Gingerbread House

(Makes 1 and a half sets of houses)

Dry Ingredients:

• 6 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

*Tip: If you’re making several houses/batches, mix and put dry ingredients into a gallon sized Ziploc and repeat. Then when you’re ready to bake, you’ve got all your bags of dry ingredients already measured out ready to mix in with wet ingredients.

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Crisco
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup dark molasses

Using a mixer with paddle attachment, mix Crisco on low speed until fluffy. Add sugar until blended, then add one egg at a time. Add molasses and mix on high speed for one minute. Gradually add dry ingredient mixture on low speed until it forms dough. Press dough into gingerbread house molds, or you can put the dough into an airtight gallon sized Ziploc and refrigerate until ready to bake. Place the house molds onto baking sheets, press the dough into the molds (ungreased), and trim off excess dough with a knife.  Cover with wax or parchment paper and use a rolling pin to smooth out dough. Refrigerate for a couple hours.  This makes the dough more solid and less cake-like.
When ready to bake, remove wax or parchment paper and bake on baking sheets at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven midway and tap them on the counter to get the air out. Continue baking. Then after 15 minutes, take them out again and use a paper towel to press down on the gingerbread. That’s when I determine whether they need a couple more minutes to bake.  Then cool on cooling racks. Then put house pieces into airtight gallon Ziploc until ready to assemble.

*Tip: I leave mine out on the counter uncovered overnight to harden even more.  I like my houses to be super sturdy.  I usually start making my houses 2 weeks ahead of time.  And I always make at least 2 extra houses in case pieces break during assembly.