Mini Gingerbread Houses
Ingredients
- 4 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp of ginger
- 1 tbsp of cinnamon powder
- 1 tbsp of cocoa powder
- ½ tsp of allspice
- ½ tsp of ground cloves
- 1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened
- 1 cup +1 tbsp of brown sugar
- ½ cup of golden syrup
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 ½ tbsp of meringue powder
- ¼ cup of water, room temperature
Dough:
Royal Icing:
PRODUCTS
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon powder, cocoa powder, allspice and ground cloves. Whisk until fully incorporated and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, approx. 1 minute. Add brown sugar and golden syrup. Continue to mix on medium high speed until well combined, approx. 2 minutes. Add eggs and continue to beat and scrape down the sides until fully incorporated, approx. 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and add in the dry ingredient mixture 1 cup at a time. Mix until fully combined, approx. 2 minutes. Divide the dough in half and shape into a disc. Wrap tightly and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Use a mini gingerbread house template to cut out your required shapes. You will need 1 front, 1 back, 2 sides and 2 roof pieces.
- Remove your discs from the refrigerator and let sit for 5 minutes to soften slightly.
- Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out your first disc to approx ¼” thick. Sprinkle your dough with flour if it gets too sticky. Use your gingerbread templates to cut out the shapes for your house and place onto your prepared baking sheet, making sure the pieces do not touch. Re-roll the scraps and roll out again to cut more shapes. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Allow to cool and transfer to a wire rack. Repeat process for the second disc.
Royal Icing:
- Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder and water. Whisk on medium speed until soft peaks form, approx. 8 minutes. If it is too loose add more powdered sugar. Note, the frosting should be fairly thick for the gluing portion of the house. Once you move to the decorating stage, you can add a tiny amount of water to loosen the icing. Add ⅓ rd of the icing to a piping bag.
- Cover the remaining with plastic wrap and set aside.
Assembly:
- Organize all your house pieces, per house.
- Cut a small tip off your piping bag and start gluing your walls to the back of the front piece. Then glue the back of the back piece to the other end. You should be left with all the good sides of your house on the outside. Sit the house upright and glue on your roof pieces (good side up). Set aside and continue with the remaining houses. Let your assembled house rest so the icing can set for 2 hours.
- Once the icing has fully set. Remix remaining icing to get to a firm but slightly loose consistency, similar to syrup. If you wish to colour your icing do so now. Place into a piping bag and decorate the outside of your houses.
- Let your final houses sit for an additional hour for the icing to set and enjoy!
Recipe Tip: Be creative with your decorating. You can incorporated sprinkles, candy and coloured icing to change up the look of each house.
Dough:
[um_bookmarks_button]
