Ginger Bread Houses

To make your own ginger bread house firstly you need to design a house out of paper, stick it together and check it works.  Then make your ginger bread dough. 

To make a house the size of the one pictures above you need to double these quantities)

3 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup copha

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ginger

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

225ml sour cream

2 eggs

Put all the above ingredients in a bowl

Beat with a dough hook until well combined

Then tip out onto the bench and knead in another 2 1/2 cups of flour to make a soft dough.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Then knead until smooth and divide into portions so you have enough for each side of the house and the roof.  Roll out the dough on glad bake well paper - this makes it easy to transfer to baking trays without going out of shape.

Place the house pattern you have made onto the dough and using a pizza cutter cut around the edges.  You can use a knife but as you cut it tends to drag the dough out of shape.

Make cuts for the windows  and doors, but leave them in place.  Also leave approx a 1 cm border of dough teh whole way around.  This helps the pieces stay in shape and also means that the edges of the house do not overcook.

With left over dough you can cut out ginger bread men, or cookies. 

Bake until golden brown and very firm.

Get it out of the oven and using your pizza cutter recut your pieces, remove windows and doors and put it back in the over for another five minutes.

Remove from oven and leave to cool completely.

Make royal icing:

3 egg whites

450g icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or mint flavouring if you prefer)

Using electric beaters combine all ingredients and beat on high speed for about 7 minutes or until stiff.  Place in piping bag (or ziplock bag with a hole in one corner).

Cover a board with alfoil, and put royal icing along the base and then up the sides of the house.  if needed use cans of food to hold it in place.  Lastly 'glue' the roof in place.  Gently wrap in glad wrap and leave overnight before decorating.

If you have kids decorating then give them a side each, a bowl of lollies and a ziplock bag full of royal icing and let them go for it.  (you might also want a disposable plastic table cloth on the table before they start).

You can also fill the inside with wrapped lollies or christmas lights.