If you a looking for a great holiday project to take on with your children and family, look no further than a gingerbread house. These edible structures have been around for generations, and they are truly a staple of the holiday season. While there are tons of gingerbread kits that you can buy preassembled, just to decorate, it is more creative and fun to make one from scratch. This is a tradition to start with your family this season, and your children are likely to keep the tradition alive when they grow up and have children of their own. There are so many ways to make personalize this craft so that it is uniquely your own. If you are feeling really ambitious, you could let every family member decorate their own gingerbread house so that you will have a variety to display as a stunning ensemble of seasonal décor. Gingerbread houses make great table centerpieces for your Christmas dinner, and they also make a wonderful holiday gift. Brew some hot chocolate and turn on your favorite Christmas music album, and let the gingerbread house construction begin.
The basic structure of the house, meaning the roof and walls, is made out of gingerbread pieces. You will need six rectangular pieces of gingerbread, all made to be the exact same size. Line six medium-sized cookie sheets with non-stick cooking paper. Each cookie sheet will hold one gingerbread house piece. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of white granulated sugar, 3-1/2 cups brown sugar, and 2 cups of unsalted softened (but not melted) butter. Cream ingredients together until smooth, and then gradually add in 4 tablespoons molasses and a dozen eggs (sounds like a lot of eggs, but hey – you’re building a house, not baking a birthday cake). In another very large bowl, sift together 12 cups of all-purpose flour, 4 teaspoons of baking soda, 2 tablespoons ground ginger, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon and 2 tablespoons allspice. Gradually combine the ingredients in your two bowls, kneading the dough with your hands to create a smooth ball. Wrap your dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Divide the ball of dough into 6 balls, weighing each ball to make sure that they are completely equal. Use a rolling pin to roll out each ball, and then smooth the flattened pieces into each cookie sheet, spreading the dough with your fingers so that it touches all sides of the cookie sheet. Before you put the pieces in the oven, decide what parts of your gingerbread house each piece will be – two pieces will comprise the roof, one piece will be the front of the house, one piece will be the back, and the remaining two pieces will be the sides. The reason you have to identify them before baking them is so that you can cut out windows and a front door from the front, and some windows from the sides and back of the house. Do not cut holes out of the roof pieces, because that could affect the structural soundness of your gingerbread house. Use the dough that you cut out for the door and windows to make gingerbread men (just roll out the leftover dough, and use a cookie cutter to make your men). Bake your gingerbread pieces – one cookie sheet at a time. Each sheet should take about 30 minutes to bake.
Once all of your pieces have been baked and have cooled and dried overnight, you are ready to assemble your house. In order to “glue” your pieces together, you need to make your sticky icing. Make this one batch at a time, but keep the batches coming – it takes a lot of sticky icing to make a gingerbread house. Each batch contains three egg whites, 1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar, and 3-1/2 cups superfine icing sugar. Beat the ingredients together for about 5 minutes, until they are the consistency of icing. Fit your pieces together with the sticky icing, leaving the roof pieces for last. Once the icing has dried and your house is secure, add colorful candies to the house in whatever decorative fashion you desire. Some great candy choices include M&Ms, Snow Caps, Hershey Kisses, licorice strings, and gumdrops.
