Royal family chefs share gorgeous gingerbread house recipe

Christmas preparations are in full swing, with only two sleeps until the big day. One thing many have been busy working on are the tasty treats to enjoy with the family – including a beautifully decorated gingerbread house. It’s a creative process enjoyed by millions over the festive season, and makes for a fun activity with the grandkids.

To help spark some inspiration, the British royal family’s chefs have shared their much-loved gingerbread house recipe (along with a video), which you can follow at home with the youngsters.

“In the run up to Christmas, the chefs in the royal kitchens have shared their recipe for making the perfect gingerbread house,” a post on the royal family’s Instagram page read. “If you decide to make the house yourself, we’d love to see what you’ve made. Please share your creations using #RoyalGingerbread.”

 

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The short clip shows the whole process, from making the dough and icing, to decorating the house and putting it together. Meanwhile, the recipe and method were also shared to the royal family’s website.

There’s no doubt many Christmas-loving families are eager to try it out. “So mesmerising, and they make it look so easy,” @amanda_hutaean commented on the post. While @melissa24K wrote, “That’s incredible work!” And @justine_henshaw added, “This is magical!”

Gingerbread dough

Ingredients

• 1,000g plain flour
• 14g bicarbonate of soda
• 28g ground ginger
• 14g ground cinnamon
• 355g unsalted butter
• 500g light brown sugar
• 140g egg
• 175g golden syrup
• Boiled lollies

Method

1. Mix flour, bicarbonate and spices together.
2. Add cold, diced butter and continue mixing until it resembles a crumb.
3. Add sugar and mix.
4. Add eggs and syrup and mix to form a dough.
5. Divide into two blocks, knead together by hand and flatten.
6. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the refrigerator for a few hours. Then roll to a thickness of approximately 5mm for the house parts and 3mm for the smaller decorative parts.
7. Cut gingerbread house shapes using template.
8. Preheat oven to 165C.
9. Place on baking trays and chill again before baking.
10. Bake house pieces for 18 minutes and the smaller pieces for 12 minutes.
11. For the windows, crush boiled lollies into the spaces you have cut.