Our Student Engagement Ambassador, Lara, explains the history of gingerbread houses and provides you with a step by step guide of how make your own gingerbread house.
The History of Gingerbread Houses
Gingerbread houses are built all over the world around the Christmas period, but they originally came from Germany in the 16th century. Traditionally the cookie houses were decorated with foil and gold leaf which became associated with Christmas tradition. They became increasingly popular when the Brothers Grimm wrote Hansel and Gretel, where the story line is based around the main characters stumbling upon a house made entirely of treats in the middle of the forest. It is still not clear whether gingerbread houses originated as a result of this fairy-tale or vice versa.
Nuremberg in Germany was recognised as the ‘Gingerbread Capital of the World’, which led to gingerbread being spread across Europe, where it was first taken to Sweden. In the 17th century only professional gingerbread bakers were permitted to bake gingerbread with the only exceptions being Christmas and Easter. It is now a Christmas tradition in many parts of Europe to make and assemble a gingerbread house before Christmas which can then be decorated.
How to build a gingerbread house
Coming from a German family, making a gingerbread house has always been a tradition in our household. We usually buy the ready-made gingerbread house assembly kits from places such as Ikea (this year I found one in Tiger in Reading Town Centre) to then assemble and decorate at home. So below is my step-by-step guide to creating a successful gingerbread house:
One tradition we have taken from the German way of making the house is to use a sugar syrup to stick the gingerbread together as this holds much better than icing. I heated caster sugar and a bit of water in a pan which melted the sugar into a syrup where I could then dip the sides of the gingerbread house in to stick together. It is useful to have a helper for this part to hold it in place as it cools fairly quickly but is also very very hot so quite easy to burn yourself!
Step 1: Melt sugar and water into syrup
Step 2: Dip edges of gingerbread into syrup to stick together
I assemble the sides first, then the roof and lastly the chimney. After about 5 minutes the sugar should have cooled and set so it should be nicely assembled. Of course you can decorate the sides first and then put the house together if you’d like a neater looking house but our traditional way is to decorate after the assembly. This year I used a mixture of normal icing sugar with hot water and also bought a white chocolate icing pen. The icing traditionally represents snow so I stuck with the white theme but any colour icing pen also works.
Step 3: Assemble sides, then roof, then chimney
Step 4: Wait for sugar to set
Step 5: Use icing or chocolate to decorate
After assembly is time for the imagination to kick in! We use different sprinkles and chocolate and sweets each year to make a pattern or just add as much as possible. The icing sugar can create a good drip effect to represent the melting or falling snow or just be used as glue of sweets or chocolate (smarties in our case). You can create a theme for the whole gingerbread house or we chose to decorate each side differently. I like to have mine out on display in the kitchen for a few days before slowly eating each part!
Step 6: Get creative with decorations
Step 7: Admire and eat!
This is a fun activity to try with family or friends which fits well within the student budget! Hopefully this has given you some tips and tricks if you’d like to decorate your own, or some pretty questionable decorating inspiration.
If you are interested in creating your own Gingerbread house, why not enter the 2021 Gingerbread Competition. It is an opportunity to show off your creative skills and work with others. The deadline for entry is 20 December so be sure to sign up as soon as possible as there are limited spaces.
I hope everyone has a good Christmas and stays happy and healthy.
by Lara Brittain