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Gingerbread House Royal Icing {Video} & KitchenAid 7-Quart Mixer {Giveaway!}

pink-gingerbread-house

6 batches of my gingerbread recipe…

4 batches or 4 kg of royal icing…

and goodness knows how much candy later…

is what it took to make the 7 simple and whimsical gingerbread houses & gingerbread dollhouse facade I had planned to make this year.

I’m so happy I just managed to get them all done!

They’re why I haven’t posted in a while, but I wouldn’t have managed to even make them as fast as I did without my new, 7-quart bowl-lift KitchenAid mixer.

Sigh. It is a thing of beauty.

Not only is it pretty to look at, it’s pretty powerful too. It had no problem mixing the 6 batches of gingerbread I mentioned earlier. Amount-wise, with this mixer, I only had to make the dough twice! (3 batches at a time). For the royal icing, I only had to make 2 double-batches and still have leftover icing which I’ll use for decorated cookies.

To show you how I made the icing in my new mixer, I finally made another video – here’s a how-to on making royal icing for your gingerbread houses:

{Video} How to Make Royal Icing for Gingerbread Houses

Click here if you can’t see the video.

If you’d like to make royal icing for your gingerbread house(s), and would like printable recipes, I’ve included a single and double batch recipe here for you, as well as a classic royal icing recipe made with egg-whites especially for those of you who can’t find meringue powder. The first two recipes listed here are adapted from cakecentral.com’s user Antonia74. The recipe made with egg whites is adapted from the author of Gingerbread for All Seasons, Teresa Layman.

You can find a template for a gingerbread house and a video on how I put the house together, HERE.

I bought most of my candy at Old Thyme Confections HERE.

Royal Icing Recipe for Gingerbread Houses (One or Two Batches)

Click here for the Printable Recipe

Royal Icing Recipe Made with Egg-Whites

Click here for the Printable Recipe  THE PRINTABLE RECIPE HAS A TYPO! IT SHOULD SAY 1 KILOGRAM (KG) ICING SUGAR, NOT 1 pound (lb).

Classic Royal Icing Made with Egg Whites Sweetopia

A quick note about royal icing – if you’d like more information on how to store it, how long it lasts etc., please click here and for a video on find royal icing consistency for decorating cookies, please click here.

It was completely worth the one hour’s drive to Toronto to buy the mixer (I had to drive there to get one as it’s a new model and the residential model is exclusively available to Williams-Sonoma right now. The NSF commercial mixer is more readily available. You can find it on Amazon here), as the amount of icing I went through for the houses and the facade was really something!

You might be wondering by now what a ” gingerbread dollhouse facade” is. In fact, I didn’t know what to call it, so I just kind of made the name up. I know you’re not supposed to play with your food, but I couldn’t resist making a little gingerbread “house” that our H-banana could play with this Christmas. Truth be told I had wanted to make an all edible interior too, but time-wise, that was just not going to happen. I can’t wait to see how she reacts.

And another confession, I’m not sure who’s going to enjoy her gift more, her or I. Lol. I think I’ve fallen in love with miniatures.

I mean, really. Those little cookies are barely 1 cm long.

And oh my goodness, a little sieve and whisk! I want to try sifting flour with it! (No, haven’t done it yet… stress the yet).

By the way, there’s a tiny version of something in the ‘gingerbread dollhouse facade’ that I’ll possibly be giving you for Christmas – except it will be adult size.  Can you guess what it is? Chances are, if you’ve read the title of this post, you already know 😉 .

You got it!

Ultimate 7-Quart KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway!

To celebrate the Holiday season and help you with your Christmas baking, I am hosting a giveaway for TWO 7-quart Ultimate KitchenAid Mixers!

You’ll be able to chose from the following available colours:

I am so excited and thankful that KitchenAid is sponsoring this giveaway for you! Good luck!

Here’s how to enter:

You have at least five chances of winning – each option below gives you one chance, and you’re about to see how there are even more possibilities.

Either use Facebook or your name and email to enter the contest below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest is not running on Facebook and although I appreciate your comments on my Facebook page, those comments will not be entered into the draw. Again, you must leave your comments here.

*

Announcing the Winner of the *TWO* 7-Quart KitchenAid Mixers!

First of all, thank you to all of you who entered; I was delighted and touched by your sweet, funny and passionate responses.

I really WISH I could give away as many mixers as there were entries; you dedicated bakers and sweet-tooths deserve it!

There is one winning comment number though, and it is:

Congratulations!!

The winner is Nicole Irwin Cross, entry #16,754!

Please contact me with the best way to reach you so that you can claim your prizes.

Thank you to ALL of you how entered! Blessings to you this holiday season!

xo,

Marian

Don’t miss out!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I made some Graham Cracker Gingerbread houses. My daughter loved decorating them! It would be super exciting to WIN a new mixer!

  3. I love these mixers and have been wanting one for about 20 years! I would love to win this and be able to have some fun in the kitchen.

  4. OMG……I am imagining all the amazingly yummy treats I can bake with this mixer. BTW…..I love your blog.

  6. I would love to be able to give this mixer to my caking mum. She cannot afford it. I am willing to pay all the shipping costs.

  7. This giveaway is amazing! I always dreamed of mixer like this. I started watching you on YT when I was looking for a perfect recipe for icing but found many more inspirations 🙂

  9. This would be awesome to win. Mine quit and I am down to the hand held mixer which doesn’t do well in anything that is a little thick

  13. I check in to your blog ALL the time! Mainly just to gawk at your beautiful cookies and creations 😀 Boy, this mixer would make light work of the multiple double batches of icing I make weekly!!

  15. Having never tried gingerbread or royal icing. A KitchenAid Mixer would be a cracking way to begin 🙂 My girls would love to help too.
    P.S
    Just love your blog. So informative (all beyond my capabilities at the moment) and inspiring.

  17. I don’t even own a mixer!!! That’s how much I desperately NEED one 😉 plus the red is just divine….

  18. I’ve just embarked on baking treats at home and the cherry red mixer would be a welcome addition. Thanks Marian!

  19. I would love to win a KitchenAid mixer, I’m currently using my mother-in-laws handheld from the 70s! Would love to be able to mix larger cakes etc. P.S. Kate Wood sent me

  21. Marsha Marie Maldonado is sooooo deserving of this!!! She’s always making tasty treats and brings them in for her co-workers to sample! It always brightens my day when I find a delish homemade cake ball on my desk! Yummay!!!

  26. I would love the mixer! I would love to get back to baking again and the mixer would be such a great help!

  31. Wow, my daughter is in love. Those are so pretty, she tried to touch the screen she thought it was so pretty. I on the other hand am in love with the mixer!! Santa please let me win!!

  34. I dream about a red mixer like that! I love the gingerbread houses and can’t wait to make some just like that.

  40. Wow, it was one of my dreams came truth, here in Portugal these machines aro very expensive, win a giveaway like this one is really the only way to have one. Wish you a Merry Christmas and a sweet 2012!

  43. I’ve tried sooo many times to win a KitchenAid from numerous blogs that I follow. I loveeee baking and could bake tons with this KitchenAid!

  46. I would love to win this for my girlfriend. She’s been asking for one for years and years. Our home would smell even better once she has one of these.

  47. love your blog!!! i gain weight just looking at all the yummy things you make!! the kitchen-aid mixer will look fabulous in my kitchen and my family will appreciate all the yummy treats i could make!

  49. That would be wonderful and a dream come true to win such a beautiful mixer! The gingerbread houses are so beautiful and I am looking forward to making them with my older children when they come home from college next week. We continue to decorate houses no matter what age we’ve become….so fun!!!
    We also decorate our houses to the colors that represent their college…try something new this year with older family members.

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