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Learn how to make a real gingerbread house
A gingerbread house is a type of dessert typical of the Christmas holidays, as they are ideal to place on the banquet table to decorate and taste. However, many consider it very difficult to do and therefore do not even try.
However, this is not true, it is very simple to make, and fortunately it is not necessary to use too many ingredients.
Ingredients of the gingerbread house
For the gingerbread house dough
120 grams of unsalted butter
120 grams of brown or muscovado sugar
1 egg
120 grams of molasses or cane honey (can be substituted for common honey)
400 grams of all-purpose common wheat flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 of teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 pinch of salt
For the frosting
350 grams of powder sugar (powdered sugar or powdered sugar)
50 milliliters of water
10 grams of albumin (1 and 1/2 tablespoons)
Steps for the elaboration of the gingerbread house
Note: We will divide the process into several parts to make it easier to explain.
Preparation of the dough
Start by putting the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg on a colander and sift everything together. In this recipe you can substitute or eliminate the touch of spices to your liking.
Also add the pinch of salt and stir to distribute it well.
Now, in the bowl of the mixer add the butter at room temperature, along with the sugar. Beat on medium high speed for 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy. If you want, you can substitute brown or muscovado sugar for white sugar.
After this time beat the egg a little before adding it. This way it will mix much better with the rest of the ingredients. Once ready you add it and beat 1 more minute or until the egg is completely integrated.
Once this is done, place the mixer on medium speed. Add a tablespoon of the flour and spice mixture and pour in all the molasses. The flour that you have added will help the dough to stay together and not cut when you add the molasses.
Once the molasses has been integrated, place the mixer at minimum speed, and add the flour little by little.
When you no longer see any remaining flour in the dough, stop beating and check that there are no unmixed ingredients in the bottom of the bowl. If so, divide the dough into 2 parts.
Cut the parts of the dough and bake
Place one of the parts between 2 sheets of waxed or baking paper, and stretch with the help of a roller until it is about 4 millimeters thick.
Done this, arrange the templates of the house in the best possible way trying to take advantage of the greatest amount of stretched dough. What you see is leftover, cut and add to the other half of the dough that you had reserved.
Once ready, take the cut parts to the freezer for about 15 minutes or until the dough stiffens a bit. After 15 minutes, remove the dough from the freezer.
Remove the baking paper from the surface and cut out following the shape of the template.
Once you have cut out the pieces you need, transfer to another sheet of waxed paper and continue placing more pieces with enough space so that the cookies do not stick together during baking.
Place the waxed paper on a baking sheet and once you have it ready, take it to the oven preheated to 180 °C, preferably with heat up and down without a fan. Leave them there for 14 minutes or until you see the edges start to brown.
Take the cookies out of the oven and let them rest on the same tray for 10 minutes to cool slightly.
When they are not so hot, transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool to room temperature.
Repeat the same steps to have all the pieces complete.
Making the glaze
In a large bowl, place the icing sugar and albumin, and mix well with a few rods.
When the albumin is completely distributed throughout the sugar, add the water while you continue mixing until no lumps remain.
Assemble and decorate the gingerbread house
Place the frosting in a piping bag and place a number 2 pick there.
Decorate each of the parts of the house as you like, letting your imagination fly and following the pattern of a house. If you like, you can use a ruler to make it easier for you to make straight lines.
I advise you to do all the decoration with glass before assembling the house. So when you put all the walls upright, nothing will slip and all the decoration will be in the same place where you put it.
To make the door you can use some cookie sticks and fix them in the house with the same glass with which you are decorating.
You can also use an edible strip marker to make a guide for setting the windows. That will help a lot to make everything more symmetrical.
Before assembling the house, let it rest for a minimum of 1 hour or until the glass of the decoration hardens.
To assemble the house, help yourself with some glasses or some other object that serves to support the pieces and keep them standing. Place glass on the edge of the cookie, and join them on the corresponding edge. Continue the same process with each of the pieces of the house.
Once you have the 4 sides of the house, remove the glasses and place the glass on the edges to glue the roofs.
Lay out the first roof and fix the other side in the same way. To prevent the roofs from slipping before the glass dries, place 2 cups on the sides to keep them in place.
Let the glass dry at room temperature for 1 hour or until completely hardened. After a while, place it on a plate with a large grated coconut to simulate snow and place the house just above it.
On the edge of the roof, place a few drops of glass to make the effect of falling snow.
Cover the tip of the roofs with a line of glass and fix some jelly beans.
On the roof, fix a thin layer of icing sugar with the help of a strainer to make a snowy effect as a final touch.
The gingerbread house is perfect for the holidays, as its flavor and texture evokes a true sense of nostalgia during the holidays. Enjoy! And share it with your family.
