Gingerbread house, homemade and gluten free

Summary

Prep: 20 mins
Cooking: 15 mins
Assembly: 30 mins plus setting time
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Intermediate
Makes: 1 Gingerbread House

Ingredients

For the gingerbread:

• 3 cups (420 grams) gluten free flour (we used Dove’s Farm)
• 1 ½ teaspoons of xanthan gum
• ½ cup plus four Tablespoons (110 grams) of cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt
• ⅔ cup (150 grams) of light brown muscovado sugar (unrefined)
• ¾ cup (168 grams) of unsalted butter at room temperature
• ¼ cup (90 grams) of black treacle
• 4 Tablespoons (84 grams) of honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Ingredients for Royal Icing:

• 6 egg whites
• 1.75 kg of icing sugar

Decorations:

• bag of colourful sweets
• bag of round chocolates
• colourful sprinkles

Instructions

For the gingerbread

1. Cut out the templates for the gingerbread house. You will need four house panels and two roof panels. We have a template you can download here.
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and brown sugar.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the softened butter. treacle, honey, egg and vanilla. Mix until a smooth soft dough forms. Add a tablespoon of water to pull the dough together if it’s too dry.
4. Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out. Divide the dough into 6 pieces, making two of the pieces slightly larger than the rest.
5. Using a separate piece of baking paper for each piece of dough, roll out the 4 smaller pieces to approximately the size of the four house panels, cutting out windows and a front door. Roll out remaining dough, and cut into two rectangular roof pieces. Use any remaining dough to cut out decorative shapes with biscuit cutters. Leaving the templates on the dough, transfer dough to the refrigerator or freezer until firm.
6. Once chilled remove the dough from the fridge or freezer, tidy the edges and peel off the templates.
7. Transfer each piece on it’s baking paper to a baking tray (you will need 2-3 baking trays or to work in batches)
8. In the preheated oven, bake gingerbread for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown. Be careful not to overcook.
9. When removing from the oven, leave the gingerbread on the baking trays for a few minutes to set, then transfer to wire racks. Allow to cool completely.

Build the house:

1. In a large bowl, lightly beat six egg whites and approximately 1.75 kilos of icing sugar together. Beat on high speed for 7-10 minutes or until the icing is stiff.
2. Take a cake board. Spread or pipe a line of icing the same size as your back house panel on the cake board and press in the back wall so that it sticks firmly and stands upright. If necessary, use tins or jars to help support it upright.
3. Take a side wall and ice both the side edges. Spread or pipe a line of icing on your cake board at a right angle to the first wall, and press the side wall into position. Repeat this process with the other two walls until they are all in position. Leave the walls to harden together for at least two hours before putting on the roof.
4. Spread or pipe a thick layer of icing on top of all the walls, and fix the roof pieces in position; the roof should overlap the walls to make the eaves. Pipe or spread a little icing along the crest of the roof to hold the two pieces firmly together. Leave overnight to set firmly.

Decorate:

1. When ready to decorate, make the remaining icing. In a large bowl, lightly whisk 4 egg whites, and mix in remaining icing sugar as before. Use this to make snow on the roof, and to stick on various sweets for decoration. Finish with a fine dusting of sifted icing sugar.

Gingerbread house – our step by step guide:

Cut out your gingerbread house pattern.

You can download a template here.

You’ll have four pattern  pieces, but in total you will cut six pieces out of your gingerbread, using the side and roof pattern pieces two times each.

1. In a large bowl mix together your flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and brown sugar.
2. Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients.
3. Add the softened butter, eggs, treacle, honey and vanilla.
4. Mix your dough together with a hand mixer or a stand mixer.

   It should be thick and smooth. Add a few tablespoons of water if it’s a bit too dry.

Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and divide it into six balls.

Make two of the balls slightly larger (these will be your roof.)

Sprinkle each ball with a bit of flour and pat them down a bit into little disks.

Get out your baking paper.

We are going to use 6 pieces, one for each piece of dough so that we can easily transfer each piece of the house to the freezer to chill, and then into the oven.

Using a Stanley knife or sharp kitchen knife, cut around each template.

You can cut out the windows, or leave that piece of dough whole.

Now transfer each piece of dough into the freezer to chill until firm.

Leave the templates on the dough to prevent the pieces sticking together.

We’ll peel them off after the dough is chilled.  It will take at least an hour for the dough to firm up, so clean up your workspace and have a cup of tea!

Your dough is chilled and now you’re ready to get baking!

You might need to work in batches, depending on how big your oven is.

Transfer your pieces to a baking tray.

You will probably be able to fit two pieces per baking tray.

Don’t take them off the baking paper.

Now peel off your template and tidy the edges if you need to.

Pop them in the oven for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Keep a close eye on them as they crisp up fast and if they are too crispy they will crumble when you begin to build your house.

Spread or pipe a line of icing the same size as your back house panel on a cake board and press in the back wall so that it sticks firmly and stands upright. If necessary, use tins or jars to help support it.

 Take your side wall and ice both the side edges. Spread or pipe a line of icing on the board at a right angle to the first wall, and press the side wall into position.

Repeat this process with your other two walls until they are all in position.

Leave the walls to harden together for at least two hours before putting on the roof. You have a gingerbread house!!

Get your kids and a bag of sweeties and start decorating!