I was approached by a member of the recreation department to see if I was interested in baking and assembling 15 gingerbread houses for a program this December. They can be cookie-cutter simple as it is a family project for people to come and decorate. I have never done a gingerbread house before. Can anyone advise me on how many hours it would take to bake and assemble them?

I actually do exactly that (make houses for people to decorate) I just baked 45 houses in 4 hours.. It's really not that bad if you have a big enough mixer and oven.(that's at my rented kitchen) . my home recipe makes 5 houses so that would be 3x the recipe, mix and set in fridge for an hour or so then roll out/cut and bake. From beginning mix to end of bake should just be a few hours, depending on how much you can roll out and bake at a time. ( I do use simple cookie cutter version) I let them sit a day or 2..to dry out a little. Then Royal icing together 15 houses could be done in an hour ( I do a couple hundred this time of yr, so I can glue them pretty quickly). It's really not that hard to do..the tricky part is getting the royal icing thick enough so it holds the pieces together, I don't use any supports- I just royal ice and stick together.

Good Luck.

Thanks gingerbreadtogo! Do you use Antonia74's RI recipe from this site? I have a batch of it mixed up right now and it is pretty thick.

Also, is you gingerbread recipe posted on CC?

I would love to have your recipe. I just recently got approached by someone in my church and I have an idea, but it would be cool to have your recipes. Both the gingerbread recipe and the icing recipe. Thanks.

Country Kitchen SweetArt has already made gingerbread house pieces that you can order and they are pretty cheap.

I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the tip.

Well, that is all fine and good, but if you don't have the money to order as many as you need and pay the shipping when it is easier to make them. Plus costs you less. Second of all it is for my church and if you just don't want to share the recipe please say so. Don't direct me to someone I can order them from. I could put that information into Google and find them, but I wanted to make them as it would be cheaper and I could make more as I would not have to spend the money on shipping. So that is fine. I will just find a good recipe from someone else. Thanks anyway. It is not like I am going to be your competition. I think that decorating Gingerbread houses is fun, but not something I want to do a lot of very often. God Bless you anyway and you have a wonderful day

jules5000, I don't have a good recipe, I just put that website out there because I was ordering from them the other day and I saw that they had them. Sorry if you thought that I was keeping a good recipe from you.

A cute idea for kids is to use Pop Tarts (or the cheaper generic kind.) When I used to do school based therapy, I did them with the older kids and they had a blast. Bought lots of candies that they could easily attach.

I am sorry I responded that way. after I responded and hit the button and went back I realized that I was not responding to the person who had the recipes and I am sorry to them also.

Please forgive me! If that person who had the recipes will forgive me for my response and is willing to share them I would still love to have them. I jumped the gun on this one and again I am very sorry.

No problem jules5000. Have you tried using salt dough instead of gingerbread? It is cheaper than gingerbread. It is just salt, flour and water. I used some last year to make a HUGE gingerbread house.

do people actually eat gingerbread houses or are they just used for decoration? I've always wondered...

I have used salt dough for other things, but this situation for the church is that they would like the children to have something to decorate that they can eat and one that they can take home. I am also considering Graham crackers as I know that there can be some awful cute ones made. I am thinking that If I could find some really fast-drying RI that I would put a bunch of them together so that they could have one "gingerbread" house and one cookie to decorate. If I was not trying to watch my weight I would eat the gingerbread house if I didn't eat anything else besides that. I love that kind of stuff. And I know kids do too. I was sorta thinking that maybe we could do cookies at one table or gingerbread houses and christmas ornaments out of salt dough at another table. That way the kids would only have one thing they could eat and one thing they could keep for memories.

Here is my recipe, like I said it makes 4-5 houses that are about 5x5x7"high. I use basic RI recipe-1 lb sugar, 3 tbs meringue, 6 tbs h20. Antonia's recipe would be fine. You definitely need it kind of thick for the glueing of house and decoratng. Graham crackers are good to, it's hard to find a box without broken crackers..

Gingerbread

2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups molasses
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp ginger and cinnamon
10 cups flour
8 tbs water (varies)

Mix short, sugar,molasses,till blended switch to low speed add dry ing. and water. Water varies according to flour..it should not be a dry dough. I refridg for 1-2 hours then cut and bake. 350 for 10 minutes.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

I would like to make a gingerbread house for my son's catholic school and I want a recipe that can also be eaten. I made one many years ago and i want something that will keep a few weeks and still be edible. If anyone can share, thanks.