Mid-Century Gingerbread House
Every holiday season, I take on an epic craft or baking project that I have absolutely no time for. I’m not sure why. I must be harbouring an inner brown sugar masochist.
A few years back, I made a gingerbread house. It was a dark, spiralling journey that almost cost me my marriage. This year, I decided to make another gingerbread house, but learn from my mistakes and go for a simpler version. I also wanted to make a mid-century house. After all, not every gingerbread house needs to look like Hansel and Gretel’s dream home.
I found examples online, but nothing that spoke to me. Then I remembered a work colleague introduced me to Putz houses a few years back. (Thanks, Jennifer!) Taking their name from the German word putzen (to decorate), Putz houses are vintage cardboard miniatures. My family had a set of them as part of our holiday décor, along with this nativity set which I still put out every year.
I wondered: Could I make a Putz house from gingerbread?
I came across a website, Retro Renovation, that offered great ideas and free downloadable patterns. I enlarged my pattern to 150% and glued the pattern pieces to cardboard for tracing.
I wanted a turquoise house and tinted my icing with green and blue food colouring. I opted to keep the roof plain, aside from a blanket of snow, and made the chimney with chocolate pebbles. For the windowpanes, I crushed clear candies, sprinkled them inside the frames and re-baked the pieces for 10 minutes at 300 degrees.
I also made the front walkway squares by melting candies and thought the bubbled edges created a nice effect. So, rather than piping icicles for the eavestrough, I applied the melted candy edges.
A few gingerbread house tips I’ve learned over the years:
Cut multiple pieces if you have extra dough. Things don’t always fit right and decorating can go wrong. So back up pieces come in handy.
It’s easier to decorate as much as you can before the house is assembled.
Position your house at chest level when decorating. After finishing mine, I needed to visit another house – the house of a chiropractor. My back was killing me.
If you cover the snow with coconut like I did, it will smell nice. It will also result in you picking up bits of coconut off the floor for the entire holiday season.
Decide early if you want your house to be edible. If you don’t intend to eat it, you can cheat with glue. Unless you like eating glue.
The most important things are to plan and give yourself time. Walk away and come back to your house the next day, rather than try to get everything done at once. And avoid YouTube videos showing Rembrandts with royal icing. I could never compete with those experts, but I reminded myself I wasn’t trying to win the Mid-Century Gingerbread House World Championship. If that even exists.
I hope this inspires you to make your own gingerbread house, whether a traditional or a mid-century version. Have fun and be patient – two things we all need to experience more, especially at this time of year.
Happy Holidays!
