Gingerbread House Cookies

When you want to make a gingerbread house but don’t want to undertake any major construction, try baking up some gingerbread house cookies instead. With some spicy dough baked into a simple shape, a batch of royal icing, and an assortment of decorative candies, you’ve got the makings of a holiday project that’s just as cute but a lot quicker. I’ve tweaked one of my gingerbread cookie recipes to simplify the flavors and make it a bit sturdier, and paired it with royal icing made with pasteurized egg whites.

There really are no rules when it comes to making gingerbread house cookies, but I do have a couple of tips if you want to hang these (or any cookies), as I’ve done here. To help make the cookie sturdy, you need to roll the dough thick enough (1/4 inch), you need to leave enough cookie above the hole to form a strong bridge, and you need to bake the cookies until they’re firm and lightly browned. Soft, chewy cookies are lovely to eat, but will tear if you try to hang them with a ribbon, especially if they’re weighed down with heavy candies. When decorating with royal icing, pipe it around the hole, especially in the area above the hole; that will help to reinforce the cookie.

If you’re doing this project with young children, you can spoon some royal icing into a small zipper-lock bag, press out the air, seal it, and snip off a small corner so they can squeeze the icing onto their cookies. Or, for very young decorators, you can simply spread a thin layer of royal icing across the surface of the cookie and let them press the candies in wherever they like. In this case, be sure to do one cookie at a time, since the royal icing dries quickly.

Enjoy!
Ann
Ann Clark, Ltd

Gingerbread Cookies

Makes about 16 cookies
This dough is suitable for making gingerbread houses as well as cookies. It has a nice gingery bite, which serves it well when blanketed with sweet royal icing. But if you prefer a milder flavor, you can decrease the amount of ginger to 2 teaspoons. Make sure the butter is quite soft before mixing the dough.

Whisk together and set aside:
 2 cups all-purpose flour
 2 cups whole-wheat flour
 1 tablespoon ground ginger
 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
 
Beat together:
 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
 3/4 cup brown sugar
 3/4 cup molasses 

Add flour mixture and beat until ingredients are incorporated. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350º.  Roll dough out on a lightly floured counter to 1/4-inch thickness and cut with your favorite Ann Clark Cookie Cutters, then transfer cookies onto cookie sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or silicone liners. If you like, use a drinking straw to make a hole near the top of each cookie so that they can be hung after decorating. Bake about 10 minutes, or until tops look dry and edges have just begun to brown. Let cookies cool slightly on cookie sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating with royal icing and candies.

Royal Icing 2
Makes about 2 cups
This recipe, which uses pasteurized egg whites, is the one I use most often now; I find that buying the egg whites is convenient, prevents wasting yolks, and solves any food-safety issues. And it tastes much better than a royal icing made with meringue powder.  The lemon juice in this recipe does not add a strong lemon flavor, but it does mitigate the sweetness of the confectioners’ sugar. 

6 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Pinch salt
4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Mix egg whites, lemon juice, and salt with electric mixer (use paddle attachment if using a stand mixer). Add sugar and beat on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until smooth and thick. Adjust consistency with water, if necessary. Keep covered when not in use. Store in refrigerator.

My favorite shapes for Gingerbread Cookies include the Gingerbread House cookie cutter, the Tree cookie cutter, and the Snowflake cookie cutter.