Gingerbread Houses
 
 
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Ingredients
  • Gingerbread Houses
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1 cup shortening or ¾ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp baking soda in ½ cup hot water
  • 6 cups flour
  • 1-2 tsp cinnamon
  • ½-1 tsp ginger
  • ½-1 tsp salt
  • (I opted for going low on the ginger and salt, and heavier on the cinnamon)
Instructions
  1. Simmer molasses and shortening or oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
  2. Cream sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl.
  3. Dissolve baking soda in ½ cup hot water (I do this in a mug).
  4. Combine molasses mixture, sugar/egg mixture, and dissolved baking soda in a large bowl.
  5. Combine flour, spices, and salt in a small bowl. I opted for going for the max amount of cinnamon and less ginger and salt.
  6. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix well until dough is stiff. At this point, I added a little more flour until my dough was no longer sticky.
  7. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes.
  8. Roll out dough and cut into the shapes that you want (either cookie cutters or into house pieces). Note: one house will typically need 2 long rectangular pieces for the sides, 2 rectangular pieces for the roof (these should be the same length as the side pieces or a little longer for roof "over-hang" but usually a little wider, too), and 2 "house-shaped" front pieces (think: triangle-on-top-of-square. The square portion of the front piece should be the same height as the side pieces).
  9. Bake on cookie sheets (I would recommend lining your cookie sheet with parchment paper) at 350°F for 8-10 minutes for cookies. Add an additional 5-10 minutes for house pieces. If you are going to be making a gingerbread house, turn off your oven and put the pieces back into the warm oven to dry the pieces out or leave them out to air dry overnight.
Recipe by Food Fun Family at https://foodfunfamily.com/homemade-gingerbread-houses/