the important rule of it being constructed entirely of edible items, namely candy and gingerbread.
Who Invented the gingerbread house?
The actual inventor is largely unknown as gingerbread constructions can be found as far back as ancient Greece and even further in China, but for the Europeans and North America, the practice of making gingerbread houses originates in Germany during the 1800’s. As gingerbread was already used to make different forms of art, German bakers took this to the next step, basing their creation off a very popular fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm, “Hansel and Gretel” where two children are abandoned in a forest before discovering an edible house made of bread and sugar. Bakers took descriptions of this house from the story and began approximating their own take on a gingerbread house. This would be most popular during christmas, as it was common place tradition to consume ginger snap cookies around this time as well.
What is the purpose of a gingerbread house?
The purpose of a gingerbread house is two fold-to provide an artistic medium and of course to eat. Gingerbread houses are commonly made nowadays to express creativity in a more fun and visually vibrant medium. With the world of sweets available, the cost of materials certainly isn’t high and the ceiling for creativity is nearly endless, creating a fun practice both for children and adults alike. Plus, afterwards, you can eat your creation, something all children can greatly appreciate.
History of gingerbread house in Germany
As stated previously, Gingerbread houses in Germany originated from Bakers emulating the description from Hansel and Gretel. In Europe and North America, it was already common place to make Gingerbread mould carvings with artistic depictions. So bakers applied their own craft and constructed their ideals of a “fairy tale” house, resulting in what we know today as gingerbread house making. This tradition was most popular during christmas, where a great number of goods were baked from Gingerbread.
How did the gingerbread house tradition get started?
The tradition of gingerbread house making began with Europeans and Americans baking gingersnap cookies around Christmas. These cookies tend to be decorated with elaborate designs, usually gilded edges with pictures of animals, houses or other architecture. Gingerbread was also a medium for displaying folk art and the news as well. This naturally evolved into the houses that German bakers popularized and became what we know today as the art of making gingerbread houses.
How were gingerbread houses incorporated into Christmas?
Gingersnap cookies have always been associated with the spirit of Christmas, and as such, it was highly popular to bake a large assortment of ginger products during Christmas. With the concept of gingerbread houses, eventually this tradition merged with the idea of gingerbread houses. And since Christmas is a widely important time in German, the practice would become synonymous with Christmas itself.
Fun Facts about Gingerbread Houses
Gingerbread houses are an excellent way to celebrate both creativity and bring in the new year. Below are some fun tidbits about the delicious pieces of artistic flair that both you and the kids can enjoy.
It is said that Gingerbread houses can be traced as far back as Ancient Greece and Egypt.
Gingerbread is said to have been invented by a monk to help cure indigestion.
It is said that Queen Elizabeth I came up with the concept of the gingerbread man after wanting to present them to visiting officials as gifts.
Gingerbread is unique in that it uses honey and molasses as the base sweetner instead of sugar.
In the city of Bergen in Norway, they make an entire city of gingerbread houses annually.
It is tradition that unmarried women in England would often eat gingerbread men for good luck in meeting a husband.
In Sweden, gingerbread was thought to have brought good luck, and people would use them to make wishes. The word “gingerbread’ derives from the Old French word “gingebras”, meaning “preserved ginger”.
While gingerbread houses are widely popular in North America and Europe, it never saw much popularity in the United Kingdoms
The largest gingerbread house in the world is 60 feet by 42 feet and is worth 35 million calories, constructed with 1800 Hershey bars, 1200 feet of twizzlers, 100 pounds of tootsie rolls, 100 whirly pops and thousands of other assorted candies.
A doctor once wrote a prescription for gingerbread for the Swedish King to cure his depression
While the most popular time of year to make gingerbread houses is Christmas, bakers make gingerbread during Halloween and Valentines day.
Whether you are celebrating the holidays or just looking for a fun activity to express your creativity, gingerbread houses are the perfect way to spend your time. So go create a delicious memory today and make a gingerbread house.
When mixing gingerbread dough, you will encounter different colors and textures based on which ingredients you use. Darker dough use dark brown sugar, dark corn syrup and sometimes molasses. Compared to lighter gingerbread dough which use the lighter versions of corn syrup and sugar. Also, lighter gingerbread houses tend to use honey as a sweeter. Most gingerbread projects will only need one type of dough, but if you are feeling creative; you can use both gingerbread colored dough
Making the dough is relativity straight forward. Gingerbread dough will always dry ingredients such as flour being well-blended with heated molasses or corn syrup. The molasses and corn syrups will be heated in a pan and then, usually the dry mixture will be added and thoroughly mixed. And that’s how most gingerbread dough’s are made.
How to Roll Gingerbread Dough for Gingerbread Houses
Start with a cookie sheet – find a large cookie sheet and wrap tin foil on the surface of the cookie sheet. Depending on how much gingerbread you will be baking, a larger cookie sheet would be best.
Get out your rolling pin – find a rolling pin and dust it with baking flour.
Prepare a working surface – find a non-slippery working surface.
Round and Roll The Dough – Start rounding your dough and rolling it to the correct thickness onto the baking sheet. Most Gingerbread dough is at least ¼ inches, but can go as thick as 1/2 inches for baking
Trim the dough – trim any excess dough within 1-1.5 inches of a cookie sheet.
Making Your Gingerbread Shapes and Patterns
Since your dough is now placed evenly on a cookie sheet, bring out your patterns. To make this process easier, its recommended to leave the dough in the refrigerator for 30-mins.
Add your pattern to thick paper or cardboard
Dust you patterns with a generous amount flour
Arrange all of your patterns and templates on the gingerbread
Leave about 1/4 of an inch between patterns and do not crowd.
Using a well pointed knife, take your time, and cut out your patterns.
Trim and knead the excess dough together. If you are not going to use this dough, wrap the dough and place in the refrigerator.
Clean your station and get ready to place the dough in the oev
Baking Your Gingerbread Dough
Once your patterns are carved out, time to place your dough in the oven. Gingerbread cookies between 1/4 to 1/2 inch of thickness will take 13-15 minutes to bake at 350°F. Place the cookies in the middle rack off the oven. Check the gingerbread cookies for firmness and if they are lightly browned, these are signs that the cookies are ready to be taken out of the oven.
Note, please review all baking instructions that come with the package or gingerbread kit. Some flour such as gluten free flower could take shorter to bake.
Taking Out of the Oven and Letting your Gingerbread Cookies cool.
Remove the cookies from oven on the sheet. Give the cookies about 5-7 minutes to cool down. Some cookies may be misshaped due to the high heat, once they have cooled down, but are still warm, you can re-shape them with a tooth pick or knife.
Once your cookies have cooled down, carefully remove them from the tin foil with a spatula. This is where you must be careful. Gingerbread cookies have a tendency to get stuck to tin foil. Keep an eye on any remainder foil that is sticking to the cookies. lastly, gingerbread cookies are very brittle, so be careful placing them onto a plate or in a plastic container. Placing them in a zip-lock bag or any tight and sturdy containers is highly recommended.
How To make Royal Icing
To make Royal Icing you will need to:
combine 1 pound confectioners sugar 3 egg whites, and ½ teaspoon cream of tartar in bowl
Mix with electric mixer at low speed until blended.
Then beat at high speed 5-7 to minutes.
Icing is ready to use when knife drawn through it leaves a clear path which holds its shape. This amount can make 1 batch, about 2 cups.
We do not recommend: doubling recipe.
If you need additional icing, make a separate batch.
How to Tint Your Royal Icing
Tinting Royal Icing is fairly easy, but can be messy. Before starting these steps, make sure you have a clear and clean work space in your kitchen. Here are the 4 steps to tint icing:
Use multiple small bowl -. One bowl per color is the rule. Also, use disposable bowls because the tint could stain your bowls.
Use tooth picks – poke a hole in the food coloring and add a few drops to your icing. Remember, Icing tends to dry fast, so keep your bowls covered with a semi-damp paper towels when your not using them and do not refrigerate your icing. If you refrigerate your icing, it will come out hard and perhaps unusable.
Mix with a rubber spatula – start mixing the food coloring into your royal icing. Its important to mix thoroughly and add incremental drops of food coloring. Add as many drops to obtain the best shade of your desired colors.
Think ahead – Think about all the icing colors you will be using during the baking session. It would be best to create enough before you decorate your gingerbread houses.
