How to Make Easter Gingerbread House

The warmth and beauty of Spring have finally arrived. To celebrate, I made a beautiful speckled Easter Gingerbread House.

SPECKLED EASTER GINGERBREAD HOUSE STEP-BY-STEP

Easter Gingerbread Houses have been on my mind for quite some time. I haven’t made one before and am thrilled to share it with you. I’m giving it to a friend next week.

COOKIE CUTTERS AND ROYAL ICING

I usually use construction gingerbread dough when making gingerbread houses. It’s super sturdy and fragrant, but because it bakes pretty hard, it’s not great for eating, though it’s entirely edible.

However, I used the Honey Cookie recipe for edible structures for this project. This recipe contains minimal fat and a perfect amount of spices and honey. I adjusted the amount of baking soda in the recipe to 1/4 tsp. It works well for projects like this, and of course, it doesn’t hurt that it tastes incredible and pairs nicely with my Fresh Lemon Royal Icing.

Regarding the cutters, I purchased the birdhouse cutters from Bobbi’s Cookie Cutters. And I’m so glad I did. It saves so much time on hand-cutting panels.

MINI DAFFODILS

Mini Daffodils are made using two colors: yellow and orange. First, I flooded the cookie with yellow, and I also used a little bit of orange and marbled it on the edge of each petal. Then, you need to let these dry.

To make the trumpet, I used orange, royal icing of piping consistency. I layered the icing into a cylinder-like shape. Next, I dusted it with yellow sanding sugar. Lastly, I outlined each petal with yellow royal icing.

HOW TO MAKE A COOKIE MOSS

• Start by crushing Graham Crackers into a fine powder. Use a rolling pin or a coffee grinder. Sugar cookies, tea biscuits, and ladyfingers will also work.
• Then, whisk food coloring into the water or alcohol. I used green leaf and lemon colors.
• Pour colored liquid into the bag with dry crushed cookies.
• Mix the color into the dry cookie crumbs.
• The liquid will make the mixture clump up a bit.
• Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet and bake at 180F for about 30 minutes or until dry.
• Then, process in the coffee grinder, pulse a few times, and check the texture.
• I made the cookie moss using water and alcohol. Cookie moss made with water took a bit longer to dry in the oven. Other than that, I haven’t noticed any other differences.

HOW TO APPLY COOKIE MOSS ON A BUNNY COOKIE

Cookie moss has been around for several years. It’s easy to make and adds a moss-like texture to cookies, cakes, and cake boards. It’s excellent for woodland-inspired projects.

HOUSE PANELS AND CHICK

Using 10-15-second consistency icing, I flooded the bottom side of the house panels’ cookies. I flooded the bottom because it’s easier to decorate, as honey cookies don’t bake completely flat. They are slightly domed, which is characteristic of this honey (medovnicky) cookie recipe.

I made the chicks with yellow, white, and orange royal icing. First, ice the chick with yellow icing, then add white polka dots using the wet-on-wet decorating technique. Wait for the icing to crust, then pipe the beak with orange icing. Let it dry, pipe the wing, and dust it with yellow sanding sugar.

CREATE SPECKLED COOKIE DESIGN

The speckling technique is super easy and really fun, too. And just a tiny bit messy.

Before you start, protect your surface and your hands. I covered my work area with a sheet of wax paper and propped up the top part of the gift box upright to act as a splatter screen.

To make the speckles, I used brown food coloring mixed with lemon extract. Place the cookie on wax paper in front of the splatter screen.

Dip the food paintbrush into the food paint. Remove the access paint from the brush. Hold the paintbrush above the iced cookie and aim at it. Run a toothpick or a finger through the bristles and watch what happens. Repeat until you are happy with the design.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE DECORATIONS

Now it’s time to add all the decorations. All you need is a little bit of royal icing for the glue. Attach moss bunny and carrot gummy candies on each side of the bunny.

Use green royal icing to make the stems and leaves. If you are unsure how to do this, watch the video below.

How do you make a leaf tip? To make the leaf tip, you have to cut the end of the piping bag into a V shape.

If you are unsure where to pipe the leaves, use an edible marker and draw the guides first. I used some Easter Egg sprinkles to decorate the grass and attached them to the freshly iced grass.

EASTER GINGERBREAD HOUSE ASSEMBLY

As always, glue the bottom base first with stiff royal icing and let it dry for 4-5 hours.

Then, attach the roof panels. Support the roof in place with cut-up bamboo sticks and let dry overnight.

DECORATE EASTER GINGERBREAD HOUSE ROOF

I used a Petal Tip #104 to pipe the roof. I used thick-consistency icing to pipe overlapping ruffled rows of icing. I used a star piping tip to embellish the front of the roof panels and to cover a gap between the roof panels.

CAKE BOARD

Cover the cake board with thick green royal icing and dust with cookie moss. Shake off the excess and let dry overnight.

Use a cookie scraper to remove the moss layer, exposing the royal icing layer. Attach Chick with thick royal icing to this spot, and then cover fresh royal icing with cookie moss.

MORE INSPIRING EASTER COOKIE DECORATING IDEAS

• Gingham Bunny Cookies
• Easter Chick Coloring Pages
• Cross and Easter Lily Cookies
• Easter Cookies (via Sweet Ambs)
• Bunny Sugar Cookies (via LilaLoa)

TO MAKE EASTER GINGERBREAD HOUSE YOU NEED

• RECIPES
• One Batch Honey Cookie Recipe
• Royal Icing
• TOOLS
• Cookie Cutters: Gingerbread House Cutters, Flower, Chick, Carrot (this set includes a small carrot cutter; in case you can’t find carrot gummy candies, you can make a cookie instead) Bunny (I used a cutter about 2.5 tall)
• Paint Brush
• Food Colors: sky blue, ivory, orange, yellow, black, green, chocolate brown
• Dropper
• Edible Marker
• Needle Tool
• Cake Board
• Cookie Scrapper
• Gift Box – I picked up some at a Dollar Store
• Wax Paper – to cover the work surface
• Carrot Gummy Candies – I got mine at a local Wegmans store. Here are a few edible decorations I found that could also be used Sugar Carrots Wilton Carrots
• Yellow Sanding Sugar
• Petal Piping Tip #104
• Star Piping Tip
• Lemon Extract

This post contains Amazon affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no cost to you. I only recommend products that I use and love. Learn more about my affiliate policy here.

EASTER GINGERBREAD HOUSE ROYAL ICING CONSISTENCIES

• House Panels
• Light Blue : 15 second consistency
• Chocolate Brown : use 2-3 drops and lemon extract to make the paint for speckles
• Chick
• Yellow(with a touch of orange to make deeper yellow) : 15 second consistency – body
• Orange : 20 second consistency – beak
• Black : 20 second consistency – eye, or use a black edible marker instead
• Bunny
• Green(with a touch of yellow) : 20 second consistency
• Daffodils
• Yellow(with a touch of orange to make a deeper yellow), Orange : 15 second consistency
• Orange, Yellow : piping consistency
• Leaves
• Green : use medium stiff royal icing
• Daisy Flowers
• White : stiff consistency
• Yellow : 20 -25 second consistency