halloween countdown day 10, haunted gingerbread house and disney's haunted mansion
Ok guys, this is a big how to-post. Gingerbread houses are one of the most magical creations humans have ever thought up. They smell amazing and can create a whole world where everything is delicious, inviting and whimsical. I don’t think they should be regulated to just Christmas! I would live in a gingerbread house if I could, and I modeled this house on some of the adorable Victorian houses in my town. Next year I think I will tackle the Disney Haunted Mansion- and incidentally, the 1960’s record recording of the Haunted Mansion makes a perfect soundtrack for haunted ginger-breading. It is inspirational and you don’t need to see a screen while you are piping!
Notes on construction:
You will want to have pattern pieces on wax paper that you can cut around, and you can keep them for year after year, and the same base house can be used for Halloween and Christmas. I think building a gingerbread house is a really great tradition, all kids like to help out and when it comes to gingerbread design, its a case of more is more! I like that a Halloween haunted house can be a good practice run-thru for a more precise Christmas house later in the year. Mistakes on a Halloween themed house are part of the gore! Drips and rips look like they are meant to be there and only add to the atmosphere. So, go wild, go crooked, go creepy.
The simplest way to create a large gingerbread house is to think of it like two smaller houses put together. This way you can use smaller roof pieces (this roof has 4 smaller pieces, not 2 gigantic pieces, for example). Another note about roofing: make the roof pieces thinner than the body of the body of the house. They are basically just “dead” weight the walls need to hold up (see what I did there?). The template for this halloween house is here. Directions for using the template, along with a helpful checklist to keep track of your pieces as you cut them out, is here. Please download both documents before beginning.
The house pieces themselves are a gingerbread with activated charcoal, for halloween time. I like the mix of doughs so that some of the house is still yummy to eat. Since no one will be eating the activated charcoal pieces, I feel fine using hot glue for the base. Feel free to just hot glue the whole house if it means you can focus more on the fun decorating part with your family and not be stressing about slippage, drying time and tears (I mean both versions of that homonym!) For Christmas I adhere (omg, I can’t even stop myself at this point!) to a more traditional 100% edible design and use hot sugar glue- and I will share that process in a future post! For any pieces connected using royal frosting you will need a way to stabilize them while they dry and harden (ideally, over night). Coffee mugs work nicely or any other tallish and substantial, sturdy prop. People also use straight pins to hold things together while they dry, but that is a bit too scary for me with kids in the house.
Your windows can just be left empty or filled with sugar glass, or if you like a stained glass look, crush up jolly ranchers for colorful windows. To get a perfectly melted-in window, cook your cookies at least 6-8 minutes depending on size, and then add some broken sugar glass. If you add it before pre-baking a bit it can get filled with crumbs, which is ok for Halloween spooky houses, but is not a nice look for Christmas gingerbread houses. I like the glass to look clean, which is weird because I usually love crazy messes.
After the pieces have cooled and the glass has hardened, I like to add some black frosting to the candy eye decorations and attach them to some random windowpanes- you never know who might be staring out of the haunted house on the corner!
To make your piping job way easier add your vines, window shutters, spiders, shingles, whatever else you want to pipe on your walls and roof BEFORE you assemble the house! Let your piping dry, preferably overnight, and then tackle building the house. It is a lot tricker piping against gravity, but if you get too excited to build the house, it is not the end of the world, especially for a goopy, slimy Halloween house where drips are totally part of the atmosphere!
For a doll house version, I like to keep one wall made out of cardboard since little hands get sticky enough not rubbing up against frosting and cookie walls. Just make the piece the right width and height to match up with your other walls and cut out an arch that they can use to put dolls or doll cookies in and out of the house. You can paint this piece, or better yet have the little hands decorate the doll entrance how they see fit. I also left off a piece of roof for the doll house version so dolls could have access to every part of the building.
Notes on decorations: My youngest son has always been fascinated by venus fly traps, so this house is a wink to those crazy meat eating plants of the jungle! I like to imagine a creepy but warm looking haunted house where man eating plants protect the witchy family casting spells inside. An upcoming Halloween countdown post will share the wickedly easy secret to creating this totally edible, fierce floral monster. They make great cupcake and brownie toppers.
The spiderwebs are just melted marshmallows- zap in the microwave for 15 seconds and pull apart with your fingers, it is super sticky and as it cools it will ball up, so move fast, spread and pull and attach, then wash your hands!
For the smaller piped details like the vines I used the royal icing recipe that I am obsessed with.
The larger piping is a buttercream frosting with 3 tablespoons active charcoal to get that deep, true black.
Halloween is the time for candy, so pile it on, make it into monsters, hide it for good ghosts and ghouls to find and use it to add color and texture to your design. I love the idea of candy corn pumpkins on the porch and Reese’s pieces garden rocks.
After the season is over, steal another Christmas tradition and hold a gingerbread cracking ceremony. In Sweden there are a couple good gingerbread superstitions about the breaking of the cookies. At the end of the yule-time, the gingerbread house is broken down to release the Christmas spirits until the next year. Also, if you make a wish and break a piece of gingerbread in the palm your hand, if it breaks in three your wish will be granted! I think Halloween spirits would love to be released at the end of the month, too and I bet they would grant wishes in very exciting ways. Good luck! Please share your creations by tagging me on Instagram, or leave a comment with your own ideas!
As you relax after making your masterpiece, check out the movie version of Disney’s The Haunted Mansion! Who knows, Madam Leota might just movie into your house while you watch!
Call me a witch- Gingerbread for cookies or houses
Ingredients
- 6 c flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tsp ground ginger
- 4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves or all spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 12 tbs butter softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 c dark molasses
- 1 tbs water
- 1.5 c brown sugar
Instructions
- whisk flour, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl
- blend butter with sugar in a stand mixer with paddle attachment until fluffy
- blend in one egg at a time, mixing well between. blend in molasses and water. mix well
- add flour mixture one cup at a time on low until combined
- switch to kneading hook attachment and knead for a couple minutes until well mixed and not sticky.
- refrigerate for a couple hours or up to 3 days, let it rest at room temp 10 minutes before rolling out
- roll out on parchment paper and cut out any shapes you like
- bake at 350 for 8-15 minutes depending on size of shape
Notes
royal icing
Ingredients
- 6 c confectioners sugar sifted!
- 3/4 c water
- 1/3 c meringue powder
Instructions
- with mixer on low, drizzle water over confectioners sugar
- mix on low for about 7 minutes, do not put mixer any higher than low or you get loads of air bubbles
- add coloring as needed, if you want thicker frosting, add more sifted confectioner sugar in 1/4 c increments
buttercream frosting
Ingredients
- 1 c butter
- 4 c confectioners sugar sifted
- 2 tbs milk, cream or water
- 1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
- 1 pinch salt
- corn syrup, optional, see note below
Instructions
- blend the butter on high until creamy with paddle attachment
- set mixer to medium low and add the sugar and salt, drizzle in the wet ingreients and blend until very well mixed and smooth (about 5 -7 minutes)
- spoon into piping bag with tip of your choice
Notes
broken glass sugar
Ingredients
- 2 c sugar
- 1 c corn syrup
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 3/4 c water
Instructions
- bring all ingredients to boil, stirring until boiling sugar dissolves
- reduce heat to medium high and wait for the temp to rise to 290- 300 degrees, any less and it won't harden, you dont need to stir at this point, just let it do its thing
- immediatly pour molten sugar into a rimmed sheet pan coated and tilt it to coat the entire pan
- let it cool (for at least 2 hours), then crack it by slamming the sheet pan, to get pieces of broken, delicous "glass" to decorate all your morbid halloween confections! you must line where you insert the glass with red food coloring for maximum effect.