Tiny gingerbread houses on a pillow of vanilla ice cream served in a glass.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Christmas
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cooking Time per batch 4 minutesminutes
Author Karen Bertelsen
Equipment
Stand Mixer (optional)
Ingredients
Gingerbread
½cupshortening
½cupbutter softened
½cupsugar
1teaspoonbaking powder
1teaspoonground ginger
½teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonground cinnamon
½teaspoonground cloves
¼teaspoonsalt
1egg
½cupmolasses
1tablespoonvinegar
3cupsflourall-purpose
chopped pistachios
Royal Icing
1 ½cupspowdered sugar
1egg white
½teaspoonclear vanillaIf you use regular vanilla extract which is brown, your white icing won't be pure white.
Instructions
Beat the shortening and butter on medium for 30 seconds. (whether you're using a hand mixer or a stand mixer) Add the sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in the egg, molasses, and vinegar. Finally, beat in the flour little by little. Divide the dough in half, form into 2 discs, cover and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, (190 C). Roll out one disc of dough to ⅛" on parchment paper into a rectangular shape. Bake the first batch for 5 minutes and the second batch for 4 minutes. (the second batch will cook more quickly) If the edges start to brown remove the gingerbread from the oven. You want the gingerbread to be a bit soft once it has cooled, not hard.
Cut the gingerbread rectangles into several 1" strips. Cut those strips into the sides, front and back of your tiny gingerbread houses. Glue together with royal icing.
Cut gingerbread rectangles for the roof pieces. They should be slightly deeper than the house itself so they overhang. If the roof seems too thick, shave off some of the thickness of the gingerbread. You can carefully cut the roof piece in half to make it half as thick.
Once the royal icing has set on the house, you can glue the roof on with royal icing as well.
Finish the houses with chimneys, steeples, or you can even create little mid century modern houses. Just let your imagination run wild.
Store the houses in an airtight container in the fridge.
When serving day arrives, spoon a good amount of vanilla ice cream into the bottom of a glass and let it melt a tiny bit. Add your gingerbread house on top of the ice cream, and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Serve with a spoon.