December 16, 2009
One of the kids favorite Christmas traditions is the gingerbread house. Yes, it’s the candy, candy, candy. 
Plus, the anticipation of eating it after we admire it for a week or so. There’s laughter, chocolate faces, sticky fingers, and a big mess that everyone helps clean up at the end. The house smells and feels wonderful all day!
And we always invite a family over to participate. So, the recipe and instructions here are for 2 houses:
First the dough – I’m not much of a plan ahead gal, so I don’t do the whole “refrigerate for 24 hours” that many gingerbread recipes say. I just add a bit more flour so I can handle the dough.
Dough for two houses (also a great recipe for gingerbread men!)
Cream
- 1 1/2 c. butter or margerine
- 1 1/2 c. white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 3 c. molasses
Add dry ingredients and mix well.
- 12 cups flour (I use fresh ground whole white wheat flour)
- 1 T ground ginger
- 1 T cinnamon
- 1 t salt
- 1 T baking soda
Divide into 3 portions on three greased cookie sheets:
Spread with spatula and/or rolling pin
until about 1/4 in thick
Bake at 350 for 20 – 25 mins until not glossy and toothpick comes out clean. (bake 10 – 12 mins for gingerbread men)
Some people cut out the dough in the house shapes before baking, but that’s too much work for me, plus you don’t get as nice of edges to build with as you do when you cut it after baking.
Cut the following out of each cookie sheet:
- 4 side walls – 7 in x 5 in rectangles
- 4 roof pieces – 8 in x 5 in rectangles
- 4 end pieces (the fronts and backs of the houses) – a 6 in wide x 5 in tall rectangle topped by a triangle whose tip is 3 inches tall from the center top of the 6 in side of the square. I hope that makes sense: Draw a 6 x 5 rectangle. Find the center of one of the 6 inch sides. Measure up 3 inches. Draw a triangle coming to a point at that 3 inch mark = a triangle on top of a rectangle.
Whip up the frosting (a double batch):
- 5 c powdered sugar
- 1/2 t cream of tartar
- 4 egg whites
- 1/2 t. vanilla
Beat until it stiffens and will stand up a bit when you pull the beaters out of it. It dries fast, so keep it covered if you’re not using it right away.
Glue the walls together and let them dry a bit (5-15 mins) before attaching the roof if you’re having trouble keeping things together. The longer you can let the house dry, the better. Make sure you use the smaller rectangles for the walls and save the longer ones for the roof. You could even break up the activity by gluing the house first, and then working on getting the candy out in bowls, play a game together, etc., while the houses dry. (If you’re desperate, a hair dryer can help a bit, just don’t let it get hot. Use the low setting.)
The fun part: Decorate with candy and try not to eat too much!
Here are some fun ideas to try and build:
- Snowmen out of marshmallows held together with toothpicks, candy corn noses, mini-chocolate chip eyes, and Skittle buttons.
- A pile of logs or fences out of Tootsie Rolls.
- Windows and benches with Keebler chocolate graham or grasshopper cookies.
- Build cars out of cookies with round candies for wheels.
- Line edges and paths with pull apart licorice.
- Make a pond by spreading some frosting with a bit of blue food coloring, line with licorice and add some Swedish Fish.
- Put gummi worms in a garden with broken oreos stuck to frosting for dirt.
- Starbursts make great bricks.
Try not to eat it for at least a day
What a fun evening!
Enjoy!
Posted under Homeschool Activities, Homeschool Crafts
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