I want to make a gingerbread house for christmas but all the recipes are american using cups and ingredients i dont recognise has anyone a recipe they could direct me to or write up if theyre really nice
Also ideas for decorations welcome, im thinking ice cream wafers to make a more realistic roof tile and an upside down ice cream cone painted with green food colouring and sweets stuck on for a christmas tree, i can see that being difficult though

I have made this a few times now, and I think it is really quite simple to make - some fiddly bits, if you have big hands, but other than that I find it a nice easy creation that comes out quite nice.

Also comes with templates that you can print out

excellent thank you very much

I (with a group of friends) make a gingerbread house every year - we've been doing it for over 20 years now and it's a great tradition. (you can see some pics here)

The recipe linked to looks like a good one. (I use one I got from a Canadian magazine way back when - happy to share it with you if you like.)

Some tips:
Roll the dough out on to foil and then cut it out - then put the foil onto a baking sheet. (Saves you from trying to move the cookie piece on its own - always a disaster!)

Let the pieces cool for an hour before trying to build with them.

If you want to make 'stained glass windows' cut the windows out of the house pieces. Put the gingerbread into the oven -- after about 5-8 minutes - put some crushed coloured boiled sweets (or clear Fox's glacier mints if you want clear windows) into the space. They'll melt and fill the space. When you take the piece out of the oven leave it on the foil until it is cool -- if it is cool the foil will come away very easily from the windows - if it isn't it won't. Patience!!

Ice cream cones make great trees (cover them withi icing to decorate them).

The icing for joining the pieces and decorating needs to be THICK. I almost always use more icing sugar than the recipe calls for to get the right consistency. It's amazing stuff - when it dries it is practically indestructible.

Have fun!! We have builders aged 8 to adult and everyone has a great time. You'll be amazed what crazy ideas you can come up with when faced with a bag of all sorts and strawberry laces!

thanks so much suze, loved your construction especially the windows
i did read about the hard boiled sweet windows elsewhere but couldnt get timings on when to put the sweets in so thanks for that and the foil idea
how do you eat yours? pick little bits off or divide it up somehow, or is it just for show'?

I used the recipe her http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4...gerbread-house last year, but created my own template/design.

For the roof I used white chocolate buttons. I laid them in an overlap pattern on a bit of greasproof into a shape larger than I needed for one side of the roof and zapped in 5 sec bursts to soften/melt slightly. Once they're just soft enough to stick together, lay another sheet over the top and press gently and evenly, I used a cookbook.

I found dolly mixtures and slivers of glace cherries were premium decorating material. I made a ready to roll icing snowman for the front and loads of little coloured marzipan presents (red laces for bows, fiddly). I filled the inside of house with a mix of chocolates from Asda's £1 choc box range (in stores already, mmm fake orange after eights!).

We picked and nibbled at ours from xmas day onwards. Plan to do one again this year

Thanks! Our house would never win a competition - but we have a blast making it.

Depending on the size of the windows you can sometimes use whole boiled sweets -- as they take longer to melt I put those in at the beginning. What you want to avoid with the sweets is that they are in so long that they boil up - because then they tend to pick up a few crumbs from the gingerbread and aren't so clear. (It's not the end of the world though - it's happened to me more than once over 20 years and no on else seems to notice.)

Our house (which is pretty big) is used as a centrepiece and then gets eaten at my best friend's annual Christmas party. There are always lots of children and every year they look forward to seeing (and eating!) the house. We have a rule that EVERYTHING on the house or decorating the outside has to be edible.

Specktater's white chocolate button suggestion is a great one for roof tiles -- you could also use Shreddies (for a thatched effect), After Eights, or just decorate the roof randomly. A 'snowy' sprinkling of icing sugar is always nice on the roof as well.

We are having the gingerbread house construction party on the 12th this year -- I can't wait!!

Hi. I am thinking of making a ginger bread house with my little one this year (she is 3).

A few questions

How do you make the snow on the ground?
Do you cover something with foil first?
How long will it keep?

Thanks.
Last edited by gossipprincess : 04-12-2010 at 09:24

I make the base out of cardboard (a few layers as our house is so big) covered in foil. But you could use a plate or small cake board. I cover the base with white icing for snow - it is also good for 'gluing' down any outside the house decorations or fence.

As there is so much sugar it doesn't really go off - although the sweets may taste a bit stale after a few weeks!

Have fun with making your house - I expect your little one will love it!

A cup is a 'tea cup', same with a 'tea spoon' and a 'table spoon' from your cupboard and cutlery drawer.

well i dont know about you but ive at least 5 different size tea cups in my kitchen i like to be a bit more exact when im cooking thats just me

anyway i made a trial run and gave it to my friend , completely forgetting to take a picture first!
thanks for the help everyone i used the good food recipe which turned out not to be very gingery though the powder has been sitting there god knows how long so i think ill increase it when i do the official christmas one
my sister wants it for the centre piece so it has to be nice!

The only one i made turned into a Ghetto Gingerbread House , i burnt all my fingers with the melted sugar that was supposed to hold it together & by morning it was demolished

http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/a..._7692940_n.jpg

I do hope you can see the photo, be warned lol

Thank you! we will give it a go next weekend i think, this weekend's excitement is putting the tree up!

http://uktv.co.uk/food/stepbystep/aid/574225 Here's a conversion chart