What you do first is gather your ingredients. Once you have them, you will make the gingerbread following the recipe below.
Gingerbread Recipe
5 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Shortening
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Lg Egg
1 Cup Molasses
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Ginger
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Vinegar
1. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.
2. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl until smooth. (Works best if you have an electric blender)
3. Mix wet and dry ingredients together.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Roll out dough on tinfoil until approximately 1/8” thick.
6. Place pattern pieces on dough and use a sharp knife to trace the edges. Try not to cut the tinfoil.
7. Leave a small strip (use your best judgment for how big to leave the strip) around the outer edges of the pieces and the window inserts in place until cooked to prevent “bulging” of the pieces.
8. Bake the gingerbread for about 10 minutes then remove and retrace the lines.
9. If desired, remove the window pieces and replace with a broken Jolly Rancher candy. This will melt and form a “window pane”.
10. Cook for about another 10 minutes. (After you remove from the oven the final time, I find it best to retrace the lines a third time. It helps with preventing breakage)
11. Allow gingerbread to cool before removing from cookie sheet to prevent breakage. (If a piece does break, you can glue it back together with the frosting)
You can take the pattern and make it as big, or as small as you would like it. If you want a big house, resize all of the pieces the same, to the size you would like.
While your gingerbread is baking, you can make the frosting. I would highly suggest that you use an electric blender for this, or it will give you a very sore hand.
Royal Icing/Frosting
1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar
4 Egg Whites
5 Cups Powdered Sugar
1. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.
2. Gradually add sugar. You probably won’t need all 5 cups.
Frosting should be soft but not runny. If it is too runny add a bit more sugar. If it is too thick add a little water.
Also while the ginger bread is baking, you will want to find a piece of cardboard that is the size you want for your house. You will wrap tinfoil around it. Tape it on the bottom to hold it in place.
Putting the house together.
For the frosting, if you don’t have a frosting bag, you can just use a sandwich baggy. Put as much frosting in it as you want (you will want to leave enough that you can fold the top of the bag closed) and cut the very tip off.
You will take the 2 long pieces and set them off to the side. They are your roof.
The two pieces with the points are your front and back. (The back has the window, front has the door)
Take the back piece, and put a generous line of frosting along the bottom, and one side. Take one of the side pieces and but a generous amount along the bottom, and the side that will attach to the back piece. Place them where on the cardboard that you would like your house. Hold them there for a minute to give the frosting a little time to dry. Take the other side piece and repeat. Take the front piece and repeat. While you let that frosting dry (before you put on the roof) you can begin to decorate your “yard” or the inside of the house.
If you are doing this for a show, you are going to want to make it look like the designer wants. If you are doing it for fun, it is yours. You can do whatever you want. Once the inside is decorated as you want it (if you decorated at all inside) and the frosting on the ground and walls is dry, you can now put your roof on. Take the frosting and use a generous amount all the way around the top of the house. Place on side on first, hold it for a second while you place a generous amount of frosting along the side of the other roof piece. Stick the side with frosting along the other roof piece. Let it dry before you decorate the roof.
Finish decorating to how you want it. You can use any kind of candy, or food that you would like. Use your imagination.
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