Need gingerbread house recipe that does not use ginger.?

Question

My daughter is allergic to ginger - I wanted her to experience the fun of making a gingerbread house, but since she is only four, know she will want to eat it as well. Any suggestions on how to go about this without using ginger?

Answer 1

I figured from your question you wanted a real gingerbread recipe, without the ginger...I went to allrecipes.com and looked up a few recipes, I saw this one, and thought you might want to give it a try...I would opt to replace the ginger with allspice, pumpkin pie spice or even ground cloves, if you're not too worried about the 'spice'. Since this recipe only calls for 1/2 teaspoon, I thought it might be an easy substitution.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
DIRECTIONS
Cream shortening and sugar. Sift flour with salt, soda and spices. Blend flour mixture into creamed mixture alternately with molasses and water. Chill at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with large 6-8 inch gingerbreadmen cookie cutters. Lift onto lightly greased cookie sheet with broad spatula.
Bake above oven center for about 12 minutes or until cookies spring back lightly in center. Do not overcook, they won't stay soft. Remove from sheets. Cool on wire racks. Makes 10 men 6-8 inches tall.

Also:


DATE POSTED:
11/6/2005
SUBMITTED BY: SUGARPLUMSCOOKIES
I love this recipe. Anyway, I always roll out the dough between two sheets of wax paper, then loosen the paper on both sides before cutting the cookies out. This way, you can cut out cookies immediately without waiting for dough to get cold. We use this for our gingerbread houses, too. It's a very sturdy gingerbread.

I am not sure, the rest of the reviews were mixed, but over all the recipe had a 4 star rating out of a possible 5.

I have included the link below so you can take a look.

-Em

Answer 2

I have a great suggestion for you. My son's class (2nd grade) is making gingerbread houses using graham crackers and store-bought cake icing. Then they will use all the traditional candies to fix it up. I thought it was a really cool idea and cuts down on the mess as well. I bet this would work great for you. Good Luck!

Answer 3

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup margarine, softened 1 cup white sugar 1 egg 1 tablespoon water 1/4 cup molasses 2 tablespoons white sugar DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Answer 4

If you buy a box of rice crispies the christmas ones with colours,,,,,on the back there is a really cute house made out of rice crispies...it looks like a gingerbread house but its yummier too :)

Answer 5

You could make a dough like sugar cookie or a chocolate kind and instead of making them round, make them square or rectangle shapes and bake them that way and then you will have the "walls, roof, doors" ,etc. And then decorator as usual.

Answer 6

You can try sugar cookie recipe. This recipe gets a little harder then most sugar cookies. Just cut the shapes you need.

1 1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 c. butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix sugar and butter. Add egg and flavorings and mix thoroughly. Measure flour and sift with dry ingredients and blend into butter mixture, mixing well. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. When ready to bake, divide dough in half and roll out to 3/16 inch thick on lightly floured pastry cloth.
Cut into desired shapes. Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 7-8 minutes. Let cool. Design!







The construction of your gingerbread house will closely follow the building concepts of a real house. Proper planning is essential. You can make the gingerbread ahead of time, making sure to let it thoroughly cool in a dry area before wrapping securely to store. Be sure to allow plenty of time to put the pieces together.

Cut the basic structure templates for your house from posterboard and test first by taping the pieces together. If it will stand as made out of posterboard, then most likely it will be structurally safe for your gingerbread house.

• Don't limit yourself to a plain box house. You can make virtually any shape, from igloo to Victorian to farmhouse. Or, use a loaf mold in the shape of a house to eliminate the construction steps.

• Prepare a base for your house. Use a piece of plywood covered with foil, a large heavy platter or baking tray. You will want to be able to move the entire structure easily. You can use a sheet of gingerbread on top of the base if you wish, but it's not necessary.

• Keep in mind that the dimensions of your gingerbread house will be restricted to the size of a 12-by 15-inch baking sheet, and cut your templates accordingly.

• Maximum thickness for dough should be 3/8-inch. For houses larger than 6 inches square, use 1/4-inch thickness and for smaller houses, use 1/8-inch. Weight-bearing walls should be just slightly thicker.

• If you want the walls covered in icing, you may need to thin the icing with a few drops of water and then spread gently on the sides before assembling. Let sit for the icing to dry.

• When assembling, apply the "glue" icing using a pastry bag, and let sit for 30 minutes to set before actually assembling. This will help the pieces adhere better, resulting in a more stable structure.

• When assembling, apply a generous (but not dripping) amount of icing glue to one side of the joint. Press un-iced piece to the iced edge and hold briefly until the icing sets. If you want more stability, you can also icing-glue the walls to the base.

• For the icing decoration, use a pastry bag with various decorating tips or a knife. You can easily fill in gaps and smooth construction errors with icing and candy decorations. Wipe off smudges or drips with a clean, damp paper towel.

• To apply candy decorations, dab a small amount of icing to the underside of the candy and hold in place until set.

• You can use dough scraps to roll out added decorative cut-outs to be applied with icing glue. These cutouts can be impressed with designs before baking.

• If you don't have time to do the baking, you can use cardboard or graham crackers and still show off your decorating skills.

Answer 7

Use graham crackers

Answer 8

Maybe use gram crackers? I think it would work!

Answer 9

use cookies instead