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This Valentine’s Day Gingerbread House is so fun to make! Decorated with cute Valentine’s candies and colors, gingerbread houses aren’t just for Christmas anymore!
Featured with this recipe
- Homemade Gingerbread House Dough
- Easy Gingerbread House Icing
- How to make Valentine’s Day Gingerbread Houses
- Make a House for Every Holiday
- Decorating your Gingerbread House
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Storing Homemade Gingerbread Houses
- Valentine Desserts that We Love
- How to Make Valentine’s Day Gingerbread House
- Valentine’s Day Gingerbread House Recipe
This gingerbread house recipe is such a fun and festive way to celebrate Valentine’s day! Get creative with candies, crackers, cookies, and any other colorful treats that will make this a cute gingerbread house. Decorate it with pink, red, and purple colors to make this holiday season even brighter!
Start by building the walls of the house using this gingerbread house template then bake for a sturdy structure to decorate. This gingerbread house dough is not like gingerbread cookies which are soft and chewy. This homemade gingerbread house is the perfect base to start creating!
Homemade Gingerbread House Dough
This dough recipe is very easy to work with and it is nice and strong. We never have any problems with it chipping or breaking. I love that the dough is a lighter color and looks more like sugar cookie dough for Valentine’s Day.
- Light corn syrup – This gives the dough a thick and strong texture that holds the baked dough together.
- Brown sugar – For taste and color, this brown sugar is delicious to eat and gives it sweetness!
- Margarine – You will want to use this instead of butter. The margarine will give it a softer and chewy texture.
- Flour – The all-purpose flour mixture of dry ingredients that will give the dough texture and thickness.
- Salt – Add a pinch of salt to help it fluff up while baking and give it thickness.
Easy Gingerbread House Icing
This gingerbread icing is a special icing that is known as royal icing. Place the icing in a piping bag to pipe royal icing on the sides and edges of the gingerbread pieces or use it to decorate the walls. It is so easy to make and holds the icing in place when used.
- Meringue powder – This is found in the baking aisle and is a white powder that is an egg white substitute.
- Warm water – This will help thin out the icing and makes it easier to flood if needed.
- Powdered sugar – Thicken the frosting and add sweetness to it at the same time!
How to make Valentine’s Day Gingerbread Houses
These Valentine’s day gingerbread houses are perfect for decorating and leaving out for a period of time for all to see! Simply cut out the pattern, heat the ingredients together, place on the ginger dough to trace and cut, then bake. Assemble the walls with frosting as glue and you have a delicious and adorable Valentine’e house!
- Template – Print out the gingerbread house pattern, or use a pattern of your own. Cut out the pattern. Trace it on light cardboard. Use a sharp knife to cut out the cardboard.
- Heat – In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat corn syrup, brown sugar, and margarine until the margarine is melted and the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir until smooth.
- Stand mixer – In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour and salt. Add the heated sugar mixture and mix on low speed. Blend in the mixer, or knead with your hands into the dough.
- Let rest – Combine the dough into a large mound and wrap it in plastic. Let dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Rolling pin – After 30 minutes, turn the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the dough, and roll it out into 1/8-¼ inch thickness on a large piece of parchment paper (¼ inch thickness makes pretty thick and heavy pieces to work with if you use ⅛ inch the pieces are thinner and you can stretch the dough to make two houses). If the dough is too hard, you can microwave it for 20-30 seconds. This softens the dough and makes it more manageable.
- Clean cuts – Lightly flour the cardboard patterns and place them on the rolled-out dough, leaving a 1-inch space between pieces. For clean edges, cut with a pizza wheel. Remove and reserve excess dough.
- Bake – Grab the opposite edges of the parchment paper and transfer it to the baking sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes or until pieces are firm and lightly browned on the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the pans.
Make a House for Every Holiday
Why stop at Christmas or Valentine’s Day houses?! You could use this recipe to make a spooky Halloween haunted house, with orange and black decorations on it. Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day house with shamrocks and bright green candies or create the Easter Bunny’s house in the springtime with pastels and green grass outside in the yard. The possibilities are endless, so grab your kiddos and let their imaginations run wild!
Decorating your Gingerbread House
Anything goes when it comes to decorating your sweet little house. Start with a batch of our royal icing which is easy to make and hardens up when it sets so your candies stay in place. Every gingerbread house is unique – use your imagination and have fun!
- M&Ms – Each holiday the famous m&ms change the colors and create a festive bag with specialty colors. Pink, purple, white, and red and popular and perfect to add to the gingerbread house.
- Heart candies – Use these for the walls, pavement, or roof. Always love to have colorful hearts on the sides.
- Gum – Cut the gum into strips or pieces for texture and look. Use the thinner gum pieces and red or pink gum is fun and festive to add.
- Gum Drops – Classic gum drops are perfect to have on the roof or the lower base area of the house. They are heavier and tend to slide if not put in the right places.
- Licorice – Slice the licorice or use it as stripes on the roof. Several types of licorice work for this decoration.
- Candy Corn – Usually candy corn will have a white and pink or white and purple coloring for Valentine’s or Easter. These are great to use going up the walls.
- Cookies – Cut the cookies in half or use them directly on the house.
- Pretzels – There are a few different types and shapes of pretzels will help decorate.
- Mints – Candy mints or breath mints are fun to play with and give a new idea!
- Candy canes – Use leftover Christmas candy canes and shape them into hearts.
- Ice cream cones – These are great for trees or extra layers on the edges of the gingerbread home.
Frequently Asked Questions
The purpose of gingerbread houses is a fun and creative activity that adults and kids love to make their own decorated homes. It is also a great treat for those that love ginger flavor and taste.
That is completely up to you and your gingerbread house. It is fun to leave out and show others your creation but also a delicious and yummy treat to break apart with the candy and icing.
Use thick and sticky icing that will hold together the pieces. The baked gingerbread dough is dense and heavy and will need thicker and strong icing. Royal icing is a great frosting that is known to hold together.
This will take a little extra work but sealing the surfaces with a clear craft varnish or a clear lacquer will help preserve the gingerbread house and decorations. This varnish will give a water-repellent coating to help preserve it indefinitely.
Storing Homemade Gingerbread Houses
Take your baked gingerbread house pieces and place them in an airtight container and place them in a dry area or refrigerate until ready to use. You can stack the house pieces on top of each other carefully when storing. These sides and roofs will stay fresh for a few weeks.
Valentine Desserts that We Love
These are a few of our favorite treats to spoil those that we love during the love month! These are all so simple to make and come together quickly and easily. Share the love through desserts this Valentine’s day!
How to Make Valentine’s Day Gingerbread House
Valentine’s Day Gingerbread House
Ingredients
- 2 cups light corn syrup
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 1/4 cups margarine
- 9 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Royal Icing recipe below
- Decorative cookies candies, sprinkles, etc.
For the icing:
- 3 Tablespoons meringue powder or 3 egg whites, but if you plan on eating the icing, use the meringue powder
- 6 Tablespoons warm water
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Print out the gingerbread house pattern, or use a pattern of your own. Cut out the pattern. Trace it on light cardboard. Cut out the cardboard.
- Click here for the gingerbread house pattern, we used the website About.com.
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat corn syrup, brown sugar, and margarine. Once the margarine is melted and the sugar is completely dissolved take it off the stove. Stir until smooth.
- In a large bowl or mixer, combine flour and salt. Add the heated sugar mixture. Blend in the mixer, or knead with your hands, into the dough.
- Combine the dough into a large mound and wrap it in plastic. Let dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- After 30 minutes, turn the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the dough, and roll it out into 1/8-¼ inch thickness on a large piece of parchment paper (¼ inch thickness makes pretty thick and heavy pieces to work with if you use ⅛ inch the pieces are thinner and you can stretch the dough to make two houses). If the dough is too hard, you can microwave it for 20-30 seconds. This softens the dough and makes it more manageable.
- Lightly flour the cardboard patterns and place them on the rolled-out dough, leaving a 1-inch space between pieces. For clean edges, cut with a pizza wheel. Remove and reserve excess dough.
- Grab the opposite edges of the parchment paper and transfer it to the baking sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes or until pieces are firm and lightly browned on the edges. Cool completely before removing from the pans.
- Once the pieces are cool, you can start assembling your house using the Royal Icing and decorative cookies, candies, sprinkles, etc. Every gingerbread house is unique – use your imagination and have fun!
For the icing:
- Blend all the ingredients together in a mixer, scraping the sides as you go.
- This icing hardens and dries out quickly. As you decorate your house, take out the amount you will need and leave the remaining icing in a bowl covered with a wet dishcloth or plastic wrap.
Nutrition Information
Wonderful idea.
This is an adorable idea!!
FYI…the link for the pattern goes to Eastern European recipes.
whoops. We will get on that.
Your Valentines Day Gingerbread house is so pretty!