Make a Strong, Sturdy Gingerbread House That'll Last All Season with This Dough (2024)

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European Food
Eastern European Food
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Barbara Rolek

Barbara Rolek is a former chef who became a cooking school instructor and award-winning food writer.

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Updated on 11/29/23

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Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Rest Time: 30 mins

Total: 80 mins

Servings: 8 servings

Yield: 2 gingerbread houses

253 ratings

What Is Gingerbread House Dough Made Of?

A structural gingerbread house starts with many of the same ingredients you'd use in any gingerbread, including all purpose flour, fat (in the form of margarine in this case), spices (cinnamon, ginger, and cloves), and a little salt. However, unlike some gingerbreads, a structural gingerbread dough has no leaveners that would make it puff up and distort the shapes. And our sturdy dough has corn syrup, which makes the baked dough firm so the house can support lots of decorations.

When Should You Make a Gingerbread House?

Gingerbread houses can keep for a very long time and definitely through the holiday season so you can make it as early as you like. Take your time building the house to ensure it's structurally strong: Let the baked pieces harden for a day and allow the icing that holds them together to set for at least 3 or 4 hours (8 hours is better) before decorating. Once complete, display your gingerbread house in a cool, dry place. Tenting it with plastic wrap at night will keep out moisture and dust so it continues to look great. Spraying it with clear lacquer will also preserve it as well, though the gingerbread then becomes inedible.

How To Make a Gingerbread House

The Equipment You Need to Make Gingerbread House Dough and a Gingerbread House

Template and scissors—Before you make the dough, you'll need to choose or make a pattern for your gingerbread house. The gingerbread house recipe linked above includes a basic template. You can also find other templates online, or design your own.
Medium bowl and large bowl—You'll need a medium microwave-safe bowl to warm the wet ingredients and a large bowl for mixing the dry and wet ingredients.
Whisk—For combining the dry ingredients.
Plastic wrap—For wrapping the dough.
Rolling pin—For rolling out the dough.
Baking pans—Be sure that you have enough room on your baking sheets to bake each of the pieces, even if you need to bake the dough in batches. For perspective, during testing three walls fit on a standard baking sheet. The extra dough is then rolled out for another set of pieces.
Pizza wheel or knife—For cutting out the pieces of the house from the dough.
Parchment paper—For transferring the cut-out dough pieces to the cutting board.

Tips for Making the Strongest Gingerbread House

Use cardboard for a sturdy template—Before you begin the actual recipe, print out a pattern you've designed or chosen for your house. We recommend printing the pattern on paper, cutting it out, tracing it on light cardboard, and then cutting the cardboard. While you can use paper as a guide for cutting, cardboard makes for a sturdier template, which makes it easier to cut the dough neatly.
Make enough dough for your house or houses—As noted above, this recipe makes enough dough for two standard-size gingerbread houses, but exactly how much dough you will need will be determined by the size of the template you choose. For more or larger houses, make more dough; when you want a single house, cut the recipe in half. If you are scaling up, instead of measuring out the flour, for a double recipe, use 1 (5-pound) bag plus 1 cup flour. For a triple recipe, use 2 (5-pound) bags plus 2 cups flour.
Use a stand mixer if you have one–This dough is pretty dense; using a stand mixer can make mixing it easier, although it is possible to mix it by hand.
Choose the right pan for baking—Edgeless pans or those with only one edge are the best because they allow the pieces to be easily removed.
Be sure to use parchment to move the pieces before baking—Moving the pieces with your hands will distort the shapes and make them difficult to assemble once baked.
Bake the pieces at least a day before assembly—It's a good idea to bake the pieces one day and assemble the house the next day. This allows the walls and roof to "cure" so they're a little stronger. To store them before assembling the house, wrap the baked pieces in plastic or foil and keep at room temperature in an airtight container or bag.
Don't forget to make royal icing to "glue" your house together—Once you have the pieces baked, it's time to assemble the gingerbread house. To stick the walls of the house together, you will need to use a piping bag and royal icing. It can also be made a few days in advance and will harden when it dries so your gingerbread house won't fall apart.

Ingredients

2 cups light corn syrup (or a combination of light and dark corn syrup)
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/4 cups margarine
9 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cloves

Steps to Make It

Before you begin the actual recipe, print out a pattern. Cut it out and transfer to light cardboard and cut again.
Gather the ingredients.
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat 2 cups light corn syrup, 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, and 1 1/4 cups margarine until the margarine has melted and sugar has dissolved completely. Stir until smooth.

See Also
Gingerbread Competition | Reiter's Bakery
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together 9 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, and 2 teaspoons ground cloves.
Add the syrup-sugar-margarine mixture, making sure it's cool enough for kids (or adults) to combine the dough by hand, with a rubber spatula, or using a stand mixer until it's smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl.
Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature. Don't skip this step. The dough needs to relax so it's easier to roll. This is a good time to wash up the dishes and get your baking pans, rolling pin, and pattern pieces ready.
If the dough is too hard or unmanageable, you can microwave it for 20 to 30 seconds.
Heat the oven to 350 F. Roll out the dough 1/4-inch thick onto a sheet of parchment cut to fit your baking pan. Edgeless pans or those with only one edge are the best.
Lightly flour the cardboard patterns and place them, floured-side down, on the rolled-out dough, leaving a 1-inch space between pieces.
Try to fit as many as you can without crowding.
For clean edges, cut with a pizza wheel.
Remove and reserve excess dough.
Grab the opposite edges of the parchment paper and transfer to the baking sheet.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until pieces are firm and lightly browned around the edges. Cool completely before removing from pans.
Re-roll dough scraps for the remainder of the pieces.
Assemble anddecorateyourgingerbread house as you see fit.

Feeling Adventurous? Try This:

Make a darker colored house—You can change the color of the dough with two key ingredients. The light corn syrup and brown sugar make a light-colored house. For a darker house, switch to dark corn syrup and dark brown sugar. You can also use a combination of light and dark corn syrup in any ratio you like, as long as you have two cups total.
Swap out the margarine—If you prefer, use butter in place of the margarine. This is an especially good idea if you plan to eat the house, as the butter gives the gingerbread a lovely rich flavor.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
1144	Calories
30g	Fat
208g	Carbs
15g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories	1144
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 30g	39%
Saturated Fat 6g	28%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 200mg	9%
Total Carbohydrate 208g	76%
Dietary Fiber 5g	16%
Total Sugars 99g
Protein 15g
Vitamin C 0mg	1%
Calcium 76mg	6%
Iron 7mg	39%
Potassium 222mg	5%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

gingerbread
gingerbread house
dessert
eastern european

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Make a Strong, Sturdy Gingerbread House That'll Last All Season with This Dough (2024)

FAQs

How do you make the strongest gingerbread house? ›

Bake the pieces at least a day before assembly—It's a good idea to bake the pieces one day and assemble the house the next day. This allows the walls and roof to "cure" so they're a little stronger.

Explore More ›

What is the best ingredient to keep gingerbread houses from falling apart? ›

She recommends using granulated sugar instead of royal icing to hold the walls together. How? Just melt the sugar in a pan over low heat. You want to allow it to turn brown, but make sure not to burn it (otherwise it won't taste so great).

Learn More Now ›

How to strengthen a gingerbread house? ›

So to make sure our walls could stand strong, we sandwiched melted marshmallow cement between two graham crackers. The marshmallow adds weight, which helps stabilize the structure. It also acts as a sealant, ensuring that the cracker won't crumble.

Show Me More ›

What makes gingerbread so strong? ›

A 1:4 ratio of butter to flour makes the gingerbread strong. Corn syrup keeps freshly baked gingerbread pliable and soft, so it's easy to cut while warm. Rolling the dough directly on parchment makes it easy to transfer to the pan.

Tell Me More ›

What holds gingerbread houses together well? ›

Fit Everything Together with Melted Sugar or Royal Icing

The second way is to use burnt sugar as your glue. Just melt C&H® Pure Granulated Cane Sugar in a pan on the stove, dip the gingerbread parts in and hold them together for a few seconds. Then, presto! You've created a solid house.

Keep Reading ›

How do I get my gingerbread house to stay together? ›

Caramelized Sugar Works Like 'Magic Glue' To Hold a Gingerbread House Together.

Read On ›

What is the best binder for gingerbread house? ›

Royal icing with meringue powder is perfect for a gingerbread house because of its consistency. It dries hard, and fast, making sure that your house won't break or fall apart. It's perfect not just for decorating, but for setting a strong base for your house.

Learn More Now ›

Why does my gingerbread house keep breaking? ›

Assemble In Advance

The royal icing (essentially the glue that holds up the walls) will have a chance to dry and make the structure sturdier, which will create a stronger base for the weight of the candy decorations.

Learn More ›

How do you keep gingerbread house from getting soft? ›

To achieve crispy, sturdy gingerbread, Lomas recommends letting the baked gingerbread pieces dry out for a day or two. Don't put the pieces in the refrigerator or keep them in a closed container, as this keeps the moisture in. “The longer it dries out, the easier it is to work with for construction purposes,” she said.

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How do you protect a gingerbread house? ›

Put it on display

If you want your gingerbread house to be a centerpiece through all the merrymaking, put it under the protection of a glass cloche or cake dome. Less dust and damage, definitely.

How to make a structurally sound gingerbread house? ›

Bake and cut

We chose a pretty basic gingerbread house shape, but added two bonus triangles to act as structural supports. Use a paring knife or x-acto blade to cut out the shapes. Make sure to leave some of the excess dough around the edges, since this will help prevent the straight edges from spreading.

View Details ›

Why does my gingerbread dough crumble? ›

From doubling up on molasses to using too much flour, there is a lot that can go wrong. Forgetting the molasses resulted in a crumbly cookie that was light in color. Combining all ingredients at once created lumps in the finished product.

Get More Info Here ›

Can you overwork gingerbread dough? ›

Gingerbread is supposed to have crisp edges and a soft centre, overworking the dough will make them tough – and nobody wants that! Chill your dough in the fridge before you roll it out, this relaxes the gluten in the dough and makes it easier to handle.

Read The Full Story ›

Why are my gingerbread men so hard? ›

“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

Explore More ›

What is the key to gingerbread house? ›

Keys to gingerbread house success

Make the pieces as straight as possible for easier assembly. Use a royal icing recipe that holds up well and dries hard. Follow the recipe exactly for best results. If you double the recipe, expect it to take twice the time to make.

Get More Info Here ›

Why is royal icing the best glue for building gingerbread structures? ›

Royal icing with meringue powder is perfect for a gingerbread house because of its consistency. It dries hard, and fast, making sure that your house won't break or fall apart. It's perfect not just for decorating, but for setting a strong base for your house.

Keep Reading ›