Make Your Own Homemade Gingerbread House!

Learn how to make a sturdy and completely edible gingerbread house! My recipe includes a template for one large house or two small houses.

Ingredients
For house
½ cup unsalted butter, softened (113g)
½ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed (100g)
½ cup unsulphured molasses (120ml)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour (500g)
Royal icing
5 cups powdered sugar (625g)
2 ½ Tablespoons meringue powder (27g)
6 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional)
Candies, sprinkles, peppermints etc. for decorating (optional)

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Instructions
See recipe link for full instructions.

Notes
Molasses
Use an unsulphured molasses (it should say this on the label). I generally use Brer Rabbit or Grandma’s brand. Do not use blackstrap molasses.
Storing
Store your house at room temperature somewhere where everyone can see it! It will keep for several weeks, the gingerbread will get harder as it sits.
Making in advance
Dough may be formed into a disc, tightly wrapped in plastic, and refrigerated for up to 5 days before rolling out and using. Dough will be firm, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or longer before you can easily roll it without it cracking.
The house pieces may also be baked a week or longer before using.
The icing can be prepared and stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Transfer it to an airtight container and smooth a piece of plastic wrap directly in contact with the surface of the icing before sealing your container. This icing will keep at least several days, but may need to be stirred again before using.

[phoebechiki]

The kids are soooo cute and the house turned out fantastic!

[lkrsoapandsuch]

What a fun memory maker. Thank you for sharing this. Blessings to you and your precious family. 🎄

[kenmoreSF]

This has to be my all-time favorite video of you and the kids. Luke is getting so smart and being such a good older brother.

[abdulahmed-hgcx]

The gingerbread house looks so cute and I love how it is standing on top of the cake board ❤

[TRXFRMR-thvd]

Happy holidays to you the kids and all your loved ones.

[Grandmasterrett]

Luke could not eat that sugar fast enough! Hilarious! Your boys are adorable. Kudos to you for having the children help in the kitchen, my mother-in-law shooed her boys out of the kitchen and consequently none of them can even boil water! LOL. Great job on the recipe and for creating lasting memories with your boys.

[francesmorgan]

U have the sweetest lil helper so adorable 🥰🥰

[nyedjalara]

How beautiful, I loved the decoration, I really want to do it in my house. Thank you, a hug from Brazil. 😊 Beautiful family ❤.

[connpinheiro]

Thank you Sam ur kids did a wonderful job God bless you'll. ❤

[Michelle-Gxjq]

Omg, your boys...they are just the cutest little things! Rhett was in a sugar coma in the end there 😂 It's always fun decorating with the kids❤

[pclem]

That's a nice gingerbread house doing it for everyone including your kids

[djchloe]

I just made your Easy Homemade Biscuits with my kids and they are so good!! Made breakfast sandwiches with them for the family. Delicious. Was so excited when I noticed more of your videos when searching for gingerbread recipes. Stoked to make this gingerbread house with the kids. We loved how organic this video was and seeing your boy pop in and help really motivated them too :)

[Dawn-MarieMiller]

😊This was the sweetest video. You guys did a beautiful job decorating the gingerbread house. ❤

[divergentone]

OMG the memories of building a gingerbread house with my boys when they were little. Merry Christmas.

[candycec]

I have never made a gingerbread house before. I make gingerbread boys (most years), which I decorate but have never attempted the house. Thank you so much, Sam, for your clear and user-friendly templates, recipe, and demonstration. I hope that if I do make this, mine will turn out half as lovely as yours. Merry Christmas!

[susanhammitt]

Fantastic, I am sure the kids had so much fun. ALways sweet to see them. My cat loves to watch me when I am baking. I am not sure what she finds fascinating about it, but especially when I am doing cookie marathons I have to pull a chair up near the counter so she can supervise.

[michelemarie]

Oh Sam - this has to be my favorite SSR video yet!! I always laugh out loud at the mixer jokes - and twice in one video?!? And Luke’s shirt! LOVE IT! The boys are adorable and your recipes are the best! Our grandson wants to have a gingerbread house competition with us so I have to make a lot of gingerbread dough and royal icing! 😬 Wish me luck!!

[apiasko]

Wow, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for! (Last year, my granddaughter and I tried to made a gingerbread house from scratch but it collapsed and was a total failure!)
I’m going to try it again, using this recipe. Thank you so much!

[jenner]

I have been scouring the internet for a good gingerbread house recipe and yours is the first one that I like! I'm going to try it with my gluten-free flour blend, so fingers crossed 🤞

[kirstyleslie]

Great video, me and my daughter used to make them every year it was our Christmas Eve tradition. I can’t believe I never thought to glue it to the plate with icing it looks so much easier to build! We were holding our walls up with tins and all sorts of stuff while the walls stuck together 😂