Gluten Free Gingerbread House
This gluten free gingerbread house recipe will provide hours of fun for the whole family! It's free of gluten, dairy and nuts and more affordable than buying a kit.
Servings: 4 houses
Calories: 2946 kcal
Ingredients
- 8 ½ Cups (1258 grams) Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour Blend I use Bob's Red Mill - measure carefully!
- 1 Tablespoon (8 g) Cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon (5 g) Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon (4.93 g) Cloves
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) Salt
- 1 ¼ Cup (240 g) Shortening
- 1 ½ Cups (288 g) Dark Brown Sugar
- ¾ Cup (245 g) Molasses
- ½ Cup (170.5 g) Dark Corn Syrup
- ½ Cup (118.29 ml) Warm Water see instructions
For the icing
- 2 pounds (907.18 g) Powdered Sugar
- 4 (120 ml) Egg Whites buy the carton kind, see note for egg free
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) Cream of Tartar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add the gluten free flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, stir the ingredients until they are well mixed.8 ½ Cups (1258 grams) Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour Blend, 1 Tablespoon (8 g) Cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon (5 g) Ground Ginger, 1 teaspoon (4.93 g) Cloves, ½ teaspoon (3 g) Salt
- Add the shortening, dark brown sugar, molasses and corn syrup to a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir occasionally until the shortening and sugar have melted. It will take about 7-10 minutes.1 ¼ Cup (240 g) Shortening, 1 ½ Cups (288 g) Dark Brown Sugar, ¾ Cup (245 g) Molasses, ½ Cup (170.5 g) Dark Corn Syrup
- Pour the hot sugar mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir on the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are incorporated. It will be a very heavy dough.
- Add the warm water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough sticks together but it's soft or wet. You may not need to use all of the water.½ Cup (118.29 ml) Warm Water
- Pull about ¼ of the dough from the bowl and roll it out on a clean work surface. Do not flour the work surface or the rolling pin, the dough will not stick. Roll out to ¼" thick, then place the template pieces on the dough and cut carefully around the edges with a sharp knife. Repeat with the scraps and remaining dough. If the dough starts to feel hard/dry, place a chunk of dough on a plate in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften it.
- Transfer the cut out pieces to your baking sheets. You will only need to space them about ½ inch apart, they will not spread.
- Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. You can bake multiple sheets at a time.
- Remove the baked pieces from the oven and cool them for at least 20 minutes on the baking sheet. They should be very flat and hard with crisp edges. Once completely cool, prepare the icing and assemble.
To make the icing
- Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on the lowest speed until it forms an icing that is similar to a thick paste.2 pounds (907.18 g) Powdered Sugar, 4 (120 ml) Egg Whites, 2 teaspoons (6 g) Cream of Tartar
- Use the thick icing to construct your house. Afterwards, you can thin the icing for decorating by adding 1-2 tablespoons of water. Do not make it too watery.
Notes
TIP FOR ROLLING DOUGH: This dough will harden as it cools. You may think the dough has dried out or is too tough to roll out. Simple grab a large chunk of dough and microwave it for about 30 seconds on high. The dough should re-soften and be able to roll out easily.
If your dough seems too crumble or is cracking, simply knead in a tablespoon of water with your hands. This should be a very stiff dough.
GET MY FREE PRINTABLE GINGERBREAD HOUSE TEMPLATE
TO MAKE A SUGAR COOKIE HOUSE: Omit the spices. Replace the molasses and dark corn syrup with 1 ¼ cup of light corn syrup. Follow the remaining directions as written.
TO MAKE A CHOCOLATE HOUSE: Omit the spices. Replace 1 cup of flour with black cocoa powder. Follow the remaining directions as written.
TO MAKE VEGAN ICING: Use 2-3 Tablespoons of aquafaba for each egg white. Err on the side of too little liquid until you can judge the thickness of the icing. It should be very very thick, like a paste.
DECORATING ICING: Once I've assembled my house with the thick icing, I add water 1 tablespoon at a time to the remaining icing to create a consistency good for decorating. Start with 1 tablespoon, divide half of the icing into some bottles. Then add another tablespoon to the remaining icing to create a thin icing and add it to your remaining bottles. Label the bottles and have fun creating your houses!
LEFTOVER ICING: This icing will dry out quickly if left uncovered. If you want to save it for later, transfer the icing to an airtight container. Place a damp paper towel over the top of the icing and put the lid on. Place the container in the refrigerator. It will keep for weeks (we aren't eating it anyways). When you remove it from the refrigerator, use water 1 TEASPOON at a time to get it to the right thickness.
ICING NOTE: The recipe listed above makes enough icing to assemble and decorate 4 small houses. If you use a lot of icing to create a snowy scene, you may want ingredients on hand to make additional icing.