Gluten Free Gingerbread House | With Free Template
How to make a gluten free gingerbread house, the easy way. All you need are two different shapes of gingerbread cookies, and plenty of icing!
Servings: 2 small gingerbread houses
Equipment
- Gingerbread House Cookie Cutters or my Paper Template and a sharp knife
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose gluten free flour blend plus more for sprinkling (I used Better Batter; please click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
- ⅜ cup cornstarch (replace with more Cup4Cup if that is your all purpose gluten free flour blend)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅜ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 egg at room temperature, beaten
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Royal Icing
Instructions
Make the gingerbread cookie shapes.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well. Add the brown sugar and whisk again to combine, working out any lumps.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, molasses, honey, egg and vanilla, mixing to combine after each addition. The dough will be thick and soft.
- Sprinkle a large sheet of unbleached parchment paper lightly with flour, and place the dough on top of it. Sprinkle with more flour, and roll into a rectangle about 3/8-inch thick (more than 1/4-inch, less than 1/2-inch).
- Dip the cookie cutters in flour, and use it to cut out shapes from the cookie dough. You’ll need 4 rectangular pieces and 2 side pieces.
- With each cut, jiggle the cutter back and forth to create a neat shape. If you’re using the paper template, print out the template and cut out all 6 shapes along the black lines.
- Lay the template pieces on top of the rolled out dough and, using a sharp knife, cut around each shape.
- Remove the templates.
- Place the dough, with the cutout pieces still in place, in the refrigerator or freezer until firm (about 10 minutes).
- Once the dough has chilled, peel back the rest of the dough from around the cut-outs and gather the scraps.
- Then carefully peel off the cut-out shapes and place them, about 1 1/2-inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat the process with the remaining dough until you have used it all. You should have enough for two full houses (6 pieces each).
- Place the baking sheets in the center of the preheated oven and bake until golden brown all over, about 14 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheets.
Decorate and assemble the house.
- Prepare the royal icing according to the recipe instructions.
- Decorate the panels with royal icing and allow it to dry for at least 2 hours before proceeding.
- Place the royal icing in a piping bag (or zip-top bag with the corner snipped off) fitted with a medium open piping tip.
- Select one end piece and one side piece and place them together on a clean, lined surface.
- Pipe a thick, straight line of royal icing on the surface, underneath each piece and another line along the edge of the end piece.
- Assemble the two pieces and hold for 1 minute to allow the icing to begin to set. Repeat with the second side, and then the second end piece, holding the pieces in place for 1 minute after each placement.
- Allow the 4 walls to sit at room temperature for about an hour or until very stable. Ice all of the exposed top edges of the 4 walls, and between the two remaining cookie panels, and place the roof pieces.
- Fill in the any gaps with more icing. Allow the house to sit until completely set (about 4 hours).
Video
