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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

  2. I’d love to win! I just made your sugar cookies for the first time today and they turned out wonderfully! YAY!

  4. I LOOOOVE your mini everything in your gingerbread house! Where on earth did you find such adorable things?! I agree, not sure who’s going to enjoy that gift! Thanks for sharing your passion for sweets with all of us!

  5. This is amazing! That gingerbread house looks fantastic. I would love to win this for my mother, who is 61 and has never owned a KitchenAid product in her life. She deserves one! I’ve asked for this very mixer from Santa, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed!

  6. Love the detail of your gingerbread houses. They are amazing! Thanks for letting me enter the draw. It would be amazing to win.

  8. I love the houses and would love to win! Your site is always so much fun to look at. I am always amazed…

  10. I have been making gingerbread houses since 1989. I started making them back then for my boys and I haven’t missed a year. When they got to high school I thought ” well this is it” when our son Ben said ” Hey Ma. The guys want to know, are we doing gingerbread this year?” We did, and they did them all through college. The ones who were in forign countries??? We mailed them! The year Ben lived in London? All of his friends came and we shipped one off to London. Our town magazine did an article on me for the 20 year anniversary of gingerbread house making and they figured I have baked over 600 houses. And out of all of those, I have never decorated one! My cousin Lynn Sutherland told me about the possibility of winning a new mixer. That would be a dream come true!!!!

  14. I couldn’t ask for a better Christmas present than a new 7 Quart KitchenAid Mixer. Thanks Marian for the time and effort you put into doing this blog. I enjoy it so much and have learned a great deal from you. I hope you have a great holiday season!

  17. Kathy Stacy wrote:

    Your Gingerbread Houses amazing!! Lydia Sisson Farmer sent me:)). Merry Christmas!
    I would love to win the Giveaway!

  18. I would love to win a KitchenAid Mixer!!!!!! And oh my, the houses are beautiful! Thank you for always sharing your goodies with us!

  19. The Gingerbread houses are beautiful. The Kitchen Aid makes the job look easier. This site is very cool

  20. What beautiful Gingerbread houses! You are indeed so talented. A wonderful Christmas present for me if I were to win the 7 quart Kitchen Aid mixer. Wow! It IS so good to look at lol!

  21. I have wanted one of these for so long, hubs is laid off, so…alas, I can’t get one yet…Ive been entering a ton of contests! love the candy apple red one!

  24. You just don’t know how I go straight to the appliance section at Dept. storesto gaze at the Kitchenaid mixers….Would LOVE to win it… .

  30. I WANT A STAND MIXER SO BAD! I love to bake from scratch and I’ve been begging for a stand mixer forever!

  36. Just discovered your blog in the last month. Really enjoying it. Thank you for the inspiration and the attention to detail. There is always so much more to learn!

  44. I’ve recently discovered your website, Marian, and I’ve fallen head-over-heels! What a fabulous site! Sooooo many wonderful ideas, helpful information, and delicious inspiration! Thank you sooo much for the opportunity for a chance to win this amazing mixer! Happy Holidays! 🙂

  46. I would be forever grateful if I win!!! the red kitchenaid would perfectly match my wonderful mothers kitchen, shes been wanting one forever!

  48. winning a kitchenaid would make my life easier, I have to bake dozens for a youth program! 🙂 red!:)

  50. I would love to win. After 15 years & countless baking, my KitchenAid finally quit on me and went on to the great appliance afterworld 🙁

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