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My Simple Gingerbread House is easy to make and super delicious to eat. In this DIY gingerbread house tutorial, I will show you how to make it from scratch.

Assembled gingerbread house displayed on a black plate.

HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE GINGERBREAD HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS

I know making a homemade gingerbread house can seem like an impossible task. Let’s break it up into steps, and I promise you’ll have fun building and decorating this tasty gingerbread house.

Back of assembled gingerbread house showing Christmas tree cookie.

TO MAKE EDIBLE SIMPLE GINGERBREAD HOUSE YOU NEED

House Cookie Cutters
Heart Cutter (about 2.5 inch)
Gingerbread Man Cookie Cutter (2.5inch)
Piping Bags
White Coarse Sanding Sugar
White Snowflake Sprinkles
Large Red Heart Sprinkles
Yellow Star Sprinkles
Mini Chocolate Nonpareils
Regular Green M&M’s Candies
Mini Red M&M’s Candies

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EDIBLE GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Start by making the cookie dough and baking individual cookies and house panels. I covered this step in my Edible Gingerbread House step by step tutorial.

What’s great is that you can bake house panels and built the house ahead of time. So hop over to my detailed step by step tutorial on how to make super tasty Honey Gingerbread Cookie Dough. Learn how to cut out and bake house panels and how to glue it all together into a 3D Gingerbread House. (video included)

Gingerbread house cookie panels on a cooling rack.

If you plan on building a house with a chimney then I recommend to glue the chimney panels first. Let it dry and then glue the chimney onto the roof once the house is build. Depending on the design you can glue it on before you decorate the roof, after or mid process.

Gluing chimney cookies with royal icing.

HOW TO DECORATE SIMPLE GINGERBREAD HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS

Now it’s time to make the icing, take out the candy, cookies and sprinkles and decorate the house.

Royal Icing – use thick white royal icing to glue decorations onto the house. And also, use it to frost the house roof. Here is my recipe for Fresh Lemon Royal Icing. Be sure to use thick consistency icing not flood consistency. You can learn more about Royal Icing Consistency.
Candy Decorations – small Nonpareils Chocolates, M&M’s Candies, Sprinkles (Yellow Stars, Snowflakes and Hearts), White Sanding Sugar.

Fill the piping bag with thick royal icing. Cut the tip of the piping bag with scissors.
You can decorate already built house standing up or turn on the side like I did. Start by making the door using small chocolate nonpareils. Use thick royal icing for the glue.
Then make candy wreath. Pipe a circle with white royal icing and attach regular green and red mini M&M’s candies. Finish wreath design by adding white snowflake sprinkles and a yellow star.

Decorating front door with chocolate nonpareils and making a candy wreath with red and green chocolate candies.

Continue decorating sides of the house. Make the windows with chocolate nonpareils. And decorate top with a pretty border alternating green M&M’s candies and red heart sprinkles. Repeat on the other side.

Decorating side of the house with candies.

To decorate the back panel. I piped simple white stars all over. Immediately dust icing with white sanding sugar. Then add white snowflakes and gray/silver pearls.

Piping star onto a back house panel and dusting them with sanding sugar.

DECORATE SMALL COOKIES

Decorate 2 small hearts cookies. Pipe white outline on each heart and then dip it into white sanding sugar.

Piping white outline on a heart cookie and dipping it in white sanding sugar.

To decorate the tree make a pretty garland using mini red M&M’s and small chocolate nonpareils.

Decorating Christmas tree cookie with chocolate nonpareils and red candies.

Decorate small gingerbread cookies (2.5inch) with white thick royal icing.

Decorating gingerbread man cookie with white icing.

Pipe white royal icing on the chimney and then dip it into the white sanding sugar.

Decorating chimney cookie with white icing and sanding sugar.

DECORATE THE ROOF

Spread a thick royal icing on each roof panel, working with one panel at a time. Use back of the spoon and circular motion to create texture. Immediately attach heart cookie. Then dust icing with white sanding sugar and decorate with some white snowflakes. Repeat on the other side.

Spreading icing onto the roof, attaching a heart cookie into the iced roof.

Now you can glue the chimney onto the roof. Pipe icing on the bottom edges and attach chimney onto a freshly iced roof. Then decorated top of the roof with chocolate nonpareils and red mini M&M”s candies.

Attaching chimney onto a gingerbread house.

Attach Christmas tree cookie onto the back wall. And decorate front and back roof edge with chocolate nonpareils and red mini M&M”s candies.

Gluing tree cookie on a back panel with royal icing.

Candy decorated gingerbread house on a black plate.

CAN I EAT MY GINGERBREAD HOUSE ?

Yes, you can eat this gingerbread house. Unless of course you decorate it with items that are not meant for eating. If so remove inedible decorations before you consume cookies.

HOW LONG DOES THIS EDIBLE GINGERBREAD HOUSE LAST?

I’d recommend that it is eaten within 3-4 weeks.

MORE CHRISTMAS TREATS

Assembled undecorated gingerbread house.

Print Pin

5 from 1 vote

Honey-Gingerbread Cookie Dough for Houses

Makes 1 standard-size gingerbread house: about 6 inches tall, 5 inches long, 5.5 inches wide. When using to make a 3D gingerbread house, use 1//8 -1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

Recipe Yield: 1 standard-size gingerbread house.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Slovak

Keyword edible dough for gingerbread houses, gingerbread, honey cookies, medovnicky

Prep Time 10

Chill 4

Total Time 4 18

Servings 1 house

Author Hani Bacova

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

5 tbsp room temperature butter 70 grams
1⅓ cup powdered sugar 160 grams
3 tbsp honey 65 grams
2 whole eggs at room temperature
2¾ to 3 cups all-purpose flour 400-430 grams
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground star anise (optional)
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
pinch salt
2 tsp lemon zest (optional)

Egg Wash

1 egg (optional)

Instructions

Honey Gingerbread Cookie Dough

In a medium bowl, sift flour (2¾ cups to 3 cups, 400-430 grams), baking soda (1/4tsp), ground cinnamon (1tsp and 1/2tsp), ground star anise (1/2tsp), ginger (1/4tsp), cloves (1/4tsp), salt (pinch).
Cream room-temperature butter (5tbsp, 70 grams) and powdered sugar (1⅓ cups, 160 grams). Beat till fluffy. Then beat in eggs (2 whole eggs), one at a time.
Then gradually pour in honey (3 tablespoons, 65 g), vanilla extract (1tsp), and lemon zest (2 teaspoons). Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and beat for 1 minute.
Then, on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture. Beat till combined. Invert the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute.
If the dough appears too sticky, add a little more flour.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Bake Gingerbread House Panels

Preheat oven to 350°F – 360°F (175°C-180°C).
Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or a perforated mat.
To make house panels, roll the dough to 1/8 inch (3mm) to 4mm thick. Cut out house panels.
Bake large gingerbread house panels for 10-14 minutes, or until golden and light brown.
Smaller cookies bake faster, in 8-9 minutes.
Let panels cool on a baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Egg Wash (optional, use for shiny cookies)

Whisk the egg well, and then strain the egg to remove any egg bits.

Applying Egg Wash

To get a shiny finish on cookies, brush the tops right after you take them out of the oven while they are still hot. Be sure not to add too much egg wash,as it can drip down the sides and under the cookies and bake into scrambled eggs.

Video

Notes

Do I have to use the star anise? I don’t have it. I love using star anise, but if you don’t have it or can’t find it, you can skip it. The finished cookies will still be delicious because of the other spices used.
How do you grind spices? I use a small coffee grinder. Then I sift ground spices thru a fine mesh sieve.
How long will this gingerbread house keep? The constructed house will keep for several months. It’s best to eat it within a month of making it.
How would you decorate it without icing? Decorate panels before baking with walnuts, pecans, almonds, chocolate candies, pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips, coconut, or dried fruits.
Can I use molasses instead of honey? I’d recommend using honey and molasses (1:1 ratio).

8 Comments

Mykekiss says:

December 5, 2022 at 2:58 am

I should try making this ginger house… never try before… tq for the sharing❤️❤️❤️

1. Hani says:
  
  December 18, 2022 at 9:15 am
  
  Hi!
  Let me know how it goes if you do. Happy Holidays.
  
Julia says:

November 30, 2022 at 11:02 am

Hi Hanie, can I replace the honey with molasses? If so, how much molasses should i use? Will it affect the toughness of the cookies? I want to make a gingerbread house. Please help..

1. Hani says:
  
  December 18, 2022 at 9:24 am
  
  Yes you can replace molasses for honey 1:1.
  Hani
  
Claudia says:

November 11, 2019 at 11:55 am

Where can I find the recipes for gingerbread house?love your work thanks for taking the time to reach us.

1. Hani says:
  
  November 11, 2019 at 11:58 am
  
  Hi Claudia,
  my bad, recipe card wasn’t loading. I fixed it should be at the bottom of the post. THanks for letting me know.
  
June Himkle says:

November 11, 2019 at 10:21 am

Great step by step process! Both you and Amber did an awesome job!

1. Hani says:
  
  November 11, 2019 at 11:59 am
  
  Thank you so much June. ♥