Description
Recipe for mini gingerbread houses decorated with homemade royal icing (for 8-9 mini houses)
Ingredients
Cookie dough
- 90 g (3/4 stick) Butter - softened
- 75 g (1/3 cup) Brown sugar
- 1 Egg - small and room temperature
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla
- 80 g (1/4 cup) Molasses - or honey and maple syrup mixture
- 250 g ( 1 2/3 cups) Flour
- 1/2 tsp. Baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch Ginger ground
- 1 pinch Nutmeg ground
- 1 pinch Cloves ground
- 1 pinch of salt
Royal icing
- 200 g (2 cups) Powdered sugar
- 20 g (1-2 tbsp) Water
Instructions
Cookie dough:
- In a bowl mix together all the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, salt, and spices (sift them together if possible).
- In a large bowl, place the chopped and softened butter with the brown sugar and beat with an electric whisk or in a stand mixer with a flat spatula for 2 to 3 minutes until creamy and smooth.
- Add the egg, vanilla extract, and molasses and mix again for a good minute to incorporate.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix with a mixer or by hand until you have a smooth and homogeneous dough.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Cut out the cookies
- Print the template for the gingerbread house on cardboard and cut it out with scissors.
- Roll out the cookie dough on a lightly floured surface or between 2 sheets of parchment paper and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Cut out the dough using the template and a small dough knife (count 6 pieces (2 times each piece of paper to make one house)
- Place the dough pieces on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and put it back in the freezer while the oven is preheating.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 347°F / 170°C and bake the cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes until they are a little puffy and golden.
- Let them cool a little before moving them to a cooling rack.
Royal icing
- Place the sifted powdered sugar in a large container with the water.
- Whip with an electric mixer for 5 minutes until you have a thick, fluid icing. (If the icing seems too runny add more powdered sugar or if it is too thick add more water)
- Fill a piping bag with the icing and cut a tiny opening.
Assembly
- Take the 6 pieces needed to make a house and start by applying icing to both sides of the house.
- Then glue the two sides of the house together and press them together.
- Add icing to the top of the house and glue the roof on.
- Let dry for 20 minutes before decorating the houses with the remaining royal icing.
- Decorate immediately with your decorations, sugar beads etc.
- And let the houses dry completely at room temperature for 1 hour before enjoying.
Notes
Storage: Up to 2 weeks at room temperature in a storage box with a lid.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: cookies, shortbread
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 mini house
- Calories: 367
- Sugar: 39.8 g
- Sodium: 385.4 mg
- Fat: 10.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 65.5 g
- Protein: 4.2 g
- Cholesterol: 47.4 mg