Grinch Inspired Christmas Gingerbread House

 

I make gingerbread houses out of pure joy of seeing it all come together at the end. Today I’m going to share with you how I made Grinch Inspired Gingerbread House. I hope you like it. I included a short video at the end.

How To Make GRINCH GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Things you need:

Templates(below)

Gingerbread Cookie Dough for Centerpieces

Wax paper – to make royal icing transfers

Parchment – to bake the panels

Royal Icing Recipe

Piping Bags

Star Tip – to make the Tree on the front panel

Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds

Choco Green Candy – for the Grinch texture

Edible Jewel Dust

Sprinkles :  gold stars, Yellow Stars, Candy Canes, Jumbo Rainbow Nonpareils

Tweezers

White Sanding Sugar

Edible Marker

Food Colorings

Super Fine Tip Edible Marker – Black

Bamboo sticks – to support the panels while they are drying

Cookie Cutters –  Sleigh Cutter from the Wilton Christmas Set

Snowflake Cutters

Primitive Christmas Tree Cookie Cutter

I like to bake the panels that about are about about 1/8 inch thick or a little thicker.  When working with a larger construction you can make them definitely thicker. I bake the panels at 350F for 15- 20 minutes, until they are well baked. And as they cool they should be hard. If they are soft you’ll need to bake them for a bit longer.

Here are the templates I used  :

 

 

 

I love the look of bare, undecorated cookies.

 

Instead of using an edible marker I used a non-toxic pencil to draw the outlines on the cookies. It works well, not leaving thick lines behind.

I was worried how the house is going to hold together just with the royal icing. First I glued 2 panels, front and the side, I supported panels with bamboo sticks in place and let it dry for 3 hours.  After I added second side and let it dry again. Only after that I added the back panel and I let it dry overnight.

Drying process is really crucial for a stable gingerbread house. Glue icing should be stiff but not too stiff. Icing that is too stiff will not stick to the cookie and will not create a strong bond.

 

 

Christmas sleigh is made out of gingerbread cookies and quick gumpaste decorations. I made red bag and mini presents. I  have to admit  a little overboard with the sleigh design.  It turned out so cute! I couldn’t help it but add the lights, too.

To make the quick gumpaste I used some marshmallow fondant (Mini Batch Marshmallow Fondant Recipe) and I mixed in some Tylose Powder to make it set faster.

 

Christmas tree was really simple to make, I used food only scissors and cute Jumbo Sprinkles for the lights.  You watch the video below how I made it.

 

In the back of the house I included the  sign and I attached another tree on the panel after it dried.  Throughout the design I used white sanding sugar to make the snow. Sure, you can use regular granulated sugar but because sanding sugar has larger crystals it reflects more light and it make the snow sparkle.

 

 

I often get asked how long did it take me to finish the project? Grinch house took hours and hours. Not only it took me long to design the panels. Coloring of the icing and filling the bags takes ages and it’s my least favorite  part of cookie decorating.

Another thing that can be very lengthy is editing. It is a very tedious process of carefully trimming down the raw footage, adjusting contrast, brightness, adding final hero images and music, because of it it can take days to complete.

It always makes me chuckle to see how  1 hour video is sped to 4 minutes.  I’m just hoping you know I don’t really work that fast.