A tasty home for the holidays
Build your best gingerbread house this year!
A weekend project for the whole family (that’s way easier than you think), yours will stand out with my sweet — and sturdy — recipe for the ultimate edible home.
After assembling the gingerbread pieces with icing, don’t forget to let this large cookiebased treat dry for 24 hours before letting the kids lay down all the colourful candy decorations.
Gingerbread House Ricardo Tested
Cookies 3-3/4 cups (565 g) unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tbsp ground ginger 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup (210 g) lightly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup (125 ml) molasses 1 egg
Icing
1 egg white 11/2 cups (195 g) icing sugar
Decorations
Multicoloured jellybeans or other candies, small candy canes and/or sticks, chocolate drops, licorice in various colours and shapes, red and/or green mints Download the template (see note)
Cookies
In a bowl, combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and molasses with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Add the egg and stir well. At low speed or with a wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients until smooth. Shape the dough into 2 discs. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough with your hands for about 1 minute. Roll out to an 1/8-inch (3 mm) thick sheet. Cut out cookies using the cookie cutters. Reuse any dough scraps. Place the same size cookies on the same baking sheet. Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned. Let cool completely. Icing
In a bowl, whisk the egg white and icing sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. With a pastry bag filled with the icing and fitted with a small plain tip, pipe icing on the edges of the house pieces and assemble it. Let dry for 24 hours before decorating. Note
Download our gingerbread template and see a how-to video at thestar.com/life.
Makes 2 houses