Gingerbread house recipe (for dummies) simplified

(recipie below)
I know these cookies are store bought, but they were just too too cute,
I found them at a store called Big Lots (where excess things are sold until they are gone, you never know what you'll discover there)
BESIDES grandma's can do such things for their grand kids, right?


Back to our gingerbread houses for dummies ...

The DUMMY was me ...many years ago,


With kids, critters and of course all the fun fun fun with all that goes on at farmfunnies,
out of necessity I needed and liked things fast,easy,duplicate able and what else SIMPLE...

So simple a child could do it...umm even me :-),
I also wanted and needed a method that could be created with minimum adult hands on , after all the kids were the ones I did this for. I needed something to happen so THEIR project,minus tears shed when the whole structure collapsed before the little budding gingerbread engineers..WOULDN'T happen.


I will go into some antiquated photo albums and look for some photo's of houses(past) which stood the test of time(until eaten, of course) and add them to this post at a later date..


The other evening on our way home from our fortieth annual Christmas shopping trip
I went into our local bin type grocery store, and purchased an arsenal of ginger bread house supplies, for a couple of our grand kids very 1st annual gingerbread home construction.

Here is a photo of their list, following is my how to mix,bake,and construct your own ginger bread house SIMPLIFIED of course.

So just what was on their list you may be wondering.

They wanted gumdrops for a gumdrop garden,

gummy bears to make a chimney

laffy taffy to make window and door sills

candy canes for a fence

a lifesaver for a door wreath for their hershey bar door ( wow, no need to huff and puff to blow this door down,just nibble your way through it)

chocolate chip cookies for the shingles on the roof

ice cream cones to build icing trees with

mike and ikes for , oops I forgot what,

and of course grandma had to add the bear ,penguins and gingerbread man

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My son just used this recipe and said it did very well and tasted good too.

Since we've had our power "flicker" I won't try to locate my old stand by one.

OLD FASHIONED GINGERBREAD COOKIES

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
5 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves

Mix ingredients together until well combined, wrap in plastic and chill for 3 hours. Roll dough out, cut with floured cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Heat oven to 375 degrees, bake for 8 minuets, until brown. Decorate and enjoy !

below are my house tips

Thanks to Daughter-in-love for e-mailing this recipe to me.

A true labour of love, for this gingerbread recipe collector.

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TIPS: create your pattern: make it a simple rectangle shape out of paper or cardboard

2 4x6 (sides) , 2 4x4 pitched ends, 2 roofs ( I measure the slope of the pitch and add an over hang, and I also have the roof longer than the house sides ( you need a place for frosting icicles to hang)

roll out dough on floured surface, run a spatula under your dough so it isn't sticking to the surface

cut out your house, move to your cookie sheet (you can gently roll it up on your rolling pin to transfer the dough ( or you could gently roll it out on parchment perhaps) be sure to cut out doors and windows (if you want a stained window you can place aluminium foil over your cookie sheet and prepare it as above, then in the window space place some crushed candy's (like life savors, they will melt and become transparent, if you cut a little opening to the floor in back of your house you could even run a Christmas light bulb to add light after your home is assembles and secure)

Bake as above, as soon as your house comes out of the oven place your house stencil over the cookie and trim while it is still warm. let cool before removing from your cookie sheet.

Cover a piece of cardboard with foil and now you are ready to build.

Melt some sugar (about 1/2 cup )in a cast iron skillet (you do have one don't you? well if not a very heavy pan) it will turn dark quickly and it is extremely hot!! Have the kids far away sampling some hot coco or testing the roof shingles, while you do this part.

Hold two sides of house at right angles and with a spoon let the very hot syrup run down the inside corners, it sets almost instantly, repeat until your walls are "raised"

attach the roof, and then poor a bit on your foil to secure the house to your aluminum foundation.

Beat some royal frosting , it will dry to a hard frosting( I use meringue powder, you can find this with cake decorating supplies If you need this recipe ask me)

let the kids frost and decorate as they desire ( be sure to keep a moist paper towel over your bowl of frosting, it dries out quickly)