Gingerbread House Recipes

[Lumpia]

Hi again,

I wanted to ask this before I get extremely busy, which I shall be this coming week. I did a search on the Gingerbread House recipes on Chef Talk, but they only talked about how to decorate the house, not how to make the dough batter.

I want to be able to make the dough batter myself, rather than buying those that are premade. I haven't been able to find a good recipe for me to follow. I feel that it will be twice the fun for me were I to make the dough myself rather than buying the premade dough. The decorating would be even more fun then. So, does anyone have any gingerbread house recipes that I could experiment with? How about your grandmother's? Do you have a recipe from her? Family-owned recipes are among those recipes that I use the most and cherish the best!

Thanks for listening and many thanks for any recipes that I could try! I am eagerly looking forward to the fun!

[Suzanne]

GINGERBREAD DOUGH

Shortening 1# 6oz
Brown Sugar 1#
Molasses 1# 13oz

Flour 3#
Ground Ginger 3T
Ground Cinnamon 3T
Ground Cloves 3T
Salt 1T

Combine shortening, brown sugar, and mollases in a saucepan. Heat and stir until well blended.

In a bowl, combine flour, sapces, and salt. Add the liquid (sugars and fat) to the flour mixture. Knead until well-blended.

Roll out dough with a rolling pin onto parchment. Proper thickness is between 1/4" and 1/2" thick. The dough must be rolled out uniformly. No flour is necessary.

Transfer dough and paper onto sheet pans.

Place templates onto dough and cut out shapes with a sharp paring knife. Remove scraps -- they can be re-rolled.

Bake dough at 350º F for approximately 20 minutes, turning sheetpans for even baking. The dough is done when the edges begin to brown lightly.

Remove dough from oven and allow to cool slightly. Turn the dough (and parchment) over onto the exposed surface for a flat, even look.

Do not refrigerate -- the dough will crack.

The dough should cool and become very crisp and hard. If not, return cooled pieces to a 200º F oven for 30 - 60 minutes. Be careful because this will cause the dough to be very brittle.

The dough should not "move" or run in the oven too much.

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This recipe was received at NY Restaurant School, to be used for a gingerbread house contest. I never actually made it, but I saw houses made from it.

Hope this helps!

[Lumpia]

Thank you for this recipe, Suzanne! I can't wait to try it!

[cinabun]

I have a recipe that I use a lot. The good thing about this is that you make the dry ingredients and can keep them for 3 months and make a batch as you need when you add the wet.

8 C. all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon gr. cloves
2 cups sugar 1 Tablespoon gr Ginger
1/4 cup baking powder 1 Tablespoon cinnimon
1 Tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
2 cups quality solid vegetable shortening

In a large bowl sift together dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening. store in an air tight container for up to 3 months. makes 13 cups mixture.

Gingerbread house dough:

6 cups above gingerbread dry mix 2 eggs beaten
2/3 cup molasses 1 cup a/p flour

combine ingredients and blend well until easily handled. Lightly grease large cookie sheets. Divide dough into 3 portions or as much as to cover the sheet rolled out to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness ( I go thinner as it puffs a bit.) I also roll the dough out right on the sheet using waxed paper on top.

I have tried cutting the pattern before and after baking and I think before is better and then trim if needed immediately when it is still warm as it gets crisp quickly as it cools. I remove the peices as soon as they are stiff enough to move and let them dry out for an hour or two until they are absolutely cold. Assemble

I don't make any more dough than I am going to bake immediately since it doesn't do as well if you overnight it in the fridge.

[W.DeBord]

I use a recipe from Martha Stewart (you can find it at her site). The reason I like it is how firm it bakes (to make sturdy walls) and it doesn't spread while baking so your pieces remain intact.

[braunalee]

Hello! Just a shor notice: there's been a book out there now, new and freshly baked - go to the website under following link and search for
the title "In the Land of Gingerbread"

tripple w (dot) forgetmenotbooks (dot) com

Enjoy the beautiful scenery!

[mudbug]

braunalee,

Welcome to ChefTalk. It is preferred that external links be posted utilizing this feature () which allows you to link text to the approproate URL.

This makes it easier on everyone reading this thread who may be interested in going to your suggestion by making it clickable.

[Myplaceoryours]

Dear Mudbug

braunalee has only one post. The rules say "You are only allowed to post URLS to other sites after you have made 15 posts or more."