- How to Mix Gingerbread Dough
- How to Cut & Bake the Dough
- Gingerbread Recipes for Gingerbread Houses
- Gingerbread Cookies and Cake recipes
- Royal Icing Recipes
Mixing Gingerbread Dough
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.