Gingerbread House Recipe (2024)

Tip for perfectly cut walls - 1. roll the dough 2. score the exact outline of the wall 3. Leave a small (2cm is fine) border around the scores edges 4. Bake and when ready, cut through the soft gingerbread along the scored lines with a sharp knife before it hardens.Don’t wait until the gingerbread is hard as it will crack easily. Doing this method is better than cutting the dough to the exact template as you will prevent the edges from spreading.

Yield: Half recipe-gingerbread dough (metrics removed)1/2 pound unsalted butter (2sticks)1 1/4 cups plus 1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar6 cups + 6 Tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 1 heaping tablespoon of each ground ginger and ground cinnamon 1\2 teaspoon + 1\4 teaspoon baking soda, level1\4 teaspoon baking powder, level 1\4 teaspoon salt, level2 eggs, at room temperature1 cup molasses Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange (optional, but I would add)

I am in the process of trying this for the first time. As I bake the sheets of gingerbread they are getting bubbles on the surface... can anyone tell me why and how to prevent it? I am baking at 175 degrees C in a convection oven.

I found it helpful to weigh the dough into 20 oz chunks, pat into squares, and wrap individually before refrigerating. That way, you can take out a square of cold dough and roll it out for each slab.

Added 1/4 tsp of cardamom, 1/2 tsp ground cloves & 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg to each half batch - even fuller flavor! And add the zest of the orange & lemon because it really does knock it out of the proverbial park!

We made this last year and it was great!! I was so nervous that it would crumble or fall apart and it was sturdy and easy to work with. We left it out to dry for a week before proceeding with assembly. The kids and I had a great time. We are making it again this year as well.

Just got the first batch out of the oven and the gingerbread itself is delicious. Not sure how it will stand up house-wise, but warm-cookie-wise, it's fab. I wish that the ingredient list listed the amount of each ingredient used per half-batch. I kept getting confused along the way.

Made half the recipe and used 6.5” squares instead of 9”. Worked beautifully! Great size, and delicious!

I wish the ingredients were listed in amounts for half batch, since you can’t exactly measure out the full amount and then divide in half without remeasuring. I get that you’d have to make two batches to make a full house, but that can be an included note. Otherwise, really delicious recipe.

Agree with others - cut the gingerbread after it comes out of the oven, while it is still soft. I waited the 5 days the instructions suggest and my cuts were not clean, plus I had a corner crumble because the gingerbread was too hard by that point. It helps to use a small paring knife to trace out the template on the gingerbread after it's baked, then make clean cuts with a larger knife.

I made this and the dough was great! The problem I encountered had to do with the construction of the piece. The roof was too long and covered up the sides..at 9 inches..that is long, so trim them shorter. The royal icing was missing something and it was not the consistency that it needed to be to constuct the house. I would recommend another royal icing recipe than this one. I am a chef and, in my professional view, the template and the royal icing recipe need to be tweaked. A nice size house.

No. My Canadian Cookbook with same recipe does not call for drying the gingerbread slabs out at all. I found once baked, they were hard enough, that if you wanted to use them once cooled, you probably could.

I have a 6 qt mixer and ended up halving it still. It's a very thick dough so I think doing in two batches also guarantees proper mixing.

FYI, if your stand mixer has an 11 lbs or higher dough capacity (like the Ankarsrum which is what I used), it will be able to hold the whole recipe in a single batch. But it was at the limit, so an even slightly smaller mixer probably wouldn't work. I had a hard time portioning and rolling out the dough until it had been at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, at which point it became much easier. Haven't tasted the final product yet but the raw dough tastes amazing with the zest.

That's exactly what you do.The assembly instructions are linked at the bottom of the recipe, or you can go here (if I'm allowed to include links) : https://cooking.nytimes.com/guides/47-how-to-make-a-gingerbread-house

Used this recipe to make ginger bread man shaped cookies - turned out great, I love the texture and flavours.I substituted molasses with carob syrup because it’s easier to get here, and it turned out great, it gives a slightly chocolate flavour.

I usually make 3-4 pans of gingerbread people (~70) from 1/4 batch dough but add 4x the zest (including blood orange if I can get it). You do get into the 1/8 teaspoon range but luckily my measuring spoons have it. For the molasses I use Grandma's brand and dry measure it otherwise it is too strong. Roll it out a little thinner than 1/4" thick - it puffs in the oven. Bake 8-12 minutes. The unbaked cutouts and the baked cookies freeze very very well.

If you, like me, didn't notice the note about letting the gingerbread cure for several days to achieve the requisite architectural stiffness, and you want to build your house sooner, there's an easy solution! After you bake and cool everything, return the gingerbread to a 200-degree oven for 20 minutes. Once the gingerbread cools the second time, it will be noticeably stiffer and will work great for house construction!

Add your zest with the sugar for more flavor, a la Dorie Greenspan’s methods

I’ve made this for a few years now with my daughters. I only dried the dough the first time. Since then, I bake it early and freeze the slabs, so that, when we take it out and make our creation, all of the scraps we have are edible, and not stale. The gingerbread itself is delicious!

Icing: I had good luck with 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons meringue powder, 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from half a lemon), and 1 tablespoon water. (If you only get 2 tbsp. juice from your lemon, fill in with water - you want a total of 4 tbsp. liquid to 2 tbsp. meringue powder.) Whisk the sugar and meringue powders together, add liquids, beat on low until just combined, and then beat on high 5 minutes. Pastry bags won’t seam split nor have a bottom fold, like many ziplocks.

Wonderful! “Yes” to everyone who said to score/precut pieces before baking. If scoring, carefully cut while warm. Template dimensions: make the slope length of each roof slab 8” instead of 9”, so the roof (eaves) don’t hang down so low (Roof templates, (2) at 9”x8”). Make both sidewalls 8 1/2 inches long instead of 9”, in order to help roof slabs place with a small overhang at front and back of the house (Sidewalls, (2) at 4.5”x8.5”). Use pirouette cookie “logs” to fill in any roofline oopsies.

This gingerbread recipe is amazing. Sturdy for building and so very tasty when snacking on the trimmings! Following others' advice, I made a half batch, and used a 6.5" square as the base unit. It's a bit of a project, but this is quickly becoming my daughter's favorite Christmas tradition!

1. Pay attn if weighing! 1 cup molasses weighs 11.9 oz, not 8.2. Dough was easy to roll and baked up delicately sweet.3. Made my own house design, cutting template pieces from plain 8.5X11 paper. Needed 4 cookie sheets for all pieces. Recipe makes LOTS of dough. Plenty if your house is within letter width/ht.4. Ran out of AP flour so added balance of 4.5 c white wheat. Subbed by vol not weight. Will def do 1/3 wheat again next time. Great results.

Made half recipe, for a 6.5 inch gingerbread house, and still plenty to roll out for cookie cutters! Dough seems dry to me but comes together!

A few years ago there was also a video on Julia demonstrating decorating technique for the house, piping royal icing. Wonder why I can’t find that anymore. Does anyone know where I can still find it? It was simple but inspiring.

Wow, the video really shows you how to make the house.

Was delicious and fun to make with the kiddo. And absolutely add some nutmeg and clove, I’m glad I did, 1 tsp each in the dry ingredients

If you can only make 1/2 a batch at a time, why don’t they just make a recipe for that ratio and then tell you to make 2???

In a moment of wine-fuelled festivity, I offered to host a gingerbread house decorating party for friends. Being show-off, competitive types, most of them insisted on decorating their own house. Keeping the recipe, I scaled the dimensions; it made enough for one 6x6 house and four 4x4 houses (w/a wee bit left over for snacking & spare parts). The dough and gingerbread is very forgiving! It's not necessary, but I also recommend scoring the cuts before baking and then fully cutting them while hot.