We've teamed up with the lovely team at @doughlicious_dough to bring you this festive gingerbread house recipe! An excellent Christmas Eve activity for you and the family.
Ingredients and equipment
- Royal Icing (or use shop-bought)
- 1kg/4 cups icing sugar
- 4 large egg whites
- 30g/2 ½ tbsp lemon juice
The gingerbread house dough
- 5 packs of your favourite Doughlicious cookie dough
- Flour of choice for dusting
Decorations
- Sweets
- Doughlicious Cookie Dough Matcha White Chocolate and Red Velvet White chocolate
Equipment
- Cake board
- Stand mixer or electric whisk
- Baking paper
- Gingerbread house template, inspired via Ottolenghi’s latest video
Method
- DIY Template - before you start baking, let’s prepare your gingerbread house by printing the template and cutting it, you can then trace your cutouts onto any card (I used packaging card) if you prefer a more stable template.
- Let's begin baking - roll out the cookie dough between two sheets of baking paper. This will be a sticky rolling pin.
- Before adding the gingerbread house template, remove the top layer of the baking paper and dust your cookie dough with a flour of your choice.
- To make the glass window, use a cookie cutter to remove a circle on the front of the house.
- Cut out all your templates and allow them to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up.
- In the meantime, preheat your oven to 175c.
- Once your cookie dough has cooled, transfer it onto a lined baking tray to expose the clean side (the side with no flour), this will create clean walls when baked (but if you like the rustic look, keep it how it is).
- Add boiled sweets to the window you created on the front of the house. This will melt into 'glass' after baked.
- Bake for 18-23 minutes, keep an eye on your dough after 15 minutes. The different sizes will get golden and crisp at different times.
- Allow your cookies to cool completely.
- Making your Royal Icing - In the meantime, let's make the Royal Icing.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, add sifted icing sugar, and create a well in the centre, and add lemon juice and egg whites to this well.
- Slowly mix everything together, start from the centre and gradually work your way to the edges, if you rush this, icing sugar will snow down all over you (a magical mistake).
- Whip for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.
- Add ¾ of the royal icing into piping bags.
- Time to assemble - with the remaining ¼ of Royal Icing spread this across your cake board to create a snowy floor effect.
- Add the base cookie of your gingerbread house to the centre of the board. Make sure the longer side is facing the front, like a wide porch.
- Now add the front cookie to the base cookie by piping a line of Royal Icing across the bottom and stick it down onto the base cookie.
- Now stick down the back cookie. Keep in mind this house is narrow, and ensure you stick the back cookie as the same width as the side cookies.
- Snow sticks the side cookies, pipe along the bottom and sides of the cookie.
- Now stick the roof cookies, do this by piping along the top of the front cookie and back cookie pieces.
- Lastly, stick down the chimney piece.
- Time to decorate! Pipe Royal Icing along the front of the roof to create a snowy frame.
- Get creative with your piping and use sweets and cookies to cover any mistakes.
- Finish by snowing the gingerbread house down with icing sugar.
Loved this gingerbread house recipe? Then follow @doughlicious_dough for all things cookie dough related as well as mouth-watering recipes.
