How cute are these tiny gingerbread houses? They totally put me in the holiday mood. There’s just something magical about the smell of gingerbread baking. I love opening up all the windows and letting in the cold December air so you get that mix of warm and cold. Somehow the smell of the crisp outside makes warm gingerbread smell even more intensely like the holidays.
Growing up, we never made gingerbread houses at home. I remember one year though, at school, they made everyone their own graham cracker house to decorate and I thought that was the best thing ever!
I love cinnamon-y baking during the holidays and I find myself coming back again and again to gingerbread. I love this gingerbread recipe. It’s my all time favorite because the gingerbread doesn’t come out hard and inedible like lots of other recipes I’ve tried. It’s sturdy enough to build houses out of and tasty enough to eat, so really it’s the perfect combination.
I think gingerbread is kind of my holiday cookie tradition because every year, I make gingerbread. Sometimes they’re corgi-shaped, sometimes they’re tiny mittens, really, they’re just whatever shape I feel like at the time. Gingerbread will forever hold a soft spot in my heart because one year, when Mike and I were kind of sort of on the verge of going out, I gave him a pack of tiny mitten gingerbread cookies and he told me they were his favorite gift that year.
This year I broke out my mini house cutter and cut out an extra door in the back so I could pop them on to mugs of hot cocoa, just like the ones on this blog. There’s template over on that site if you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can just cut out your cookies with a knife. A couple of tips for making these guys:
- The ideal thickness for gingerbread is 1/8 inch. Don’t ask me why, it just works.
- After you cut out your dough, transfer it carefully (using an offset spatula) onto your parchment paper lined baking sheets and pop them in the fridge. The longer the better as the gingerbread won’t be as puffy as it bakes.
- Make the door openings big enough to fit your mugs. You may find that after you bake up the gingerbread, the doors might look impossibly small. If they do, trim the gingerbread while it’s hot, it’ll cut up nicely.
- If you’re going to decorate the roofs, decorate them before you put them on the house. It’s a lot easier to decorate a flat cookie than a sloping roof.
Alright, that’s it! I hope you guys get to making some gingerbread this year. And if you don’t, I’m sure you’ll be making your own favorite holiday cookies. Please let me know what they are because I’m always on the lookout for new cookies :)
hot cocoa and mini gingerbread houses,
xoxo steph
Mini Gingerbread Mug Topper Cookie Recipe
makes about 10-12 houses
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup fancy molasses
- 1 large egg yolk
- royal icing*
Sift the first 8 ingredients into a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, cream the butter with the sugar and molasses until fluffy and light. Beat in the egg yolk. Stir in the dry ingredients until mixed well. Divide the dough into two disks, wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour minimum.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out the cookies, cut with a house cutter (or desired shape) and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. If you have the time, let the cookies chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on size. Let cool completely before icing.
To ice: line the edges of the house with icing. I find that doing the front of the house with a side makes it more stable, so do all of those first, then attach the back of the house with the other side. Let those dry for as long as possible, then attach the roofs.
I used this royal icing recipe and I found that it worked really well. But if you don’t have meringue powder, I’ve also used this one, and it works equally as well.
Love these adorable mini gingerbread houses. They’re so cute all on their own and extra fabulous on the mugs. Loving your Christmas posts in general. Great pics! : )
thank you so much monica! you’re giving me the warm fuzzy feels :)
Here I am one year later…and we made a handful of these mini gingerbread houses recently! It turned out really well and so adorable (despite the mess and imperfections). Who knew making mini gingerbread houses was such a fun husband-wife project! ; )
aww, too cute! so happy you guys had fun!! :)
OMG these mini gingerbread houses are adorable!!!
thanks natalie!!! :)
I cannot wait to make these
These are so cute!!
These are adorable! So funnand creative I must try!
ahh so cute!! i made these (with inspo from not martha too) a few years ago and loved them. i sa that someone put these on gingerbread flavored cocktails recently, and those looked really cool too.
I have two little girls (5 and 7) and they are going to LOVE doing this fun project with me. Holy moly, I can’t wait!!!!!!! These are beyond adorable. Gingerbread is our favorite flavor here too. So glad I saw this post. I also emailed it to my mom and sisters and have to share this on my facebook page.
How long do these keep?
hi clare,
they’re pretty sturdy so they’ll keep pretty much indefinitely but if you’re going to be eating them i’d say about 2-3 days. be sure to keep them in an air tight container though, otherwise they’ll be pretty hard.
I’m going to make these and surprise my family with them on Christmas morning with their own mug and little packets of homemade hot chocolate and mini marshmallows. Can’t wait.
so cute and fun, i love it!