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Gingerbread Houses: Christmas Recipes. How to make a gingerbread house at home

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GINGERBREAD HOUSE. Part 1 - all the secrets of mastery.

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Hello dear hostesses. Today we will bake a gingerbread house. From the very beginning to the victorious end. The article is big. But this is because I told all the secrets and nuances. I laid straws wherever a novice cook could fall.

I set myself a goal warn you against all possible mistakes in advance so that you get a wonderful gingerbread house the first time.

You will know all the tricks and all the tricks. I will offer you a choice several ways to glue a gingerbread house and you will choose the one that seems most convenient for you.

And if you still have any questions, then ask them in the comments to this article.

I'll give you time right away., so that you know , how many hours will the whole process of making a gingerbread house take.

Dough kneading 20 min + time to keep it in the fridge for 1 hour
house drawing on cardboard 20 minutes (can also be done ahead of time)
Rolling out dough and cutting details gingerbread house 10 min
Baking 15 minutes
Preparation of glaze for gluing and decorating(while the house is baking the same 15 minutes)
decoration details cream and cooking tinsel 10-30 min (depends on you)
Building a gingerbread house(20-30 min), with assistants faster (or slower).
Drying the house(10 min if my way)
Roof installation(20-40 minutes, if you also use toothpicks, you will quickly fix it)
Decorating a gingerbread house sweets, cream, laying edible tiles on the house (from 30 minutes to infinity, because there is no limit to perfection).

The minimum is 3 hours. without breaks for rest and on the condition that the dough has already lain in the refrigerator for the time allotted to it.

Many hostesses make a gingerbread house not in one day, but in stages:

1 day - dough and baking walls for gingerbread house
2 day - gingerbread house glue
Day 3 - decoration, decorating a gingerbread house

If you want the process to be a little faster, you can make a simplified version of the gingerbread house in the form of a gingerbread hut.

Or make a house from ready-made purchased cakes (by the way, there are cakes specifically for gingerbread houses with windows already cut out), or from chocolate bars, or from large biscuits(photo below).

Step 1. Cooking the dough

200 g butter(mash with a fork or chop with a knife)

5 spoons of liquid honey(if honey is candied, heat in a water bath, or on very low heat, stirring constantly)

200 g sugar

1 sachet of baking powder

4 egg yolks(!!! before separating the yolks from the whites, read the instructions below)

4 cups flour(this is approximate, depending on the size of the eggs)

Salt and Spices to choose from, 1 tsp each.: ground ginger, cinnamon, zest of 1 lemon, cardamom, anise

ATTENTION!!! Instructions for the correct separation of proteins from yolks

We will need the proteins from these eggs for gluing and decorating the house. We will beat them with powdered sugar. In order for the protein cream to turn out as it should, follow the following rules:

1. We break the eggs with clean and DRY hands, and the proteins should also flop into the DRY dishes. One drop of water - and everything is in the dark.

2. Not a single particle of the yolk should get into the whites - otherwise the cream will not foam (separate the protein from each egg over a separate dry bowl and, if it is separated without an admixture of yolk, pour from the bowl into a bowl with other proteins).

3. Since we will beat the cream later, when we put the walls of the house to bake, put the dishes with proteins much higher so as not to accidentally splash water into it.

So, from the above ingredients, knead the dough, wrap it in a film and put it in the refrigerator for an hour or two. Let it lie there, and we go to cut out the template of our future house from paper.

Step 2. Cut out the template from cardboard

If you are not confident in your own architectural or culinary skills, then you can make a simplified design of a gingerbread house - a kind of gingerbread hut (see photo above). As you can see in the photo, such a gingerbread house has no side walls, only triangular facades and a roof. A very convenient option for those who prefer a simpler design.

You choose the dimensions of the gingerbread house yourself - for the above amount of test the height of the facade of your house should be equal in size to your palm. The main thing is that the parts fit together in size with each other. How this will be achieved, I depicted in the diagram below using the example of a drawing of a simple gingerbread house.

As you can see, the parts match in size as follows:

The side wall must be the same height as the side of the front (value b)

And the slope of the roof is the same length as the side (value b) and the same height as the upper line of the slope at the front part (value a), the height of the slope can be made larger so that the roof hangs in the form of a canopy.

Step 3. Roll out the dough and cut out the details

chilled dough lay out on parchment or paper and roll out with a rolling pin. Be sure to lay the parchment, it is needed in order to transfer our cut-out details of the house to the baking sheet on it. If you carry parts in your hands, they can stretch, deform, and then, when assembling the house, they will not match each other in size.

The thickness of the dough layer should be at least 0.5 cm.

The figure below shows one trick to roll out the dough to an even thickness. On the sides of the dough, before rolling out, we put 2 slats with a height of 0.5 cm we need and roll out the dough, rolling our rolling pin along these slats (a foam profile from a hardware store is ideal as a slat, a 2-meter profile costs half a dollar).

For rolled out dough put a cardboard template and cut it out with a knife,very convenient to cut with the pizza wheel. You can immediately cut out windows on the raw dough, or later on the baked parts (see photo below). From the remnants of the dough, we cut out figurines of Christmas trees, animals, a pipe, a porch, a fence - what the fantasy tells, and what the dough is enough for.

Right on the parchment where we rolled out, and transfer the figures to a baking sheet, cutting off a piece of parchment with a detail with scissors (photo below, on the left).

The baking tray must be level, otherwise the house can also turn out with curved walls (and try to dock them later).

We bake the details of the gingerbread house at a temperature of about 200-220 gr. With(on medium heat) about 10-12 minutes. We take it out of the oven as soon as the cakes are already yellow, but not yet brown (photo above, on the right). While the cakes are hot, it is easy to cut windows out of them if you want.

But it’s better not to overdo it for the first time, because you can simply draw windows on the walls of the house with protein cream, as here:

And when you bake your next gingerbread house, you can not only cut out windows, but also “Glaze” with marmalade or caramel.

Step 4. Making frosting for decoration and gluing

Ingredients : for 1 protein, 200 gr. powdered sugar + 1 tsp. lemon juice (or a little bit of vinegar, or dry citric acid). Acid is needed not only for taste, thanks to it, the glaze is more elastic, tight, sticky.

If you don't have powdered sugar , don't worry, I'll tell you a secret, I personally always make the same icing with regular sugar. The main thing here is that sugar should be fine-crystalline, so to speak, finely ground (this is often found on sale), such sugar has time to melt in the protein during whipping. And in order for it to melt for sure (even coarse-grained), even before whipping, you can simply let it lie down in a slightly whipped protein, it will melt during this time, and the cream after whipping with sugar will also turn out as it should. Beat the protein gradually adding sugar with a tablespoon until the foam becomes stiff and stagnant, as in the photo below. And you can make your own powdered sugar, tar sugar on a coffee grinder.

In the photo below, I made and photographed 2 types of icing in the first bowl of sugar, in the second of powdered sugar - there is no difference in stickiness, moreover, sugar is much more palatable, and even cheaper. Therefore, I personally choose icing sugar - and you can try both and decide for yourself which one you prefer.

Process:

Beat the whites first without anything into the foam, then gradually add the powder by a tablespoon, without stopping whipping. As soon as the cream becomes tight and holds its shape, it is ready, even if you have not poured out all the powder. Eggs also come in different sizes. For small eggs, as much powder as in the recipe is not necessary.

If desired frosting can be tinted by adding cocoa, or food coloring.

ATTENTION, dyes for Easter eggs, are only suitable if they do not include salt, or the package has the inscription "Can be used for confectionery." You don't need salty frosting.

As glaze has the ability to harden quickly, then it is better to cover it after cooking with a damp (not wet) towel. And while you are messing with the cakes, the icing will harden, but if you work quickly (in the spirit of Yulia Vysotskaya), then you don’t need a towel, the icing will not harden in half an hour.

Better yet, cook first one serving of glaze from 2 egg whites(for decorating the walls of the house), and then a second batch of frosting(for gluing parts of the house). That will make more sense.

Step 5 Decorate the Walls

Even before gluing the gingerbread house, we paint the walls and roof.

Schedule conveniently with pastry syringe or pastry bag. But if you don't have either, then read the following note:

How to make your own pastry bag in 1 minute.

We take a regular stationery file (or a clean, dense plastic bag), cut off (straight or obliquely) the bottom corner to make a tiny hole, load a portion of the cream into the file and twist the top of the file with a roller (like a carpet) and fix it with a stapler in several places (if not in stapler house, paper clips will do or you can sew with a needle and thread). Done - you can extrude patterns.

We draw windows, decorate with small sweets, multi-colored confectionery topping, almonds, glue patterns cut from ordinary marmalade.

On one of the walls you can depict a Christmas tree. Draw with white cream and stick with sweets, like toys, or lay out a Christmas tree using the mosaic technique of triangular marmalades.

The roof can also be decorated before assembly, but it is more convenient for me to decorate the roof already on the gingerbread house itself. I posted a lot of ideas for decorating the house in a special article , there you will also find many photos of different gingerbread houses.

Step 6. Choose a base

Immediately decide what your gingerbread house will stand on. It can be another dough cake, an elegant dish, a tray, a cutting board, a box of sweets. Once you glue the house, you will not be able to transfer it to other dishes. You will only move it along with the base on which you will glue it.

It is undesirable to choose dishes made of plastic. Because when you want your house, glued with a protein cream, to harden in 10 minutes in a warm oven (and not in 3-4 hours in a room), you cannot do this, since plastic releases toxins when heated, and this is of course not necessary.

Take the cakes and, without gluing them, join them on this base, see if the house fits on the dish, if the details fit together. If there are uneven, lopsided walls somewhere, now it's time to trim them with a knife.

Step 7. Choose how to glue the house

1. Protein glaze

See the egg white frosting recipe above. Glaze for gluing parts is conveniently applied with a pastry bag or a bag (how to make a bag yourself in 1 minute, read a little higher), or just with a spoon.

If the icing does not stick well to the cake lightly dampen the bonding area with water using a brush. Glaze can be applied simultaneously to both parts in the places of their gluing, and then pressed against each other. Hold for a while with your hands, and then just support the walls with improvised jars. And so, together with jars, and send to dry.

To make the gingerbread house glue set faster, I do this: I heat the empty oven to a hot, but not hot, state. I TURN OFF THE OVEN (that is, the fire does not burn in the oven !!!) and in this heated environment I place my gingerbread house for 2-10 minutes. The time depends on the "degree of heat" of the oven. Periodically I open and check with my finger. When our protein cream begins to turn into marshmallows (you will feel this by touch, or the cream may look slightly browned around the edges) - carefully take it out. Your gingerbread house is held together with a strong zifred cream.

2. Melted chocolate

MELTING CHOCOLATE (melt the tiles in a steam bath, such chocolate glue hardens quickly, and the house does not need to be additionally held after gluing.

3. Caramel glue

CARAMEL GLUE : 100 gr. sugar + 2 tbsp. water + a little bit of citric acid.

Acid is needed in order to prevent the "saccharification" of caramel. Those who have cooked caramel know that sometimes it does not crystallize into a candy, but is all candied into a fragile crumb. But citric acid will not allow this.

You cook sugar with water in the stage of light bubbling, stirring constantly, until a drop of such a syrup begins to crystallize on a cold saucer, that is, harden into caramel.

4. Toffee glue

WITH TOFFEE GLUE: 100 gr. sugar and 2 tbsp. boil sour cream in the boiling stage, stirring continuously, until a drop of this syrup, dropped into a glass of cold water, will land on the bottom of this glass in the form of a soft and stretchy toffee.

You can also add a spoonful of cocoa to such toffee glue during cooking - you get chocolate toffee.

You need to glue the details of the house with hot glues, until the glue is cold. That is, either act very quickly, or keep the pot of syrup in a hot water bath (that is, a small pot with hot sweet glue is immersed in a larger pot with water boiling in it).

Gluing with caramel, toffee or chocolate looks something like this.

Keep the remaining caramel in a boiling water bath so that it does not freeze. It will come in handy as an excellent glue for laying tiles on the roof of a gingerbread house. And if you want to glaze windows with such caramel, read this article.

Step 8. Making the tiles

Now glue the roof in the same way. This connection must be as strong as possible so that the halves of the roof do not move out of the house.

Some fasten the roof by sticking skewers or toothpicks in the place where the roof joins the front facade of the house.

I simply generously apply protein glaze to the upper edges of the walls of the gingerbread house and as soon as the 2 halves of the roof are fitted, I immediately apply a thick layer of sticky cream along the entire roof ridge (top of the roof). The glued roof can be supported on both sides with suitable size jars until the glue is completely cured. .

When the roof is glued, you can lay tiles:

Tiles can simply be painted with protein glaze, laid out with almonds, chocolate bars, crispy pads, gummies, or whatever. Tiles can be glued for white frosting or caramel glue. You will read more about the types of sweet tiles and how to lay them in our next article - there you will also learn many more tricks for decorating a gingerbread house.

I will be glad to see questions, wishes and photos of baked gingerbread houses in the comments to this article.

For all the apparent complexity, preparing such a house is quite simple. In addition, to save time when preparing a holiday, it can and even needs to be prepared in advance. It keeps very well and only gets better with time.

And yet, the gingerbread house is not only a decoration for the New Year's table, but also a great sweet gift.

Put butter, honey, sugar and spices for gingerbread into a separate pan with a thick bottom. Put on a small fire to heat up, stirring the contents from time to time - the mass should become homogeneous. It should be heated until the sugar is completely dissolved, but in no case let the mass boil!

Note: a mixture of spices for gingerbread (if it is not possible to buy ready-made) you can prepare yourself - just mix 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom ... Use the indicated amount in the recipe, use the remaining amount in other recipes .

Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated lemon zest and fresh ginger.

Now you can measure the right amount of flour and mix it with baking powder and cocoa powder.

During this time, the mass will cool down a bit and you can first stir in one egg at a time until smooth. And then add the sifted flour mixture with cocoa.

Knead the dough, adding more flour to the work surface if necessary. The dough is very plastic, practically not sticky to hands. And even if it seems to you that it is still sticky, I would not advise you to "weight" this dough with a lot of flour - just knead it until smooth.

Then put it in some sealed sealed container (a bowl with a lid or just a food bag) and put it in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours (very convenient at night).

Before you start working with the dough, take it out half an hour beforehand - let it warm up a little and soften, it will be easier to roll it out.

During this time, you need to decide on the size and type of house. You will have to draw and cut out patterns of details from paper - the roof, front and side.

After rolling out the dough, attach paper templates and cut out the desired number of pieces from the dough.

2 pieces from each template.

From the remaining dough, you can cut out the details of the decor at your discretion - a pipe, a fence, a Christmas tree ... What is enough for your imagination.

After all the decor, I still had dough left and from it I just baked the base for the house.

Bake the details of the house for about 10-12 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees, until a beautiful golden color. At the same time, it must be remembered that for smaller parts, the time may be shorter, otherwise they may burn.

Allow all baked parts to cool completely on a flat surface to avoid deformation.

And now it's time to prepare the sugar-lemon glaze - this is both a decoration and a means of "gluing" the details of the house.

It is necessary to squeeze the juice of a lemon, strain it through a strainer from the seeds and possible pulp.

One of the fun and interesting activities during the New Year holidays is baking a gingerbread house. A winter holiday is not complete without this traditional dessert. Almost every family has its own proven recipe, which has been passed down for generations. What remains unchanged is the process of assembling and decorating the sweet decor.
It is very easy to bake a gingerbread house at home. How to do it? Look for all the answers in this article.

How to make a gingerbread house - preparation and baking blanks

Prepare the dough you often use for baking gingerbread. Put it in a bag and leave it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

While the dough is resting, make templates for the house blanks. First, decide on the size of the sweet decor. Then cut out a rectangle and a square with a pointed top from cardboard. Take out the dough, roll out a layer 1 centimeter thick.

Transfer the templates to the layer. In total, you will need 4 rectangles and 2 shapes for the front (back) of the house.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Let the gingerbread dough bake for 15 minutes. Determine the degree of readiness by piercing a toothpick. If it comes out dry, then the dough is ready.

While the cakes are warm, cut the edges according to the pattern. Do this with a sharp knife so that the cut line has smooth edges. Such actions will ensure a tight connection of all parts of the house when assembled.

How to make a gingerbread house - assembling the parts of the house

The icing will help connect the patterns from the dough. Beat egg whites with powdered sugar until peaks form.

Cakes must be completely cool before assembly. Brush the side of each base with the egg white mixture. Alternately lift the parts of the decor and apply to each other.

To ensure the stability of the structure, place a glass in the center of the house. Move it from one corner to another while connecting the shapes. Let the glaze dry slightly.

When the walls are assembled, proceed to the installation of the roof. Grease the cake with icing around the edges. With this side, attach it to the frame of the house. Hold the form in this position for 5-10 minutes until it is firmly fixed on the rest of the cakes.

In the same way, install the second roof cake. Hold the two cakes together with your free hand.

How to make a gingerbread house - decoration with sweet decor

Make or buy ready-made brown mastic. Instead of mastic, use a melted mixture of chocolate, butter, powdered sugar and caramel. Roll it out and cut into small rectangles.

Press the strips on one side of the mastic with a toothpick. So you get a pattern in the form of tiles.

Decorate the roof with such blanks. Start gluing the mastic on the cakes from the bottom row. Place each next segment of the tile over the previous one. Or checkerboard.

Make an imitation of logs at the house from sweet straw. Cut it into pieces of the required size.

You can fix sweet sticks with icing. First, apply it to the entire surface of the walls of the house, then install the tubes.

Decorate the end of the roof with individual sticks of straw and strips of mastic. Attach all parts to the icing.

Cut out the door and window from brown mastic. Also make stripes on them or carved edges. The handle for the door will be a sugar bead.

Install the figures on the house until the mastic is frozen. Or smear the back of them with icing.

Place an attic window between the doors and the roof. With a knife, draw a pattern on it in the form of two flaps.

Cut out a Christmas wreath from mastic with shapes with different diameters. Brush the surface with syrup and sprinkle with green sugar.

Fix the decor above the doors. Decorate the wreath with red edible beads.

Sprinkle the top of the dessert with powdered sugar. So the house will be in the snow. Leave it to set overnight, then transfer to a platter and serve.

Gingerbread house options

Above was presented just one way to decorate the New Year's decor. Show your imagination and make the gingerbread house an original decoration for the festive table.

Now you know all the secrets of preparing a traditional Christmas treat. The process of creating a gingerbread house will seem like a game if you stick to such a simple master class. Therefore, you can bake it with your children. Bon appetit!

For more details on the recipe for baking a gingerbread house at home, see the video:

For test:

wheat flour - 260 g;
butter - 100 g;
sugar - 120 g;
baking powder for dough - 1 tsp;
egg - 1 pc.;
ginger root - a piece 3-4 cm long;
ground cinnamon - 1 tsp;
carnation - 5-6 pcs.

For glaze:

powdered sugar - about 0.5 kg;
2 egg whites;
food colorings.

To decorate the house:

roasted shelled peanuts, almonds, cashews or other nuts;
confectionery dressing;
powdered sugar.

You will also need:

paper or tracing paper;
a tray on which the house will be assembled;
molds;
cream injector.

Preparing the gingerbread house

Grind softened butter, egg and sugar. Add cinnamon, cloves (it must first be crushed into dust), ginger (it must be grated). Mix everything well and gradually add flour and baking powder, without ceasing to stir. Knead the dough - it should be obedient, non-sticky.

Now you need to make parts from the dough.

Doing detail drawings from paper or tracing paper (2 longitudinal walls, 2 transverse walls (end) with a triangle - the base of the roof, 2 roof slopes, 3 pipes).

This is for the home. Suitable for other items curly molds for cookies - we cut out Christmas trees, animals, Santa Claus, etc.

Thinly (5 mm in thickness) roll out the dough and cut out the details from it according to the stencils. We very carefully transfer it to parchment (by the way, you can cut it right on it, the dough will be healthier) and bake in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 5-7 minutes (the dough should be slightly browned). Then we take it out and put it on a flat surface to cool.

Now we do glaze-icing for gluing and decorating the house. We stir the powder, proteins and dye to the desired consistency - like thick sour cream for gluing the details of the house, for painting - thinner, for voluminous decorations - thicker.

To work with icing, it is most convenient to use a pastry bag or just a plastic bag with a cut off tip. To paint the details, take a brush.

First we collect the house, then we decorate it.

The windows of the house can be cut out (both before baking and after it), or you can draw with icing. So is the door.

The walls of the house can decorate with marmalade, nuts(by the way, from 2 marmalades "lemon slices" you get round windows in the house). You can make windows as follows: before baking, cut out window openings and paint transparent colored candies in them. During baking, the lollipops melt and caramel glass is obtained in the windows.

The door of the house can be painted with caramel or chocolate.

So, the details of the house are ready and decorated. We immediately look for a stand or tray on which we will assemble the house. We first collect the walls and ends of the house, applying icing to the joints. Leave for a while - let it dry. Then we attach the slopes of the roof, keep it longer: if it does not stick well, then it can move. Lastly, we glue the chimney and, when it dries, glue it to the end of the house.

We coat all this with icing and decorate the bottom with nuts. Again we leave the house to dry thoroughly, at this time we ourselves paint and decorate ginger trees, snowmen, animals and other additional figures.

It is not difficult to make a Christmas tree from three parts according to such a stencil:

When the gingerbread house dries out, we begin to paint it: we draw shutters on the windows, paint the walls, decorate with garlands of thick icing. We cover the roof with glaze and decorate with icing, imitating snow and icicles hanging from the roof. Sprinkle everything on top with powdered sugar. Around the house we put the figures that we have prepared (they can be stuck into small piles of thick icing). Ready!

It is not necessary to make the gingerbread house big, it can be houses - gingerbread cookies for tea.

Gingerbread houses are more of a European tradition. In Russia, they traditionally made printed gingerbread (that is, printed using a mold - a board with a pattern cut out in it) and sculpted.

We are already on the nose of the New Year and Christmas holidays. Along with elements of Western culture, the fashion came to us for the New Year holidays not only for Santa, Christmas wreaths, deer, but also for gingerbread houses.

Today for you there are several recipes for gingerbread houses with step by step photos, as well as a video tutorial from Tatyana Litvinova on how to bake and beautifully decorate a festive gingerbread house !!!

Gingerbread house №1

For test:

4 cups flour
salt
1 sachet of baking powder
200 g butter
200 g powdered sugar
5 tablespoons of liquid honey (if the honey is candied, heat it in a water bath)
4 egg yolks
Spices 1 tsp each:
ground ginger,
cinnamon (this is to taste, because not everyone likes cinnamon),
zest of 1 lemon,
cardamom,
anise

Cooking method:

1. Knead the dough, wrap in cling film and put in the refrigerator for several hours.
This dough is very tasty, fragrant, but you need to work with it very carefully.

2. To build our house, you need to cut out templates. The wall is 15 cm wide and 17 cm high.

3. From each such template, we need to cut out two parts from the dough - these will be two of the four sides of our house.
4. And one more template for the two remaining sides of our house.
The length of the template is 17cm and the width is 7cm.
5. Roof template 22 cm long and 14.5 cm wide.
6. On a sheet of parchment, roll out the dough into a layer 5-6 mm thick. If rolled thinner, the gingerbread will be too dry.
We apply ready-made templates and cut along the contour.
We remove the trimmings and shift the cut parts along with the parchment onto a baking sheet.

7. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven at 180oC for 20 minutes.
8. After baking, while the dough is still hot, cut out the details of doors and windows according to the same patterns cut out of paper.
9. Cut while pastries are hot. Cut the cut out window in half lengthwise. These are future shutters. Cool all parts on a wire rack.

10. Now we cut out the windows in the side walls of the house.
11. From the remaining dough, cut out the roof of the house, Christmas trees, a pipe, small coasters for Christmas trees, any interesting details and figures.