Back
Gingerbread House
Recipe by Miguel Maestre
- Steps
- Ingredients
Steps
- Place the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat.
- Sift the flour and spices into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour the butter mixture into the well and mix with a wooden spoon until a firm dough forms. Cover and set aside to cool until the dough reaches room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 150°C.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll each piece between two sheets of baking a paper until 5mm thick. Using the provided template, cut out 2 roof pieces, 2 walls and a front and back. Remember to cut a door out of the front piece. Use any left over scraps to make biscuits or cut into themed shapes to decorate the house.
- Transfer the gingerbread to two oven trays and bake for 25–30 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- For the royal icing whisk the egg whites to firm peaks. Add the icing sugar and continue to whisk for 3-4 minutes until thick, glossy and quite stiff. Adjust the balance by adding a little water if too thick or more sugar if too runny. Transfer the icing to a piping back fitted with a 2-3 mm star shaped piping nozzle.
- To assemble, pipe some icing in a rectangle on a board or plate the same size as the base of your house. Take one of the wall pieces and pipe along both short edges. Slide the long edge into the piping on the base. Sliding in from the side rather than pushing down from the top helps to get a clean edge and a good seal.
- Next slide the back piece into the icing on the base and connect it with the icing on the wall piece. When the two pieces are connected, pipe along the join. Pipe along the short edges of the other wall piece and slide it into place, piping along the inside join to seal on the other side of the back piece. Slide the front of the house (without the door attached) into position and pipe along both inside joins. The house should now be able to stay together on its own. Pipe along one long side of the door and slide it into place the pipe along the base to hold it in place.
- Now pipe along the top of the walls and the roof. Gently press one roof piece into place and pipe down the centre. Repeat with the other roof piece. The secret to a sturdy house is making sure that all the joins are covered with icing so pipe over every join on the outside of the house including along the base, up the walls, along the joins for the roof and the door.
- Decorating the house is up to you but don’t forget to add some windows, a design for the roof and a something for the front and or the back of the house.
Notes
Building any kind of house requires some planning so use the template provided. Gingerbread has a tendency to spread a little when baked fresh which means you may need to trim the edges for straight lines. Alternatively, resting the dough over night in the fridge and bringing it back to room temperature before rolling helps the dough to maintain a better shape
