My Mom used to come to the school and make gingerbread outhouses with the kids in our class. She did this for all three of us kids. (She would use this recipe but would change the measurements a fair bit) It was awesome. This is the recipe that she has used for YEARS. I am not sure where she got the recipe from originally though.
05Dust the flour off of the pieces after they have cooled. A pstry brush works well for this.
06Glue: Melt a fair amount of sugar in a large heavy pan over low heat. Mom used a cast iron pan. We started with about 2 cups of sugar and ended up adding about another cup. Keep stirring and waiting. You want the sugar to get to the point where it is almost a clear brown. Be careful though, the "glue" burns BADLY if dripped on skin.
07Mom would simply "dip" the edge of the piece that she wanted to glue into the sugar and then press it with the other piece. When it cools, it is VERY hard and holds very well. It does cool quickly though, so work fast.
08For Icing: Beat egg whites until stiff. Slowly add in all of the icing sugar.
09To make cookies: Bake until lightly browned for soft cookies. Crisp cookies will keep better though.
10There is enough dough to make a house and a free form base to put your house on. Or you can simply make a bunch of cookies with the "leftovers".
11Mom has some hand drawn pictures of how to cut out the house. Here are her measurements and directions.
12Cut 2 side walls: 7" x 4".
13Cut 2 roof panels: 9 1/2" x 8".
14Cut 4 chimney pieces: 2 1/4" x 1 1/4" (in two of them, cut a 1" V into the bottom so that it will "straddle" the peak of the roof).
15Cut 2 end walls: 6" x 9" (4" up the sides, cut diagonally to the top center to make a point). In one end, cut out door and two windows. Bake the door along side.
16For the windows: Place foil underneath and fill with crushed lollipop. Bake as usual.
17Base: Simply roll out the leftover dough to make a free form base. Make sure that it is wide enough for the house.
18NOTE ABOUT CLEAN-UP: Don't fret! Your pan that you melted the sugar in is certainly not ruined! All you need to do is add some hot water, let sit for a little while (5-10 minutes) and then rinse it out. If for some reason, that isn't quite working, simply heat the pan full of water over low heat for a short while (again, about 10 minutes).