Making a Sugar Cookie "Gingerbread" House

 Alec really wanted to try making his own gingerbread house this year without using a premade kit.  We talked about how we never really eat the house since they don't taste very good.  Years ago we gave up on the frosting that comes in the kit and began making our own so we thought perhaps we should try making our our house too.



Only problem is that no one in the house likes gingerbread.  We talked about trying to make the house using a sugar cookie recipe.  Alec was so excited at that idea since he just LOVES sugar cookies.  

He found a recipe online for a simple sugar cookie recipe and mixed up the dough. 


He rolled it out an cut it to the size of our cookie sheets-- we had read that it's easiest to cut the house pieces out after the dough has been baked and is still warm and soft because then you don't have to worry about any of the pieces losing their shape while baking.

I had picked out a simple cookie cutter set on Amazon and as soon as the cookies came out of the oven we began pressing the cutters into them. 

The front, back, and two sides with windows and doors cut into them. 

The roof pieces (the squares and pac-manish shaped pieces were for a chimney we didn't use)


We let the cookies sit at room temperature for about an hour and then stored them in an air tight container overnight.

The next morning Alec mixed up some buttercream frosting (we don't like royal icing even though that is what is normally used).  He filled his piping bag and set to work.


We like to have our candy easily accessible in little glass jars.  


While he worked on decorating his walls I decided to put together the kit I had bought.  I always thought it looked like fun to decorate a gingerbread house but never had the change to really do one.  

We had read that it is supposed to be easier to decorate the house in flat pieces and then assemble so we decided to give that a try this year. Once we each had all our walls mostly done we let them dry and firm up a little before putting the houses together. 




I can't say this was any easier than decorating a pre-assembled house but we both did add a few extra decorations after the houses were assembled.   Alec is so proud of his house and how it came out and I just know all three boys can't wait to start tearing pieces off of it to eat. 








Mine from the kit with a few added candy pieces from our stash:




Have you ever tried making your own gingerbread house?

Linking Up With: Spread the Kindness, Centerpiece Wednesday, 


JENerally Informed









Comments

  1. This is SO impressive! I am in awe AND it looks delicious too- you and Alec always make the BEST things :)

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    1. Thank you! It must have been delicious because it's all gone now!!

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  2. Both of the houses are amazing!! Making a gingerbread house from scratch out of sugar cookies is impressive anyways, but making it look so amazing is even more impressive! I also love your decorating on the kit, it looks so good!

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    1. Thank you! It is so much fun to do and we seem to get a bit better at it each year.

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  3. Impressive! Ours was a lopsided mess!
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

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    1. Thanks; it's not easy to get those walls to stand up straight! We almost had one whole wall cave in under the weight of the roof.

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  4. Those houses are stellar! Hats off to you guys! One of our local towns has a gingerbread decorating contest every year and I've always wanted to enter, but never had. This gives me some motivation to perhaps try next year.

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  5. OK... this is awesome. This is the best way to do it because SUPER YUMMY!!!!
    My friend made them one year with graham crackers... it was quite a mess, but they turned out cute & we devoured them in the end anyways :)

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    1. We've made them with graham crackers and a log cabin house with pretzel rods one year too!

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  6. It looks so cute! What a fun family's art work!

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  7. How fun!! It turned out great!!

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  8. That looks like so much fun and what a great job. Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas.

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    1. Thank you! It was a lot of fun. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas as well, Julie.

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  9. That looks so good!! Merry Christmas!

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  10. Wow, Joanne, how fun! This is such a great idea and your gingerbread houses came out amazing! I wanted to make pop tart houses with the boys this year, but we got too caught up in cookie making that we ran out of time and I ran out of energy! Thanks for sharing and linking up. Merry Christmas to you all!

    Shelbee
    www.shelbeeontheedge.com

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    1. I saw a few of those Pop-Tart houses floating around the internet; I thought they were a great idea!

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  11. This Gingerbread House is so special, great design! Hope you had a great Christmas and thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday,516. We hope to see you back here again soon!
    Miz Helen

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  12. I really love the idea of a sugar cookie house! Both the cookie houses look like so much fun, and so delicious too! Thank you for sharing this wonderful inspiration at The Hearth and Soul Link Party. I'm featuring this post at the party this week ��

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  13. Your houses turned out so awesome! Making sugar cookie dough and cutting it after baking is genius! I have a gingerbread house decorating party every year with my grands, but always buy the kits...I keep thinking I might have to step it up and try the real thing, next year it might just be your sugar cookie houses! Thanks Joanne!
    Jenna

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  14. Awww Joanne your houses are too adorable!! I love seeing Alec doing his creativity and you, too. These are so cute. Happy New Year!

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