My daughter Courtney and I decided to give gingerbread houses a try this year.  This one is her creation and . . .

this one is mine.  Not perfect but not bad either.

The reason we decided to give it a go was because I just recently got some Cookie House Molds from Pampered Chef.

These bad boys made it so easy to make the houses.  It came with both a gingerbread recipe and a royal icing recipe which were both very easy to make and then I had a bunch of Christmas sprinkles so we didn’t bother getting any candy.

I also got the Pampered Chef Christmas Cookie Mold

and made a batch of those which mostly got eaten but we did use the Christmas trees, a snowman, a chimney and the wreaths on our houses.

The best part was the fun we had together making them!

Gingerbread House Dough

1 (16 oz) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

3/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons molasses

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Brush molds with oil.

2  Using a mixer, combine all ingredients.  Press dough into molds.

3  Place molds on cookie sheets and bake 25 minutes until cookies are light, golden brown.  Allow to cool in molds 12 minutes.  Cool completely before assembling.

Royal Icing

4 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons meringue powder (you can get this at a craft store or Walmart)

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

6 – 7 tablespoons water

1  Combine all ingredients in mixer bowl and beat on medium for 5 – 7 minutes or until icing is glossy and holds peaks.  Keep covered with a damp towel as icing dries out quickly.

2  Fill piping bag fitted with small round tip with icing and assemble houses.

I doubled the gingerbread recipe and it filled the house molds twice and the cookie mold once.  I did not double the icing recipe but still had plenty.

recipe from Pampered Chef