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Make A Gingerbread House

Making A Gingerbread House Creates Memories That Last A Lifetime



Make a gingerbread house for Christmas Make a gingerbread house with your children this Christmas. You CAN make awesome gingerbread houses with beautifully decorated appearances. And you can use one of Grandma's gingerbread cookie recipes for making accessories for your house such as gingerbread men, trees, and a cobblestone walkway.

When I was a youngster, I helped Mom decorate our gingerbread houses, but that was after she had drawn a brown-paper pattern and had carefully cut the house parts from the gingerbread. Today's kits make creating the gingerbread house easier for kids, but it was fascinating to watch Mom do it all from scratch.

Not a Christmas goes by that I don't think of those old gingerbread houses we made years ago. They were so much fun to decorate, and though it was sad to see the Christmas holidays end, I always looked forward to eating the gingerbread house. I loved the unique taste of that stale gingerbread and icing. To a kid, it was delicious!





Making Gingerbread Houses

Instead of using a store-bought gingerbread house kit, treat your kids by making a homemade gingerbread yourself. It's quite easy to make and more affordable too. Watch this brief video that shows how to make a gingerbread house from scratch with edible candy decorations:





Here's the gingerbread recipe's ingredient list in case you couldn't copy it down fast enough from the video:

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks butter
1 cup dark-brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups molasses

Mix all ingredients together, chill for 1 hour, cut house pieces, and bake about 15 minutes in a 350°F oven. You'll also need 3 whipped egg whites and 5 cups confectioner's sugar for the Royal icing.

Decorating Ideas For Gingerbread Houses

Here's a couple of clever decorating ideas you can use to make your gingerbread house extra special:

Carefully cut window openings in the gingerbread walls, and through an open back window, insert a small string of clear LED Christmas lights into the house. When the lights are plugged in, they'll give a soft glow to the gingerbread and reveal a sparkly light through the windows.

To make clear, glass-like windows, melt one cup white sugar in a pot over low heat until it's completely melted. Continue heating until the candied sugar is at the hard crack stage, then pour it onto a lightly buttered pan. If you prefer amber-colored glass, let the mixture heat to just a wee bit past the hard crack stage.

When the candy glass has cooled slightly, use a sharp knife to cut window pieces to size, then use icing to secure them in the house's window openings. Food coloring can be added to make candy windows of any color. Leftover candy glass will make a frozen pond or creek next to the house. By adding decorative touches like these, people won't believe you used a gingerbread house kit or that you made it yourself.


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wild rose and recipe book Make a gingerbread house with your children this Christmas and start a family tradition.





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