How to make a gingerbread house

Always wanted to try out this Christmas classic? Follow our handy guide to help you bake, decorate and assemble, then you’ll be home sweet home. 

1. Cut stencils from baking paper

For perfectly even gingerbread house pieces, use stencils as a guide to help you cut shapes from the dough. Make sure you use a ruler to help you draw accurate shapes on the paper.

Use paper and pencil to cut shapes

2. Get your portions right

For easier rolling and to make sure you have enough dough for each piece of the gingerbread house, cut the dough evenly into 6 portions before you start rolling it out.

Cut the dough into six portions

3. Roll out on baking paper

Handling gingerbread can warp the shapes. Roll out each dough portion on baking paper, then cut out the shapes before transferring the paper (with the dough still on it) to a baking tray.

Roll out dough portion on a baking paper

4. Pipe on a border

The wall and roof pieces will eventually be coated in icing. To keep the icing even and stop it running over the edges, pipe a border of royal icing around the edges of the pieces first and allow it to dry. 

Use royal icing to pipe a border around the edge of the pieces

5. Make the runny icing

For the icing to coat the gingerbread pieces, it needs to spread easily but set hard. Adding the extra lemon juice will thin the icing and make it runny and spreadable, while adding the extra egg white will set it firmly.

Coat the gingerbread pieces with icing sugar

6. Use a glass to hold it up

Royal icing dries hard and will hold the gingerbread pieces together, but it needs a little help to keep the pieces together while it dries. Use a glass or jar to keep the gingerbread pieces upright.

Use a jar to keep gingerbread pieces upright

Our tip: make it in stages! You can bake the gingerbread biscuits up to 2 days ahead and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. Then, simply make the royal icing when you’re ready to assemble.