The Gingerbread Century House

Fall seems to be lingering in Madison, but that hasn’t stopped the staff at The Century House from preparing for winter. Since our Holiday Open House, which we hold annually in November, we have been excitedly anticipating the holiday season.

One item that has caught our attention this year is the Swedish Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter. We were hungry for gingerbread and feeling crafty, so I decided to test it out. I used this recipe from the Food Network, but any gingerbread recipe should do.

After mixing together the dry ingredients and rolling out the dough, I waited anxiously for the timer to tell me I could use my intriguing new cutter to make shapes from the unhardened dough. (There’s nothing like sitting in a warm kitchen and basking in the scent of cloves and ginger!) It’s important to watch the dough carefully, as the thickness required for a sturdy but lightweight structure is prone to burning.

Fifteen long minutes later, the dough was ready, and I was pleased to find out just how easily the walls and roof emerged. After cutting the shapes, I removed excess dough so that the architectural cookie pieces could cool on their own.

Assembling the house is the best part of the process, and luckily for me, I had a great partner in crime to lend a hand. Krista and I used store-bought frosting and icing tips to decorate and hold our cookie cottage together. Scandinavian sweets were the perfect decorations for this holiday tradition.

If you want to make a holiday house of your own, the Swedish Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter is available in the gift shop for $15. And don’t forget to show off your tasty creation on a Heath large platter ($70). Happy baking, house elves!