How do you make a gingerbread house?

[IWantAnotherBaby]

OK, perhaps a silly question, but I don't want to buy a kit with pre-baked gingerbread, and what I'm getting at is:

-Do you use house-shaped cutters, or moulds, or what?
-If so where do you buy them?
-Do you have any good links with instructions etc?
-What gingerbread recipe do you use?

I really want to spend a day/ weekend baking a house with the children (and for this to become a family tradition), so any advice would be great. Thanks!

The latest Great British Bake off book has a recipe, instructions and templates.

You trace the templates onto greaseproof and then use them to form the dough or cut it once baked etc.

I got my copy in tesco for £8

hth

Before you do the templates practice getting the thickness correct , just bake some and do some simple shapes . Then you can get the dough even and it will not bubble or become uneven.

We actually do 2 one baked ( me) and then one pre bought as it is easier and quicker with the dds who just actually want to stick the sweets on.

Ooh, good question, I was mulling over doing one this year too!

How long do the houses last for, nibbly DCs aside?

Also, if you want to cut right to the designy/buildy bit, I've seen packs of chilled gingerbread dough in both Ikea and Sainsbos.

I always buy a kit, DD enjoys the decorating part, the rest always sounds fiddly to me.

We do other less technical festive baking together like the Christmas Cake and the mincemeat and then mincepies.

I've just bought the Lakeland set which looks like it will do the job-haven't even thought of the recipe yet!

Sainsburys dough is amazing

I bought a set of cutters in the January sales, which supposedly creates walls that will 'clip/slot' together. I've not used it myself, but I'm an eternal optimist and want to believe it will work

gingerbread house - cutters for walls which slot together?!

Gotta to be worth a try, too many years spent so far with gloopy icing and tins of beans propping up either side of each wall!

IKEA used to sell the pieces of gingerbread for the house - you "just" had to glue them together with icing and decorate it.

I have every kind of admiration for those bakers on the GBBO

Oops, just seen you don't want to buy a kit

There is one on the BBC good food website with the templates to print out and trace onto greaseproof. I managed it last year even though I am not usually great on the sort of cooking where appearances count.

bigTillyMint - Ikea also have their gingerbread kit in already, as well as the chilled dough.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4900/ I did that one last year! It was lovely, and not too difficult. It lasted ages, well we had it out for a week but it was driving the dog mad so we ended up chucking what was left.

I've got bigger and better plans this year!

I do this every year and after baking my own gingerbread and cutting templates etc have repeatedly bought IKEA gingerbread kits over past few years. DC want to decorate and stick together. The whole baking thing is too much.

ooh do Ikea now do chilled dough? might do that too.

thanks hazel