Something that has become a tradition for me is making gingerbread house cookies with royal icing. This is my third year making them, the first time I put them on my gingerbread village cake, but last year I only posted them on Instagram. I absolutely love making them and since actual gingerbread houses are so much work (I love making them but I find myself proritizing other things instead). This year I managed to use the smallest piping tip I have (Wilton 1s) because I made a MUCH better icing than I have before.
I don’t use any templates to cut out the little houses, you can see in the video below how I do it. Maybe next year, I’ll create some templates for you to download!
Gingerbread House cookies with royal icing
Makes 30-50 cookies, depending on size
This recipe makes delicious, crispy, thin gingerbread cookies! The gingerbread recipe can easily be halved. Feel free to use pasteurized egg white for the icing.
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g (1 scant stick) salted butter
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) molasses, dark or golden syrup
- 135 g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 3/4 tsp. ground cardamom
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) heavy cream
- 300 g (approx. 2 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- pinch of salt
Gingerbread dough
Royal icing
- 1 egg white (about 30 g)
- 200-240 g (about 1 2/3 cup) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS
Gingerbread cookies
- Combine butter, molasses and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. When the mixture is melted, stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Cover the bowl and let it rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
- Remove the dough from the fridge about 20 minutes before rolling out the cookies. Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough (I usually roll out 1/4 of the dough at a time as I find it easier to control the thickness) to about 5-6 mm thickness. If you’re making house cookies, simply use a knife to cut out the shapes you want. If you’re making gingerbread cookies with a doily: Dust some flour over the dough. Place a clean lace doily on top and gently press it onto the dough, then roll out the dough with the doily on top to 3-4 mm thickness. The cookies need to be quite thin or they will puff up too much in the oven and the pattern will fade. Gently remove the doily and cut out cookies using cookie cutters or a knife. Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet with baking paper.
- Bake the cookies for 5-7 minutes depending on size. If you’d like to use them as gift tags, make a small hole with a toothpick as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. Let cool completely.
Royal icing
- Combine the egg white, powdered sugar and vinegar in a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer
- Spoon some of the icing into a piping bag (don’t overfill the bag) fitted with a small, round piping tip. I’m using Wilton 1S which is very small. Cover the bowl with the remaining icing well and place it in the fridge.
- Ice the cookies as you wish! If you still have icing left in your piping bag when you are finished, you can place it in an airtight bag and place it in the fridge where it will be ok for a few days (although you may need to remove any dried icing in the tip using a toothpick).
Hi Linda,
I would really want to try this recipe, what doe you mean with ‘heavy cream’?
Hi Ingrid! Heavy cream is a cream that has 36-40% fat! Hope that helps 🙂
Just wanted to say thank you for your beautiful tutorials.
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas from Normandy, France.
That is so kind of you, Jeannette! Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
I’m wondering about the vinegar, I’ve always used lemon juice. Could you taste the vinegar in the icing? Can you substitute with lemon juice?
Thank you! I love the idea of Amsterdam row houses, at least that is what they remind me of.
You can use lemon juice for sure! My mother always used vinegar and most recipes here in Sweden use it. I’m guessing it goes way back 🙂 I can’t say I can taste it, or perhaps I’m just used to it.
I love Amsterdam houses, and you’re right, they do look like them!
Hi, these cookies look amazing thank you for sharing. How long can you keep them? For eating purposes 😉 And how to store them best?
Hi Pauline! Sorry for my late response 🙂 I’m not sure, they’re usually eaten within a couple of days here but I would guess a couple of weeks if stored in an airtight container.
These are so pretty. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much Luci!!