For our first ever gingerbread creation competition, we placed second! Although it may not be very creative or out of the box thinking, this farm family went with the big red barn. I had a really hard time finding a template or directions so I thought I would give some here.
If you would like the template I made to create the cookies, you can download a printable version here:
I grabbed the recipe from this site for the gingerbread house pieces but I drastically cut the time back after the first pieces were basically black. So watch your cookies carefully and when they start to brown, take them out! Also, the softer the butter, the better the cookie. Room temp didn't make as good a cookie
I used a variety of frostings for this bad boy. I couldn't decide between Royal Icing (my new found favorite thing), buttercream frosting or the store bought can of icing. But I found that each had a useful element.
For the Royal Icing Recipe: https://owlbbaking.com/royal-icing/
Royal Icing hardens and is great for those little cookies you see that are perfectly decorated and people even paint on them now. It's also great for kid decorating! We did a whole cookie decorating night with our little 4 and under friends and it was a blast. See that post later but here are some pics.
Buttercream Frosting Recipe: https://www.wilton.com/buttercream-frosting/WLRECIP-41.html
Buy that can from City Market! No shame!
We started with the Royal Icing and watered it down to where it was pretty soupy. We poured that onto the tinfoil we had wrapped around and taped to the plywood base. We spread the icing to almost the edges and just coated the whole thing with a thin layer of icing. I wish we would have sprinkled shaved coconut flakes at this point but we did not and after I realized we didn't, the frosting had already hardened. Oh well!
Then we got the ice cream cones for the trees going so that our little 4 year old could decorate them and be occupied. I used green buttercream frosting and a piping bag to cover the trees and John placed the red m&ms.
We laid out the gingerbread house pieces out and spread the buttercream frosting all over them before putting the twizzlers on there. Here I think I would have preferred the royal icing just because it looked a little less professional to have the frosting peek out so much.
Once all that was laid and dried for a while, we started to assemble the house.
IMPORTANT TIP: make sure you put the front and back of the barn pieces on the INSIDE of the side pieces instead of edge to edge. This will help your roof pieces sit on top of the front and back barn pieces instead of just barely reaching the edges. OR in the cooking process, make your roof pieces a little longer if you want more overhang.
We used the icing out of the can put into a piping back to "glue" the ginger barn pieces together. Prop some wafers or candy canes to hold the sides while it drys if you don't have the patience to hold them for a little bit. Let those dry completely before you try and put the roof on.
Don't cry or freak out if the house starts to look like it's going to crumble. Haha, kind of joking, kind of not. I freaked out cuz I got the roof on and then it fell in. Reference the important tip above. I went to bed and my husband got it to stay with a boatload of frosting.
We used that same frosting on the roof when it had dried overnight and I put Cinnamon Toast crunch on for the roof. Start at the bottom if you want an actual shingle looking roof.
Then have fun adding pieces! We did a cookie silo, a few more trees, a fence with candy canes and pretzels, some decor to the barn, some vanilla wafer hay bales (rice crispy would have been better), and a couple of quick fondant cows. I did make a tractor but that was kind of iffy. If you want those directions I suppose you could message me.
I am so glad we did this and this is definitely a new family tradition!!!
If you have any questions, give me a comment below!
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