Rhonda Massingham Hart - Making Gingerbread Houses

by Rhonda Massingham Hart

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Cover design by Carol J. Jessop (Black Trout Design)
Text illustrations by Alison Kolesar
Editing and text production by Heather Clemow

Copyright 1996 by Storey Publishing, LLC

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Printed in the United States

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hart, Rhonda Massingham, 1959

Making gingerbread houses / Rhonda Massingham Hart
p. cm
Storey Publishing Bulletin, A-154
ISBN 0-88266-493-X (alk. paper)
1. Gingerbread houses. I. Title. II. Series

TX771.H34 1996

745.5dc20

96-8967
CIP

Family traditions set us apart and pull us together. In the remembering, they often become the center of what life was all about. What better to set the mood for memories than the warm, spicy-sweet scent of gingerbread enveloping a kitchen strewn with candies and other marvelous makings of a gingerbread house? If ever an endeavor deserves to become a family tradition, the making of gingerbread houses does. There is something for everyone to appreciate and enjoy.

Gingerbread has a rich and dramatic history almost as delicious as the gingerbread itself. The earliest known recipe is of Greek origin and dates back to around 2400 B.C. Via the Roman empire the delicacy spread throughout the world, and by the 14th century the creation of elaborate gingerbread figures had captured the fancy of royal courts throughout Europe. In the 19th century, Grimms tale of Hansel and Gretel had a ready audience, all being quite familiar with the whimsical gingerbread house.

Gingerbread offers the challenge of invention and construction. Every year countless contests are held the world over to see who can fashion the most fantastic creation.

And there is the promise of time well spent, at best with family or loved ones, and, of course, there are the end rewards showpiece creations that double as edible art!

Log Cabin and Country Chapel blueprints on

There are few absolutes in making gingerbread houses, and many inspired ideas in award-winning gingerbread houses may have been merely insightful substitutions.

Part of the fun of planning and finishing your gingerbread house is the quest for materials. Suddenly peppermints become stepping stones through candy-coated wrought-pretzel garden gates, shredded wheat cereal turns into thatching for a cottage roof, ice-cream cones change to turrets atop castle towers, and on and on. Soon you will see nothing for what is merely is, but for what, in this sweet pursuit, it becomes!

Select a gingerbread project from the blueprints on , and decide on the scale in which you wish to work. Bigger is not always better. Clever design and a flair for details are just as dramatic as enormous proportions. Enlarge the plans on graph paper or by using the zoom feature of a copy machine. A house from 8 to 12 inches square is large enough to incorporate plenty of eye-catching details.

Next, draw each feature (front, side, roof) onto lightweight cardboard (empty cereal boxes are good) in the actual size the pieces are to be. Once the templates are cut out, make sure everything fits together. Tape the template pieces together, then check and adjust the fit. Taking a few minutes now for this step may save you unnecessary frustration later. Mistakes are easily corrected at this stage before they are even made.

Kitchen Supplies

Mixer or hand-held beater

Clean, hard surface for rolling out dough

Rolling pin

Cookie sheets

Aluminum foil

Large and small mixing bowls

Cake decorating bags and tips (read on to make your own)

Plywood or sturdy cardboard base, cut to size of finished project

Canned goods (for holding walls in place while the glue dries)

Decorating Ingredients

Bread sticks rafters, beams, pillars, logs

Candy canes pillars, support beams, fenceposts, lightposts

Coated candies (M&Ms) tree decorations, Christmas lights

Cereal colored loops for Christmas chains, tiles, small wheels, flat types for shingles

Chocolate bars door, shutters, shingles

Cinnamon candies red roofing tiles, paving stones, flowers

Crystallized flowers frosted garden flowers, rare jewels, ladys corsage

Foil wrapped chocolate kiss church bell, roof decoration

Frosting mortar, snow, flowers, siding, hair, ribbons & bows

Fruit leather window shades, fabric (from leather to whatever)

Gumdrops bushes, flowers, ornaments

Gum candies sliced into shingles, shaped into flowers

Hard candies melted for stained glass windows, mirrors, reflecting pools; crushed for colored gravel, beads, gems

Ice cream cones trees, tower turrets, hats, hoop skirts

Icing garlands, flowers, snow, bows, siding

Licorice railings, edgings, exposed beams, fireplace bricks

Licorice ropes rope, edging, window pane dividers, harness

Lollipops road signs, people, trees, bushes

Marshmallows snowballs for snow forts, snowmen

Marzipan or fondant anything you can shape it into

Nuts stones; (slivered almonds) shingles

Powdered sugar light dusting of snow, frost

Pretzels fancy ironwork fences, bed headboards, scrollwork

Pretzel sticks, dry bread sticks logs, winter trees, firewood

Rock candy rocks, stepping stones, stone walls

Round crackers or cookies wagon wheels, doors, tabletops

Shredded wheat roof thatching, hay, hair

Silver dragees doorknobs, ornaments, jewelry (not edible)

Sprinkles flowers, Christmas lights, ornaments

Wafer cookies, crackers or candies roof shingles, siding