Learn how to make a beautiful Gingerbread House that is completely from scratch and will make your house smell heavenly. Recipe is all the way at the bottom…keep scrolling!

And the Christmas Yumminess Countdown continues!!

8:00 a.m.- Must make myself get out of bed. Why do I continually convince myself yoga is a good idea?

The list of aches that I blame solely on yesterday’s yoga and not the volume of cookies I have eaten since last going to yoga: abs, arms, legs… why am I bothering with listing? …everything! But I must “power” (haha get it? power yoga!) through and build those poor gingerbread men and women their bakery.

8:30 a.m. – I’ve made it downstairs. Thankfully only Lambeau (my puppy dog) was home to hear the groans of agony.

9:00 a.m.- Caffeine is in hand… Adele is jamming out…on my computer of course…I wouldn’t be thinking about gingerbread if Adele was in my kitchen.

9:30 a.m.- Ready to start rolling.

11:30 a.m.- Is cutting out windows smaller than my pinkie fingernail really worth it? Do the gingerbread men and women really need daylight?

12:30 p.m.- Water break. 

1:00 p.m.- Back to work. Pre-decorating.

3:00 p.m.- Assembling.

3:30 p.m.- Decorating

5:00 p.m.-Cramp, cramp, cramp. I’m going to account the hand cramp to all the downward dog from yesterday instead of being a frosting piping wimp… is it just me or did “frosting piping wimp” sound like a pretty bad ass insult?

5:30 p.m.- Je suis finis! And it is so stinking beautiful…if I do say so myself!

6:00 p.m.- Aghh! It looks like the decorating cabinet threw up all over my kitchen.

Don’t fear the amount of time I took on this house. I was a slow poke. If you were moving, you could finish this a lot faster than I did because I was also designing it as I went along. If it does take you a while, it is easy to leave and come back to.

So what do you need to know about making a gingerbread house from scratch?

Put your Adele playlist on loop… I probably listened to that album 20 times.

I’d suggest making your dough the day ahead and then chilling it overnight. Don’t use this recipe for gingerbread cookies! It is meant only for houses so it turns out sturdier but tastes really tough.

Roll out your dough on parchment paper. No seriously…stop flouring your counter! When you transfer the dough from the counter to the pan, you will lose the shape unless you use parchment paper. If you lose the shape you cut out, your house will not fit together nicely and it will look more like a condemned shack than a quaint house! Also, silicon mats do not work either because the dough sticks even if you flour the mat. While you’ll need a little flour to keep the dough from sticking to your rolling pin, refrain from using too much because it will leave smudge marks on your cookies.

I used a pattern I made up for this house. If this is your first time making a gingerbread house from scratch, I’d suggest not being the architect just yet. Use someone else’s pattern that you know will work. If you want to use my pattern, the dimensions are below. I just used printer paper to cut the pattern out. Then I put the printer paper on top of my rolled out dough and used a very sharp knife to cut them out.

Here are the specific dimensions if you cannot read the picture

• 2 Front and Back pieces- 6  5/8″ x 8  1/2″ 
• 2 Roof pieces- 7  3/8″ x 3  3/16″
• 2 Side pieces- 3″ x 8  1/2″ with an equilateral triangle attached on the top that has 3″ sides and a  2  1/2″ altitude
• 3 Bay wall pieces- 1  7/8″ x 3  3/4″ 
• 2 Right Triangle Bay Roof pieces- 1  7/8″ (bottom) x 2  1/2″ altitude (other side making the right angle)
• 1 Trapezoid Bay Roof piece- base: 1  7/8″, altitude: 2  1/2″, and top: 5/8″

For the evergreen tree, I cut out 4 different sizes of stars and staggered them. I used 1 of the largest and then 3 each of the 3 smaller ones.

If you want to cut out windows or doors, do that before baking! I like to use a toothpick to outline where to cut and then use a very sharp knife to cut the pieces out. For the bay area on the back of my gingerbread house, I did not cut out the windows because I was afraid I’d weaken the pieces too much.

Once your gingerbread is baked, take a minute to smell your house because this is better than any candle you could buy! Your house will smell like gingerbread and sugar for the next few days too… I keep walking over to my gingerbread house just to smell it! Let the gingerbread cool completely before you start decorating.

If you want some ideas for how I decorated:

I would suggest decorating the sides and roof before assembling it. Decorating is so much easier if the sides are not upright.

You can use a royal icing but I’d suggest bypassing the homemade frostings and icings. You are going to be a little pooped by this point and Betty Crocker will be your best friend. I used 1 can of the Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Vanilla Frosting but I was scraping the bottom so you may want to get 2 cans. It was very easy to pipe out and dried nicely. I dyed about 1/4 cup of the frosting with green food coloring and about 1 Tablespoon of the frosting with red food coloring.

I used a #16 Wilton tip with  for the evergreen tree, the wreaths, the garlands, and for the edges of the house (this was after assembling though to cover up the seams where I stuck the pieces together).I used a #1 Wilton tip for the roof top, the holly in the wreaths, the “Birch Tree Bakery” words, the outlining on the windows and doors and the trim work. I got the idea and the design of the trim work (picture above) from a hotel that we stayed at in Pustenvy, Czech Republic this summer.

For the lamp posts, I used a decapitated candy cane with a gum drop stuck on top. To get it to stand up, I stuck it in another gum drop that I covered in frosting.

For the snow, I used coconut.

For the sidewalk up to the door, I used almond slivers glued down with frosting.

For the cake in the window, I used gumdrops covered in frosting but marshmallows would work too.

For the bay roof top I used, wheat chex but use whatever cereal you have on hand.

If you have any frosting or flour smudges, put a wreath or garland there to cover it up!

Assembly.

It may seem obvious but start with two sides, then once you have the base do the roof, and then the bay area.

So to get the first two sides, pipe or smear 2 lines of frosting onto your platter that the sides can sit in. Then pipe or smear frosting onto the seam side of one of the side pieces. They shouldn’t be too wobbly but if you’re worried put a box of pasta or a can of something up against the side to help support the wall. Continue with the other two sides in the same way.

For the roof, do not try to have the roof piece overhang the wall. You need the support of the wall edge being right up against the roof piece’s edge. Again, frost all the seams before attaching.

Happy gingerbread house making!

If you have any questions, let me know! I’d be happy to help!