A guest post from our girl Lauren, who is basically a mini Martha, and continues to amaze me with her skillz. This post is brought to you by Among Friends. While we were compensated for the post, all opinions - as always - are our own. Hope you enjoy. xo Candace
Don't forget to enter to win our Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway! And you can now pre-order your spring YBC Mantra Box! And, exciting news - we just launched our YBC Video Bundle packages over the weekend! Also, we are going to Vegas and hosting a workshop - you're invited!
My favorite part of the holidays was decorating gingerbread houses that my mom would bake from scratch, design and assemble herself. I loved that the gingerbread house always ended up reflecting each and every person in our family - we’d all decorate it together, all adding our personal touches. To me, the holidays are all about spending time with loved ones and spreading love and what better way to spread love around the holidays than with a little baking?!
Listen, I get it - buying a gingerbread house kit from the store is super convenient - almost too convenient, actually - but doing it from scratch at home is a lot easier than you might think. Among Friends was nice enough to send us some of their Shane’s Sweet-n-Spicy Molasses Ginger Cookie Mix recently and with it being so close to the holidays I couldn't help but jump at the opportunity to whip up {oh. speaking of whip - funny story coming up} a gingerbread house in the office. I mean, who doesn’t love a little holiday cheer in the workplace?!?!
I really love all of the Among Friends baking mixes because they're Certified Gluten Free, handcrafted with whole grain oat flour, have absolutely no gums or fillers and are non-GMO project verified - what more could you ask for?! Plus they made sure their mixes didn't compromise great taste for healthy REAL ingredients like most gluten free mixes out there today.
Pin now, and watch our tutorial on how to make a gingerbread house
What you’ll need:
- 2 packages of Among Friends Shane’s Sweet-n-Spicy Molasses Ginger Cookie Mix
- 1 organic egg
- 1 tsp organic pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter (softened)
- Gingerbread house template (Here is the template I used)
- for the icing:
- 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 2 egg whites
- for decorations:
- Peppermints, licorice twists, assorted wafer rolls, pastel mints
First, take Among Friends Sweet-n-Spicy Molasses Ginger Cookie Mix and mix that together with 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla and ⅓ cup soft unsalted butter (per bag). Set the dough in the freezer or refrigerator for about 2 hours or so. It should be cold/firm enough to hold shape.
Next, make sure you have your house template ready to go. Roll out the dough and carefully cutout each piece using a knife or pizza roller, like I did. You should have 2 sides (front and back), 2 walls, 2 roof pieces and 4 smaller pieces for the chimney. I didn’t save the cutout for the door for mine but feel free to do so! Bake at 350 degrees on a greased baking sheet for about 7-9 minutes depending on how thick you rolled the gingerbread. I rolled mine to be about ¼ inch thick so my baking time was more towards the 9 minute mark. You’re going to want to let your gingerbread set overnight or for about 12 hours. This is important if you don’t want your house to crumble while you’re either assembling or decorating it #experience
Then, prepare a stand or platform for your house. I used a piece of cardboard and tinfoil but wax or parchment paper work even better if you have that on hand. You just want something to build the house on so that you’ll be able to pick it up and move it easily without compromising the structure of the house. If you’re an expert in the kitchen you’ll have no problem whipping up this homemade ‘glue’ frosting before assembling the house. Mix together with an electric mixer or kitchenaid: egg whites, confectioner's sugar and cream of tartar until light and fluffy. Store bought frosting will hold up, too - just not nearly as well. WARNING: If you decide to go with the homemade icing recipe don’t attempt to hand beat/whip the icing until it gets fluffy. We didn’t have an electric mixer in the office so I hand did it by hand and it took me exactly 58 minutes - I was sore for two days #IwishIwasjoking Although, Candace and I got a few good laughs out of it that’s for sure.
Now, you’re going to assemble the base of your house. Take the sides of your house and place them so you know how they’ll piece together. Please be mindful of keeping the baked/down side of the cookie inwards. Also, it will be super helpful to have a few things on hand to use as stability/props for the walls. I used a few canned goods and mason jars. Take your frosting and line every edge of each piece and carefully piece together. As you place the walls together use the canned goods as props to keep the walls from falling outwards. The frosting will harden completely in 4-6 hours. Let the base sit for at least that long so it doesn’t fall apart when you’re applying the roof. again, #experience. Once the base has hardened, place the roof on and assemble the chimney very carefully! Let this sit for about 4 hours.
Lastly, you’re ready to decorate! Yay!