Woodland Cottage Gingerbread House
While the winter holiday season has come and gone, Jill and I still had a deep desire to try making a gingerbread house that was a little bit outside of the box in terms of a traditional recipe. The holidays can often feel incredibly overwhelming to me to create content, so rather than beat myself up about a missed opportunity, I thought why not just make one to enjoy after Christmas! Who cares, right? This was such a fun project to put together, and I know that it was a big challenge. My mom, Jill, actually made the entire house herself. I simply stood in as a body double for sprinkling powdered sugar and as moral support during the construction.
The house is inspired about a little English fairytale cottage that we found on Pinterest. The original cottage had a thatched roof, which we loved, and more of a Tudor style siding. We pondered leaving the sides bare and only decorating with royal icing. However, we were inspired by these little chopped dates rolled in oat flour! The pebbles turned out so realistic looking, it is difficult to tell if they are truly stones or not.
making the house:
The house itself was a slight challenge, though the structure altogether was fairly simple in terms of shape. There is a single wall inside as a support, and the house is actually made of two halves, a right and left. You can see a slight dividing line just above the right corner of the door.
The gingerbread needs some time to cure after baking so that it is fully hardened. This particular gingerbread recipe is more like a hard candy than a soft cookie. While it is edible, I wouldn’t necessarily choose it as my favorite cookie recipe! We decided to go for a blonde or light colored gingerbread, but you could easily change it to dark by adding another teaspoon or two of cinnamon.
To construct the house, the walls are glued together with royal icing. You may want to use tall jars or books as a support for holding up the walls as the icing dries and binds them together. The icing will dry after several hours, but I personally think it is best to glue together the walls and leave them to cure for 24 hours before installing the roof. The roof is not support underneath by anything; the royal icing just holds it all together!
decorating the house:
The outside of the house is decorated with a few different rather random ingredients. We chose to use ingredients for looks rather than taste for this project. Next I would like to attempt a gingerbread house that is both beautiful and absolutely delicious to eat!
For the thatched roof, we used crushed shredded wheat. The stone walls are made with chopped dates rolled in oat flour. The wreath in the door is made from raw pumpkin seeds, the chimney is covered in raw almonds, and the pathway leading to the door is chopped chocolate. The white snow on the left half of the house is shredded coconut.
I love how natural this little house looks! It turned out so lovely and Jill did an amazing job constructing and imaging up this gingerbread house. I feel like a little forest hobbit should live inside. We left holes cut out in the back to slide in a couple of battery operated tea lights. The smoke coming from the chimney was made by blowing out matches and dropping them inside. Ha! So no, it is not a real candle.
Would you make a little woodland gingerbread cottage? I hope you enjoyed this post for some inspiration this winter or next holiday season!
xoxo Kayla
Woodland Cottage Gingerbread House
Ingredients
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 lb powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tbsp meringue powder
- 3-6 tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter. Remove the pan from heat and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. After the 30 minute rest, add the caramel syrup to the dry ingredients. Stir together with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until a shaggy dough forms. Knead the dough together with your hands until it is smooth and uniform in color and texture.
- Separate the dough into two pieces and roll the pieces out to about 1/2 - 1/4-inch thick. Cut pieces according to your desired pattern.
- Bake the pieces on baking sheets for 20 minutes or until golden brown in color and cooked through. Let the pieces cool at least 24 hours before assembling the house.
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. I find this is easiest with a handheld electric mixer or standing electric mixer with a whisk attachment.
- You may want to add more or less powdered sugar to your desired thickness preference.
- Pour the royal icing into a piping bag and cut off the tip, leaving just a small opening about the size of a dull pencil tip.
- Pipe the icing on the house to stick the walls together and add decorative details.
