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It’s that time of year again! Gingerbread house making!
There are a lot of people out there who make gingerbread houses around this time, and they’re just doing it because it’s fun and festive. I’m not one of those people. Growing up around a bunch of boys, I developed a bit of a competitive streak. I live for competition. Gingerbread houses not excluded.
Two years ago, I entered my first Gingerbread House Competition. I took home first place and was totally hooked. I honestly thought I went a little overboard on my Victorian-style house. I showed up to drop off my entry and was floored by the level of game that the other competitors brought. I spent the whole next day fretting over the outcome and stalking the gingerbread tent. In the end, my house got the most votes and my obsession began.
Last year I decided to defend my title and enter the competition again. I got second place. I was pretty mad for a hot sec. I worked really hard on my Cardinal Birdhouse, but I just don’t think it had the same curb appeal as the winner. The kids just weren’t into it. Gotta make the kids happy…
This year I decided to switch it up and do a different contest. Once I entered, I found out that the judging was done by a panel instead of by popular vote. I was super pumped! I love focusing on the details instead of the overall curb appeal, and no need to please the kids! So I went with a very basic house structure and fancied it up as best I could with some fun confectionery treats. I called it the “Nut House”. It was voted first place!
While the judges panel selected my house as the overall winner, I lost the popular vote.
If you take a look at my entries from the last 3 years, you will notice some patterns. I have a few go-to methods that I like to use when constructing my houses. They’ve served me well. I will start with my shopping list. There are several items that I either already have at the house or will go out and buy that I use almost every year.
“Must Haves” List:
Powdered Sugar – you can never have enough; if you’re using royal icing, you’ll need bags of it.
Ice Cream Cones – preferably the sugar cones; easiest way to make trees and can be used for things like turrets and planters.
Candy Canes – the perfect thing for columns, fence posts, street lamps.
Sprinkles – I love the holiday themed ones.
Nuts – peanuts, pecans, almonds and slivered almonds are my favorite; they make for great roofing materials.
Pretzel Rods – can be used as logs, columns, firewood, sign posts; also great for helping hold up your structure.
Graham Crackers – can be used for anything requiring a flat surface – stairs, signs, decks, roofs; can also help hold up your structure.
RECIPES
Construction Grade Gingerbread Recipe – This is the recipe I use for showpieces and building. It’s easy, consistent, sturdy, and lasts a long time. I do not recommend it for any houses you intend to eat. It’s not tasty, but it’s a solid solution for creating art.
White House Gingerbread Recipe – This is the recipe I use for anything I want people to actually taste. It’s sturdy enough to build with and tasty enough to eat. I used it for all my houses the first few years I started in gingerbread.
Royal Icing Recipe – This is the recipe for the icing I use to do major gluing or decorating. It dries hard, colors easily, and looks great on its own.
Edible Tylose “Glue” Recipe – If you’re a hardcore competitive gingerbreader, you might want this option. Tylose “glue” is clear and thin.
Edible “Glass” Windows Recipe – This is the recipe I use to make clear “glass” windows for my houses. This year was the first time I used it, but I really liked the results.
TIPS & TRICKS
Raw Gingerbread Rolling Instructions: Before rolling out your raw gingerbread, figure out how thick you want each piece to be. Then find something to use in order to keep the gingerbread at that thickness. For example, I use thick poster board that I cut into two long thin strips. I place a strip on either side of my rolling surface and place the rolling pin on top of them. That way the gingerbread will never be thinner than the poster board. Just keep rolling until you have a smooth surface. I roll the mix right onto parchment paper or a Silpat so I can cut it out and bake it without having to move it. I just slide a cookie sheet under it to transfer it to the oven.
Raw Gingerbread Cutting Instructions: Before baking the gingerbread, draw out all the pieces you will need to build your house. I generally do a rough sketch of the structure then I draw one to scale on a big sketch pad. Then I draw out each individual piece to scale and label them to keep track of which piece goes where. Then I cover one side of the sketch paper with packing tape and cut each piece out. The packing tape allows me to lay one side of the paper cutouts down on the raw gingerbread without it getting stuck. I use a small Wilton Fondant Cutter to do my cutting. It’s like a small plastic pizza cutter.
Cooked Gingerbread Cutting Instructions: After you’ve baked your gingerbread, you will want to trim the edges of your pieces. The baking process will cause your gingerbread to expand ever so slightly, and that makes it harder to glue the pieces of your house together. I use a paring knife to slice off the edges of each piece within seconds of it coming out of the oven. It must be done immediately or the gingerbread will harden and crack. Clean, straight edges are so much easier to glue. I keep all the extra gingerbread scraps as well. They come in handy when making decorations.
Cooked Gingerbread Cooling Instructions: When allowing your gingerbread to cool, I suggest using a cooling rack. Keep the gingerbread on the parchment paper you baked it on. That way you don’t have to handle the gingerbread every time you want to move it and risk breaking it. Avoid stacking the pieces on top of one another if you can. If you need to stack them, wait until they are completely cool before doing so.
Decorating the Gingerbread Walls: It may seem logical to glue all of your pieces together and then start decorating. But I actually suggest that you do as much decorating as possible before creating your structure. It’s much easier to glue little tiny parts onto a flat surface. For example, if you want to put shutters or windows on your house, you could either glue them on flat all at the same time and leave them to dry on their own… or you could wait until the walls are up, glue them on one at a time and hold them individually in place until they dry. Trust me… I’ve made this mistake before. Glue them on first.
Create the Gingerbread House Structure: This is the nerve-racking part. If you are just doing this for fun, you can use cardboard, wood, boxes, styrofoam, etc to aide in the construction of your walls. However, if you’re entering your house into a contest, there is usually a rule that you cannot use anything but edible materials. I like to use a combination of things to help hold the structure up: pretzel rods, graham crackers, and/or candy bars. Use the Royal Icing Recipe to glue down the edges and add your supports.
Adding the Roof: This part should be rather easy to do if you followed all my other tips. The edges should be straight and even, and the royal icing should harden rather quickly. Use an pastry bag with a Wilton tip that has a round opening between a number 6 and 12. I find that to be the most effective. If the icing overflows anywhere, you can always add some extra to make it look like mounds of snow.
Decorating the Roof: There are so many options when decorating the roof of a gingerbread house. I almost always use some sort of nut. Pecans are my favorite because they take up a lot of space and thus less of them are required. Slivered almonds are what I like to use for chimneys. They make for a great “stone” look.
That about does it for my gingerbread house tips and tricks. I have a few photos of the process I used for making my house this time around that I will share with you.
I glued graham crackers to the sides of my house and covered them in icing and slivered almonds for two great chimneys.
I colored some fondant, rolled it out, and cut it into tiny little rectangles that looked like bricks. I added them to the sides of the house to cover up some of the empty space.
I crushed up some of those slivered almonds and used them to form a walkway to the front steps. The steps are made from graham crackers. The flowers are icing and sprinkles. The columns are candy canes. The planters are sugar ice cream cones.
I was very pleased with my house this year. My techniques are improving. My goal is to one day enter the National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville. Despite my competitive nature, I know better than to hope for a win at a competition like that. I just want to be a part of it. Professionals from all over the country enter that contest. To give you an idea of the level of talent, I will leave you with this…
The 2016 National Gingerbread House Competition Winner (Holy frickin smokes!)
Other Gingerbread Posts:
Gingerbread Recipe (for eating)
Construction Grade Gingerbread Recipe (edible but not for eating – just hardcore building)
“Glue” Icing Recipe (Royal Icing)
Royal Icing Recipe (Different Ingredients)
Edible Tylose Glue Recipe (Clear)
Reindeer Playing Poker (National Competition 3rd Place Winner)
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