What a festive way to celebrate – by making a Gingerbread House!
GINGERBREAD HOUSE
based on the recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen
INGREDIENTS
5 cups (780g) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 T ground ginger
4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp salt
16 T (2 sticks/250g) unsalted butter
1/2 C (105g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 C (125g) granulated sugar
1 C (345g) molasses
1 egg
assorted candies and sugar for decorating
royal icing
gingerbread house cookie cutters (or cut out pattern)
DIRECTIONS
Make the Cookie Dough
Have all ingredients at room temperature.
Sift together the flour, soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, all spice and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium-high speed until fluffy (4-6 minutes). Add both sugars and beat for one minute. Reduce the speed and add the molasses, beating until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add the flour mixture in 4 additions and beat just until combined, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Form the dough into a smooth mound.
Divide into 2 equal portions.
Shape each into a disc and wrap separately with plastic wrap.
Refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove 1 dough disk at a time from the refrigerator and let stand for 10 minutes. Roll out to a thickness of 3/16 to 1/4 inch. This thickness is important to ensure the baked cookies will fit together properly.
CUT OUT AND BAKE THE COOKIES
these notes give details that are only necessary if using the WSKids Gingerbread House cutters.
Dip the cutters into the flour just before using and cut out the shapes using an offset spatula, carefully transfer the cutouts to the prepared baking sheets, putting similar size pieces together on the same pan; large house sides and roof on one; tree tops and bases, small house sides and gingerbread people; and gingerbread people based on another.
The sides of each notch that the cookies will fit together need to be parallel so the notch will fit into the interlocking pieces after baking; if the sides have stretched apart, gently push them towards each other so they are parallel.
Repeat with remaining dough. Gather up scraps, reroll and cut out additional cookies. For best results, do not reroll scraps more than once. Refrigerate cookies until firm, about 20 minutes.
Bake the cookies until lightly browned on the bottom, 10 to 12 minutes for the large house sides and roof, 7 to 9 minutes for the treetops and bases, small house sides and gingerbread people; and 6 to 8 minutes for the gingerbread people bases. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the cookies cool for 5 minutes. If the dough has spread into the notches during baking, use a paring knife to gently trim off the excess cookie while still warm so the cookies will interlock when assembled. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets, then decorate as desired and assemble. Makes 1 to 2 houses, 6 gingerbread people, and 3 trees.
Coming soon: Gingerbread House Part 2: Decorating
~Enjoy!
