It is that time of year when life is very busy, but oh so much fun! We have been all over the place in the past few days having an early Christmas with part of our family. Then we enjoyed decorating cookies and a gingerbread house with friends. Cut out cookies may take some extra time compared to normal drop cookies, but they are so worth it when you see the look on your children’s faces.
The best part about these recipes, is that they are delicious before the addition of royal icing. I could eat them plain all day long. They are dangerous, if you don’t have people to decorate them and take them home! If you have time, put together a group of family or friends, and set up your table for cookie decorating or gingerbread house decorating. It is so much fun! This is always a great time for my daughter, since she is homeschooled, and loves spending time with her friends. It has become a tradition in our house!
Gingerbread House
The first decorating party we had, was for the gingerbread house. Last year, we just did gingerbread cookies to decorate, but I decided to change it up a bit this time around. My daughter has two families in town that she is really good friends with, so we have started this Christmas tradition of cookie decorating. These two families plus my daughter meant that we would have six kids decorating. I decided to make three gingerbread houses, so each family could decorate one, and take it home.
This was a bit of an undertaking for me, since I normally only make one gingerbread house each year for my daughter and I to decorate. I normally use the template that I print off of the Pin that I got the recipe from. Then I cut around it to get my shapes for the A-frame style of gingerbread house. The idea of making three regular style gingerbread houses, had me concerned. What if they fall apart? Will the cookie break? What if it just doesn’t work out, and I have to start over with a new idea?
Anyways, even with all my concerns, it worked out better than I thought it would! This recipe is so simple, and delicious! Again, I did find it on Pinterest, and it has worked for me for the past 3 years, so I definitely recommend it. She has so many great tips in her post that will help you make the perfect gingerbread house, with very little difficulty. Please check out the recipe below!
Tips and Tricks for Cutting Out a Gingerbread House
In the Pinterest link above, she shares many helpful tips, but I want to share my personal experience with you. First of all, I have use the provided A-frame templates for the past few years, and it works great. It does take a while longer though, because you have to cut them out with a knife very carefully. This year, since I was making three houses, I decided to find some cookie cutters to make the process quicker. I am so glad that I did! It worked out perfectly, and the houses came out so cute! Here are the cookie cutters I purchased: https://www.target.com/p/7pc-christmas-gingerbread-house-cookie-cutter-silver-wondershop-8482/-/A-88084548?ref=tgt_adv_xsp&AFID=google&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000086347363&CPNG=PLA_Dining%2BShopping_Traffic_Local_Traffic%7CDining_Ecomm_Home&adgroup=SC_Dining_Catch+All&LID=700000001170770pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=g&device=c&location=1027744&targetid=pla-543192200298&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAvoqsBhB9EiwA9XTWGUUsvbozk1IT1skaV4hOLyC8Mi-ACLi6jBltsDVayDgC6xpWUNPu-RoCt1EQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
A very helpful tip that was provided in the post with the recipe, is how to cut out gingerbread without it breaking. It is such a helpful tip, that I want to share it with you here as well. It will save you so much frustration. First, you want to pull out a piece of parchment paper the size of your baking pan. Then roll out some gingerbread dough onto the parchment paper. Once it is to the thickness that the recipe asks for, you can cut out your shapes. Do not try to move your cut out cookie to the pan. Instead you want to remove the excess dough from the parchment paper, and then slide your parchment paper onto your pan. It is so simple, and helps so much!
How Long To Bake Gingerbread
I have come to the conclusion, that baking time for gingerbread is personal preference. For these houses, I kept them in the oven for a longer time than what the recipe suggested. Since children were going to be decorating them, I didn’t what any chance of them breaking. By baking them longer, they became much harder. Most of the time, we just end up eating the candy off of our gingerbread house instead of eating the gingerbread itself. It still tastes delicious. The cookie just has more of a snap to it.
If you decide to make cookies to decorate as well, you will want to bake them for a little less time or the same time that is provided in the recipe. The cookies, if done at the perfect time, will come out soft and delicious! I like making some small cookies that can be used as decorations for the gingerbread house too. This allowed the kids to have fun decorating their house, but still get to snack on a cookie they decorated.
Gingerbread House Royal Icing
This royal icing recipe, has been used every year since I started making gingerbread houses with my daughter. It is a great glue for houses, and works perfect for decorating as well. For some reason this year, it didn’t come out quite right. It was too thick, so I added a little bit of milk, and it still seemed to work well as a glue. If you have a piping bag, you can put the icing in, and start to glue the edges of the house together. As an alternative, you can put it into a sandwich bag or larger, cut a small piece of the corner off, and use it as your piping bag. Please check out the recipe below!
Putting them together went smoother than I thought it would! The icing held each piece very well. I did enlist help from my husband just to hold the two roof pieces on, so that I could add icing to the peak of the roof without them falling off. He didn’t have to hold them very long, before they were stuck. I left the houses to dry over night, but they probably would have been ready to decorate within the hour.
It’s Time to Decorate!
First, you can start by laying a table cloth over your table. This will be a messy decorating party, so whatever you can do to make clean up easier, the better. I made three stations for each gingerbread house. Each station had a couple cups of candy and three different colors of icing. I use store bought tubes of cookie icing for these parties. They are so much easier to use for children, and less work for me. Then I add a plate of sprinkles, a few plates of larger candies, and a few plates of cookies. Now it is time to decorate! I hope you and your children have the best time!
Here are a few pictures of the beautiful houses the kids made!
The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe!
The next decorating party was for a homeschool group that we just joined. Since my daughter is no longer going to public school two days a week for one class, we decided to look for something else fun to do. For this month, the group decided to meet up for some Christmas cookie decorating. I volunteered to make 48 cookies, and this is the simple recipe that I used. We had the best time!
This recipe is my go to recipe for cookie decorating. It is very simple, and the dough does not need to be refrigerated before cutting the cookies out. It is always frustrating when your child really wants to decorate cookies, but you have to wait for an hour or two while the dough chills before even getting to bake the cookies. This recipe mixes up quickly, and rolls out easily. You only need a little bit of flour to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin and surface. Once the dough is rolled out to the desired thickness, cut out all of your cookies! Place the cookies on your pan on a piece of parchment paper.
I end up baking them for one minute longer than what the recipe says, because I want to make sure they are done. By the time you are done cutting out another set of cookies for another pan, your cookies will be ready to come out of the oven and cool. This goes so quickly, and the cookies are incredible! Make sure they stay on the pan to cool. This will help them continue to bake, and become strong enough to be moved from the pan onto a cooling rack. I don’t know the science behind this, but somehow the cookies come out perfectly, exactly the same shape and size as they were when they went in. Enjoy them plain, or decorate them with your children!
Merry Christmas!!
I know that some of you are probably on break right now for the holidays, so I hope you are able to take this time to relax and get reenergized for the New Year! This week we are reading through the true story of Christmas using the Bible and also the book “Christmas Love Letters from God” written by Glenys Nellist. From today’s reading, we have learned about the journey that Mary and Joseph took on the road to Bethlehem. It was a very long journey, and when they finally made it to Bethlehem, there was only a small stable for them to stay in. God made sure that they made it to Bethlehem and to that one little stable that was available for them to rest in. Today’s love letter from God states, “I went in front of Mary and Joseph to guide them all the way to Bethlehem. I will lead you in your life too. Wherever you travel, I will go before you.”
Remember this promise from God as you enter into this New Year. He will always guide you, and be ready for you wherever you go. All you need to do is listen. I pray that all of you are able to spend time with family and friends over the next few weeks, celebrating the birth of baby Jesus. We will be traveling to my hometown for Christmas this year, so I am taking a break from my blog until after the New Year. Have a very Merry Christmas, and a wonderful New Year friends!!!