Homemade Gingerbread Houses recipe – with templates

How to Make Homemade Gingerbread Houses

***For complete recipe instructions, see the recipe card below.

First, print off the Gingerbread House template, then cut it out, trace it onto a cereal box, and then cut it out. 

Next, mix together the shortening, sugar, molasses, vinegar, and egg.

Mix dry ingredients and add to the molasses mixture, ensuring you mix it well with a paddle attachment, not a dough hook. The dough will be crumbly until kneaded together.

Next, roll the dough onto parchment paper or a lightly floured countertop. Place the template, print side down, and cut out the gingerbread house pieces except for the windows and doors. Lightly score where the door and windows will be, but do not cut them out completely.

Pick up the cutout dough on the parchment paper and place it on a cookie sheet. Or you can use one of the roof template pieces to lift the cutout gingerbread pieces and place them on greased cookie sheets – straighten pieces once on the cookie sheets if necessary. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 11-14 minutes for the larger houses or 8-10 minutes for the smaller houses. As soon as the pieces come out of the oven, quickly re-cut edges for straight lines. The ’ A-frame’ style will need to have the triangle pieces trimmed immediately after coming out of the oven, or the ‘roof’ pieces will not sit flush against each other.

Next, cut out the windows and door completely. Place pieces on a cooling rack to cool completely.

First, to assemble the houses, wrap a piece of sturdy cardboard (Amazon boxes or Pizza box lids work great) in foil or fun holiday wrapping paper. Next, make the sugar glue by cooking down 2 cups of sugar in a pan over medium to high heat. You’ll know it is done when you drop a small amount into a glass of water, and it forms a ball. Once sugar is completely melted down, turn off the heat to avoid burning. If the sugar cools too much, it is no longer runny, then just turn the stove back on to low until it has become runny again.

Next, work quickly, dip the base of the front piece of the house in the glue, and place it on your surface’s desired location. Then, use one side piece, dip the base and one side, and attach it to the house’s front. Do the same for the other side piece. Next, using the back piece, dip the base and drizzle some sugar from a spoon down either side of the back piece before attaching it to the side pieces. Drizzle sugar glue down the backside of the roof pieces and place it on the top of the houses. Use sugar glue to attach the door in an open position.

To make the royal icing, beat all ingredients on high speed for 7-10 minutes. Use immediately. Cover unused icing with a damp dishtowel or damp paper towel to keep the frosting from drying out – as this icing cannot be reconstituted once it has been dried out.

Finally, have fun decorating the homemade gingerbread houses to your liking. We like to invite friends or family over to enjoy the fun!

Gingerbread House Recipe Pro Tips:

• Be careful when handling the sugar glue, as it is very hot. We do not recommend letting children assist with the sugar glue to avoid burning themselves.
• If the dough is very sticky, that’s okay; be sure to lightly flour the surface and rolling pin until it no longer sticks to the surface or rolling pin.
• We highly recommend baking the pieces on parchment paper. You won’t get as many broken pieces as you try to get the pieces off the cookie sheet.
• When placing the template on the dough before cutting, be sure to place it with the print side down as it has a coating on it to help it not stick to your dough. Try not to put much pressure on the template so it is easier to take off the dough.
• To make life easier, only trim pieces that need to be flush with another surface; for example, there is no need to trim the roof pieces as they do not need it, but the roofline of the front and the back pieces need a flat surface for the roof to sit flush. The ‘A-frame’ style will need to have the triangle pieces trimmed after coming out of the oven, or the ‘roof’ pieces will not sit flush against each other.
• We prefer to cut the shapes on parchment paper as they keep their shape better than when you have to transfer them from the counter to the sheet. Parchment paper slipped around a lot with our rolling pin with handles, so if that’s the case with you, try rolling it partway on the counter, then move the dough to the parchment paper and use the rolling pin without holding the handles, and finish rolling the dough out on the parchment paper then cut shapes.
• We like to have ingredients on hand for another batch of Royal Icing. We find that when little kids decorate, they tend to go overboard on the icing, so mixing up another batch quickly is helpful!
• If trimming the edges for a ‘clean line’ look isn’t your thing, then feel free to skip the trimming step and just assemble your house with slightly rounded edges!

Get Kids Involved

Ages 2-3: Let them help organize the candy for decorating by placing them into bowls. 

Ages 4-5: Let them help pour in ingredients for the frosting and dough. Guide their hands while you help them pipe the royal icing. 

Ages 6-8: Let them measure the dough and frosting ingredients and help mix both. Let them come up with their own design for decorations and help them execute it. 

Ages 9-11: Supervise them while preparing the entire recipe, except for the sugar glue construction – sugar glue is way too hot! Remember to have them read it twice before beginning the recipe. Help them print and cut out the stencil. 

Ages 12+: Let them prepare the entire recipe, except for the sugar glue part – again, way too hot! You may want to supervise when they cut the dough with the stencil before and after baking, as this step can be tricky.