Gingerbread House Cookies | Decorating Tips | Restocked!

I've just restocked the Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter Set for the third (and final!) time.   The nice "shapers" in Nebraska have worked double-time over the weekend to get them here!  

I guess I'm not the only one who loves the idea of creating a charming Gingerbread village without having to construct any houses... which is much harder than you might think : )

I've just restocked the Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter Set for the third (and final!) time.   The nice "shapers" in Nebraska have worked double-time over the weekend to get them here!  

I guess I'm not the only one who loves the idea of creating a charming Gingerbread village without having to construct any houses... which is much harder than you might think : )

In this post, I'll walk you through how I decorated these, but the possibilities are endless.  We plan to have them for Emma's birthday for the girls to decorate, but will make them out of sugar cookie dough and have pink and sparkly glitters to use as decorations.  

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

2 cups flour 
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 large egg

Combine dry ingredients.  In a mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar and molasses.  When creamy, add egg.  Slowly stir in dry ingredients.  Chill dough for 20 minutes. 

Roll out the dough, cut shapes.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet, until browned and firm.

For decorating, I used white tiny ball sprinkles, crushed candy canes, snow caps, rosemary sprigs, red hots (cut in half) and raspberry gumdrops.

I used royal icing as my 'glue.'



I cut the snowcaps in half and used them to thatch the roof.

For other roofs, I used royal icing, then put sprinkles on to act as snow.

This house has a "cranberry" wreath and a rosemary bough over the front door.

I cut a slice of the raspberry gum drop, then cut a hole with a straw.

I trimmed off the rosemary until it looked like ever green.

The trees got a dusting of snow, too.

I love how these little red hot halves look like light bulbs!

I would love to see what you create, too!  Please email photos (or share on instagram) and I can share everyone's creativity : )

Shop the entire Holiday Collection, here >

Ginger Spice Cookies | Holiday Cookies

Nothing smells better (or more like the holidays...) than Ginger Spice Cookies baking in the oven.  When we had friends over for dinner over Thanksgiving weekend, I served a couple of these mini cookies with Salted Caramel Gelato.  I like serving cookies and ice cream for a dinner party because it is casual, and not to mention easy.  It isn't an over the top, overly rich, dramatic dessert that sends everyone over the limit, but it is a sort of comfort food dessert that everyone loves.

Our friends that came for dinner texted Mike last night for the recipe, so I thought I'd share this morning!  The recipe is based on the Barefoot Contessa's Ultimate Ginger Cookie recipe, but with a few adjustments.

Ginger Spice Cookies


2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 egg
sugar, for rolling the cookies

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the brown sugar, oil, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add the egg, and beat for 1 minute.  With the mixer still on low, slowly add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Make small balls (1 inch in diameter) with very small ice cream scoop or with a spoon. Roll them into a ball with your hands, then press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar and place them on the sheet pans. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes.  They should look soft when they come out of the oven.

Recipes | Christmas Cookies | Christmas Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Recipe (24 small cookies)

2 sticks of butter
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of cream of tarter
1 tsp of baking soda
1 egg

In your Kitchen Aid fitted with the paddle attachement, whip together butter and powdered sugar.  Add Flour, vanilla, cream of tarter, soda, and egg.  On slow, stir together ingredients just until combined.  Turn the dough out onto a floured board and wrap it with plastic wrap.  Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.  

Unwrap the dough and put it on a floured board.  Be sure to flour the rollin pin, as well. 

Roll out dough until 1/4 inch thick. 

Cut shapes.   Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees just until the edges begin to turn brown - baking time will depend on size and thickness of the cookie.  

Utilize scraps of dough by making them into a ball and re-rolling them and cutting shapes. 

Royal Icing

3 egg whites
4 cups of powdered sugar

In the Kitchen Aid fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until almost frothy.  Add in the powdered sugar and whisk on slow until smooth.  You may need to add more or less powdered sugar or water to achieve desired thickness.  For sugar cookies, you want the icing to be thin enough that it will fall back on itself and smooth itself out, but not too thin so it will run off of the cookie.

Good colors are so important to making professional looking sugar cookies.  Here are my tips :

Red : When making red you need to use a lot of food coloring.  I also add orange to the red to make it less pink.  Add just a touch of green to the red to make it less electric.

Green : I add a little bit of yellow and orange to green to make it more of a natural green.  For christmas, I like to use two shades of green - light and dark. 

Blue : I add a little bit of yellow and orange to blue to make it softer.  It is a more sophisticated looking blue.