They say home is where the heart is. Which is why we’re ditching scented candles and flowers as hostess gifts and pouring our hearts into a surefire conversation starter: the homemade gingerbread house.
Check out the tips and creations, and then start laying the foundation for your own gingerbread real estate.
Seeing as we don’t have the funds for Neiman Marcus’s $15,000 edible playhouse (weighing in at 800-plus pounds), we got directions from a bunch of dessert wizards, including Tina Casaceli (cookbook author, Milk & Cookies Bakery owner) and Pichet Ong (Spot and Village Tart pastry innovator, Confession of a Sugarholic blogger). Coincidentally, both bought their supplies at Economy Candy.
Graham crackers? So amateur. Make gingerbread from scratch like the pros. Ong and Casaceli suggest adding extra flour (or, ideally, substituting bread flour) to any dough recipe for a denser gingerbread that can withstand decorating.
Have your blueprints ready. Martin Howard, author of new picture recipe book Tina Cocolina Queen of the Cupcakes suggests serious pre-planning: “Freeze your dough after rolling it out so that it’s easier to cut to size,” he says. “Right after baking, while your pieces are still hot, place your pattern on top and trim the edges since the dough tends to spread.”
Make it even. Ong swears by a rotating cake stand to do justice to your home’s far corners. Or get help. Eleni Gianopulos of the famed Eleni’s NY says having a second person to assist in assembly is key.
Thick royal icing (a mixture of one pound of confectioners sugar, two egg whites, and two teaspoons of white vinegar or other acid) is the universal gingerbread spackle, but you can also use it to create landscapes and snow by adding egg whites for a thinner consistency.
A home needs light. Create glassy windows by leaving an opening in the gingerbread dough prior to baking. With twelve minutes of oven time remaining, fill the space with smashed hard candies, like Lifesavers, and finish baking. Or opt for lightning-fast, floor-to-ceiling picture windows by sliding a no-cook gelatin sheet between gingerbread pillars.
Why shouldn’t gingerbread people get a grand entrance? For a charming cobblestone walkway, Casaceli stocked up on chocolate rocks. If sugar-coated guests are planning to arrive via marshmallow mobile, Gianopulos recommends using candy-coated sunflower seeds to emulate a gravel driveway.
Get shingles (ew, not that kind) by adhering Necco wafers to a gabled roof with royal icing. Going rustic? Gail Dosik of One Tough Cookie NYC says that laying cereals like Chex or Shredded Wheat Minis creates a textured, thatched effect; sliced almonds give your house a homey feel.
For a Christmas tree, Casaceli shaped store-bought fondant into a cone and piped it with a mix of royal icing and food coloring.
Rock candy (which can double as ice chunks) makes for an edgy yard, or follow Dosik’s lead and create a fragrant, woodsy lawn with stacked star anise pieces, pink peppercorns, and rosemary. Brush the rosemary with a bit of beaten egg white and sprinkle with powdered sugar for a fresh snowfall effect.
Ong was inspired by Antonio Gaudi and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. To mimic his modern design, coat a wall with royal icing using a narrow spatula and tile with thin slices of Kit Kat bars or wafer cookies. Or use crumbled gingerbread scraps to replicate stucco. For major wall-decorating schemes, deck the halls before they become halls, says Gianopulos (but make sure they’re dry before assembly).
Remember Legos? Of course you do. Stack Candy Blox, just like the colorful toys, for Ong’s mod effect. Then pray they stay together.
Nothing says winter like a dusting of the white stuff (snow, people). After Ong crumbled Spot’s green tea sable cookies to make grass, he created snow with mounds of Maldon sea salt, powdered sugar, and our favorite secret weapon …
Edible sparkle by Chef Rubber is the food equivalent of disco dust. Powder it on any surface to make even a humble gingerbread shack look magical.
Unleash your inner Jackson Pollack. When it came time for finishing touches, Ong and friends decorated outside the lines. Chocolate sticks can clean up oozing royal icing seams. And pretzel rods add structure to avoid a cave in. “Use lots of royal icing to secure the rods where two walls come together,” Dosik says. “It adds extra support, so your masterpiece won’t come down like a house of cards.”
Ta-da! Whether your own gingerbread style is traditional and tailored or oh so unexpected, take Casaceli and Ong’s most valuable advice: Be creative.
Now put on your Twizzler tool belt and get building.
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