Holiday How-To: A Schoolhouse Twist On The Classic Gingerbread House

A beloved holiday classic, constructing and decorating a gingerbread house is one of our favorite ways to welcome the holiday season. This year, we thought we'd put our Schoolhouse spin on it and make a gingerbread "room" instead, filled with cookie replicas of all our favorite Schoolhouse products (pretty cute, right?).

The perfect addition to your holiday table, or a festive decoration for the kitchen counter, this sweet little gingerbread room is sure to add a touch of cheer to any space in your home. While one of our favorite ways to enjoy a gingerbread house is to actually eat it, we constructed this one to be more holiday decor than tasty treat by using hot glue to keep things together, rather than going the traditional frosting route. That said, though it might prove to be a bit more difficult, frosting can definitely be used to put everything together, and may be a more kid-friendly option if you plan on recreating this with little ones.

 

Elevated Gingerbread Room

 

Ingredients:

For the gingerbread:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 6 tbsp butter, softened to room temperature 

• 1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tbsp ginger

• 1 tsp cloves

• 1 tsp nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp salt 

• 2/3 cup and 1 tbsp corn syrup

• 1 tbsp vanilla

• 2 1/4 cups flour 

 

For the buttercream frosting:

• 1 cup butter

• 3 to 5 cups powdered sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 4 tbsp heavy cream

 

Directions:

For the gingerbread:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. (Note: one batch of dough will suffice for the room itself, but if you're planning to make the gingerbread furniture as well we recommend doubling the recipe.)

2. Add softened butter and brown sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together until fluffy.

3. Add in spices and mix.

4. Next, slowly mix in the corn syrup and vanilla until fully combined.

5. Once combined, add in the flour 1/3 cup at a time.

6. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place on floured counter to knead until it forms a ball.

7. Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out desired shapes. (Note: for the "room" we cut out three rectangles measuring the same size.)

8. Transfer cut out dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 14 minutes for larger pieces, and 8 minutes for smaller pieces.

9. Let the gingerbread cool on a flat surface so it doesn't lose its shape.

10. Once completely cool, it's time to assemble your room!

 

For the buttercream frosting:

1. Add room temperature butter to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on high until it becomes a whipped consistency.

2. Slowly add 1 cup of powdered sugar and mix to combine.

3. Next, add in salt, vanilla, and heavy cream and slowly mix in remainder of powdered sugar until fully combined. (Note: if you prefer a thicker frosting you'll want to add in the full 5 cups of powdered sugar. For a thinner frosting, use between 3 and a half to four cups.)

4. Add to piping bags and get creative! 

  

For the Plaid Wool Rug in Sky: we simply cut out a rectangular piece of gingerbread and decorated it using two different piping tips. It would be equally as easy and fun to recreate the Ribbed Wool Rug in Ivory, or a stunning creation of your own. The decorating opportunities are endless!

 

 

For the Milo Sofa: to recreate our newest furniture favorite we cut out two identical rectangles for the seat and back, as well as two smaller squares for the arm rests and one long, skinny rectangle the same length as the seat. To attach, simply hot glue (or use frosting!) the seat to the middle of the back piece, and then add the arm rests to the sides and the skinny rectangle as the remaining support at the bottom. Viola! 

 

 

For the Andy Coffee Table: this one may have been our trickiest creation. To recreate this beloved table we used cut out a small circle of gingerbread for the base. Once that was baked and cooled we attached the base to the stroopwafel top using two, glued together vanilla wafers. We recommend using hot glue if you want to try your hand at this miniature, as the frosting might not be strong enough to hold it. To finish it, we simply frosted around the base using white frosting.

 

 

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