How to Make a Peppermint Gingerbread House

Dusted with sugar snow, this minty white house tastes as good as it looks.

By: Food Network Kitchen

Related To:

Peppermint Palace

Finally, a gingerbread house you'll actually want to eat. From the shutters to the shingles, this peppermint-embellished home was designed with flavor in mind. Learn how to make it with this step-by-step guide from Food Network Kitchen.

Photography by Armando Moutela

Make the Gingerbread

A classic gingerbread dough has flour, brown sugar, molasses and plenty of ground ginger. You can use your own, or try our recipe that you can make up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate (or freeze for up to 1 month).

Get the Recipe: Gingerbread for a Gingerbread House

Divide the Dough in Three

Gingerbread can be sticky to work with because of the molasses, so be sure to chill the dough for at least 2 hours and up to overnight before shaping it. Once the dough is chilled, divide it into 3 equal pieces. A pizza wheel makes a handy cutter.

Roll and Cut the Dough

Make templates for the walls and roof out of stiff paper — a manila folder works well. For the wall panels, cut a rectangle that measures 4 by 7 inches. For the front and back panels of the house (with a peaked roof), cut a template that is 6 inches wide at the base, 4 inches to the roofline and 4 1/2 inches slanted to a peak. The template for the roof panels should measure 4 1/2 by 8 inches.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll each out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. (Keep the other pieces refrigerated.) Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Using the templates, cut the dough with a pizza wheel so you have 2 side panels, 2 roof panels and 2 front/back panels. (You can reroll the scraps to make cookies.) Chill the dough on the baking sheets for 15 minutes.

Bake and Cool the Gingerbread

Bake the gingerbread at 300 degrees F until crisp almost all the way through (the center should still be a little soft), 25 to 30 minutes. Cool the pans 10 minutes on racks, then transfer the panels to racks to cool completely. Make sure the pieces are completely cool before you begin working with them so they don't crack.

Gather the Decorating Ingredients

To decorate a 6-by-7-inch gingerbread house, you will need royal icing, white chocolate candy melts, mini marshmallows, white jelly beans, white gummy bears, clear rock candy, striped peppermint gummy candies, confectioners' sugar and more festive, edible accents of your choosing.

Get the Recipe: Royal Icing for a Gingerbread House

Decorate the Side Panels

Holding a piping bag of royal icing fitted with the small tip in one hand and using your other hand to guide it, pipe 2 windows on one of the side panels. Pipe icing on the back of 4 pieces of peppermint gummy candies and attach them to the sides of the windows for shutters. Create a decorative trim by piping dots along the top of the panel; press a candy-coated chocolate onto every other dot. Repeat with the second side panel. Let the panels set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Decorate the Front Panel

Using the piping bag fitted with the small tip, pipe a double line of icing across the front panel where the roof starts to incline; press on white jelly beans. Pipe a large dot of icing on the back of a green gumdrop and attach it to the front panel just above the line of jelly beans; pipe a small dot of icing in the center of the gumdrop and add a red cinnamon candy. Pipe an icing door; attach a red cinnamon candy with a dot of icing to make a door knob.

Add Windows and Bears

Pipe icing to draw 2 windows; press red cinnamon candies into the corners. Pipe icing on the back of 6 of the gummy bears and attach 3 on either side of the door. Let the panel set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Decorate the Back Panel

Repeat the decorations for the front panel of the house, making the windows larger and omitting the door: Using the piping bag fitted with the small tip, pipe a double line of icing across the back panel where the roof starts to incline; press on white jelly beans. Pipe a large dot of icing on the back of the remaining green gumdrop and attach it to the back panel just above the line of jelly beans; pipe a small dot of icing in the center of the gumdrop and add a red cinnamon candy. Pipe icing to draw the windows. Let the panel set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Add Window Decorations and Bears

Decorate the windows on the back panel by pressing a red cinnamon candy into the icing on each corner. Pipe icing on the back of the remaining 9 gummy bears and attach them along the bottom of the panel in a row. Let the panel set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Tile the Roof Panels

Add the first row of white chocolate wafer tiles: using the piping bag fitted with the small tip, pipe dots on the back of 8 wafers and attach them to the bottom of one of the roof panels. To lay down the "glue" for the next row of wafers, pipe short lines (about 1/2 inch each), starting on the roof panel above each wafer and finishing in the center of each candy melt.

Add More Roof Tiles

For the second row of tiles, place a white chocolate wafer on top of each icing line to affix it to the roof, slightly overlapping the wafers in the first row. Continue piping lines and adding wafers in rows until the entire panel is covered. You should have about 6 rows, depending on the size of your white chocolate wafers.

Dust the Roof Panels

Repeat the tiling process with the second roof panel and icing. Using a fine mesh strainer, dust the panels with confectioners' sugar. Let the panels set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Attach the Front Panel to the Base

Using the piping bag fitted with the large tip, pipe a 6-inch line of icing on the wrapped base (this will be for the front of the house). Holding the front panel of the house by the edges, press the bottom of the panel into the icing. Pipe a line of icing along the inside of the panel at the base to reinforce it. Gently position a can in front of the panel to prop it up.

Attach a Side Panel

Using the piping bag fitted with the large tip, pipe a 7-inch line of icing perpendicular to the front panel. Pipe icing up the side of one of the side panels. Press the side panel into the icing on the base and against the edge of the front panel, creating a corner. Pipe a line of icing along the inside of the panel on the base to reinforce it. Prop up the side with a can.

Attach the Other Side and Back Panels

Repeat the gluing process with the second side panel and the back panel, making sure to pipe icing along all the edges that come in contact with the other panels and the wrapped base. When all 4 panels are up, let the house rest until the icing is firmly set, at least 1 hour.

Attach the Roof

Gently test the house walls to make sure the icing is set and the pieces hold in place. If they give, let the house rest until firm. (If you add the roof too soon the house will collapse.) Using the piping bag fitted with the large tip, pipe icing along the angled roof edges on one side of the house. Hold one of the roof panels in one hand and the piping bag in the other and pipe a thick line of icing along the 2 short edges (where the roof will attach to the angled edge of the house). Press the panel onto the house and hold it in place until the icing sets, about 5 minutes. Repeat with the other roof panel. Let the roof set until completely dry, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Landscape the Yard

Use the piping bag fitted with the large tip to pipe a rectangular walkway in front of the house; line the edges with white sprinkle-coated gummy candies and sprinkle the crushed rock candy down the middle.

Add Snow to the Yard

Use the piping bag fitted with the large tip to pipe icing snowdrifts around the walkway and the base of the house; sprinkle with pearled sugar. Attach a row of sprinkle-coated gummies along the bottom of the side panels by pressing them into the snowdrifts.

Add a Finishing Touch

Use the piping bag fitted with the large tip to pipe icing along the top seam of the house where the roof panels connect; line with a row of mini marshmallows. Dust the house with confectioners' sugar.

Welcome Home!

For more gingerbread house decorating ideas, check out our Chocolate House and Salted Caramel House.

More Step-by-Step Guides: How to Make a Salted-Caramel Gingerbread House

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