Make a festive and fun gingerbread farmhouse this Christmas season! Complete with easy-to-make recipes, step by step instructions, plenty of holiday charm and a FREE printable gingerbread house template. Great for creators of all skill levels.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. In any case, I only link to products we actually use on our homestead and that I believe can truly benefit to you. See my full disclosure here. 

It is that time again!

Time for holiday cheer! The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care (or bookshelf in my case). Mary and Joseph have been set in their proper places inside the nativity set. The tree has been decorated. And we have finally reached the season where it is socially acceptable to play Christmas music. Not that I always abide by the norm of society. I prefer to play those cheery carols come fall, if I’m honest.

As I pondered the upcoming Christmas festivities, I considered what articles or tutorials my readers may enjoy. I already had instructions on how to make a stocking, recipes for Christmas cookies and lessons on DIY Christmas crafts. Then an idea dawned on me, step by step instructions on how to make a gingerbread house. And not just any ol’ house but a farmhouse, set on a beautiful property with chickens, firewood for the stove and an open space for a garden — the homesteaders dream estate. Plus building a gingerbread house from scratch is a beloved past time that my family has included in their Christmas traditions for countless years.

It all started with a piece of stoneware.

A Pampered Chef stoneware gingerbread mold to be precise. Every Christmas my Mom would make up a batch of gingerbread dough, press it into the mold and bake it. Once it came out of the oven we would assemble the house with a bit of royal icing and decorate it with candy canes, sprinkles, red and green M&Ms, peppermint patties and so much more. It was a jolly good time. As I grew older, my parents broke out of the mold, literally, and decided to create their own gingerbread house without a template to follow. They have gotten quite creative over the years and built everything from a farmers market and red Christmas truck to a gazebo and church.

To share in our joy of crafting gingerbread houses, I have designed a template for you to build your own gingerbread farmhouse. Below you will find directions on how to make gingerbread dough, royal icing, how to assemble a gingerbread house as well as all the tools and supplies I used to build the edible home. The farmhouse is perfect for crafters of all levels, including beginners who have never built a gingerbread house and those that have experience in flood work and piping. As you scroll through the instructions, feel free to take creative license and design your own farmhouse exactly as you see fit. Your only limit is your imagination. I hope that you enjoy making a DIY gingerbread house as much as we do each year. And perhaps, baking a gingerbread house will also become a Christmas tradition for you and your family.

How to Decorate a Gingerbread House

The beauty of making your own gingerbread house is that you have the ability to think outside of the gingerbread box. If you purchase a gingerbread house kit at the store, you are limited to the colors and candies within the kit. A homemade gingerbread house gives you the freedom to decorate and design your house as you desire. Whether you’re a lover of the classic gingerbread house style or you prefer to go off the beaten path, there is no right or wrong way of decorating a gingerbread house.

Below you find detailed instructions on how to build a gingerbread farmhouse using the printable template. You are free to design the farmhouse exactly as I did or change it up by tweaking the details. Here are few additional design ideas you may want to try:

• Instead of leaving the windows open, create a glass look by filling each pane with isomalt or a melted Life Saver
• Outline the windows and doors in colored frosting
• Instead of adding icicles to the roofline, string up some lights using icing and sprinkles in the shape of a Christmas light
• Create snow drifts by spreading icing onto the board
• Crushed Oreos, graham crackers and Necco wafers make great pathways
• Swap out the gum on the roof for Chex instead

Is a Gingerbread House Edible?

Yes! This gingerbread house recipe is edible. Every ingredient can but consumed, however since the gingerbread house is left out for many days or weeks at a time, the dough and icing become rock hard and are not always appetizing. We typically decorate our gingerbread house, leave it out through the Christmas season and sometimes part way into the winter and then discard it.

Can You Eat Royal Icing?

Royal icing is safe to eat when it is made with meringue powder. The royal icing recipe used to build the gingerbread house below is made with meringue powder and can be consumed without any ill effects.

Free Printable Gingerbread House Template

To build this gingerbread farmhouse you will need to download and print this free template. Simple click the green link, download the PDF file, then print it on a home or office computer. Use scissors or a precision knife to cut out the gingerbread template.

Gingerbread House Recipe

Bake, build and decorate a gingerbread farmhouse this Christmas season. Complete with chickens, holiday ornaments and plenty of farmhouse decor, this Christmas craft is fun to make with the entire family! Print out the free template to start creating your own DIY gingerbread house.

Makes: Enough for one gingerbread house and yard decorations

Ingredients to Make Gingerbread

For the Dough

6 cups (30 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup brown sugar
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup molasses

For the Royal Icing

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup meringue powder
4 2/3 cups powdered sugar

Supplies

• 20 inch x 16 inch piece of cardboard, plywood or cutting board covered with tin foil, using tape to holiday it in place
• Plastic piping bags
• Round & star icing tips
• Pretzel rods
• 6 packs of Big Red gum
• Green food coloring
• Red food coloring
• Powdered sugar
• Peppermint stick candy
• Tootsie rolls
• Christmas sprinkles
• White nonpareils
• Reeses peanut butter cup
• Cream filled wafer cookies such as Pepperidge Farm Pirouette
• 1 large marshmallow
• Waffle cones
• Parchment paper

Tools You May Need

• Knife
• Cutting board
• Precision knife such as an X-acto Knife
• Mixing bowls
• Spatula
• Scissors
• Rolling pin
• Small mesh strainer or flour sifter

How to Make a Gingerbread House

To Make the Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and sugar and mix until fluffy and creamy. Mix in eggs. Slowly pour in molasses and blend until completely combined.

In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Gradually beat in flour mixture, in 3 batches until thoroughly blended. Wrap the gingerbread dough into plastic wrap or scoop into a bowl with a lid. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350° F. On a piece of parchment paper, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using the free gingerbread house template, place the pattern onto the dough and cut into the provided shapes. (You can print the template onto paper, cut it out and use it as a pattern on top of the dough. Or you can print the gingerbread template and trace it onto wax paper. Wax paper helps to prevent the template from sticking to the dough. But either way will work just fine.)

Bake gingerbread for 15-16 minutes, until golden brown. Allow the cutouts to cool on the cookie sheet. Once cooled, lay pieces onto a cooling rack.

How to Make Royal Icing

In a large bowl, beat water with meringue powder for approximately 2 minutes or until combined. Beat in powdered sugar in 4 additions. Once combined continue to mix for an additional 4 minutes or until very stiff. Cover the bowl with a damp towel to prevent the royal icing from drying out.

Notes: If you need the royal icing to be thicker, add more powdered sugar. To use royal icing to flood a gingerbread cookie, slowly mix in a small amount of water until the icing becomes thin.

To prevent the royal icing from solidifying, place a damp cloth over the bowl of icing when not in use. Royal icing will keep in the fridge for a few days.

How to Assemble the Gingerbread Farmhouse

Once the pieces are cool and very dry, fill an icing bag fitted with a round piping tip. Decide where you would like to place your gingerbread farmhouse on the board. Pipe a line of icing on the board for the front wall as well as down both edges where the side walls will attach. Secure the front wall to the base board. Pipe two additional lines of icing onto the board to affix the side walls to the board. Attach the side walls to the front wall. To join the back wall to the rest of the house, pipe a line of icing onto the board and down both side edges. Press the back wall into the side walls to finish the frame of the house. (I have found setting a mug or jar against the side of the house while it drys helps keep the house stable.) Let sit until firm.

For the roof, pipe icing all around the top wall edges. Set roof pieces onto the farmhouse. Hold in place for several minutes to secure. If there are any gaps between the ridgepole of the two roof pieces or along the sides of the house, pipe in some extra icing. Allow to dry for at least 30 minutes.

Shingle the Roof

Cut the gum into about 1 inch lengths. (One stick of Big Red gum can be cut into 3 pieces.) Pipe a small line of icing onto the back of the gum and place a row of gum pieces onto the bottom edge of the front side of the roof. Add another row of shingles, slightly overlapping the row below it until you reach the top of the roof. Repeat with the other side of the roof. Once both sides have been shingled, place a row of gum perpendicular to the roof line covering up the ridgepole at the peak of the roof.

Add Icicles to Roof

To make the icicles, add a few spoonfuls of royal icing into a small bowl. Stir in a small amount of water into the icing to thin it out slightly. Fill a piping bag with icing fitted with a small round pastry tip. Starting on the front edge of the roofline, squeeze the icing bag while carefully bringing the bag downward to create a point that looks like an icicle. Continue this process across all four sides of the house.

Detail the Farmhouse

Trim House: Fit a piping bag with a small round pastry tip. Pipe along the windows, door and trim. Add a circular sprinkle to the door for the handle.

Add Peppermint Posts: Using a sharp knife, cut the four candy sticks to be the same height as the farmhouse. Place a strip of frosting on the backside of the candy sticks and adhere to each corner of the house.

Create Window Boxes: Cut two pretzel sticks down to the width of the window. Attach with a dab of icing to the bottom of each window to create a window box. Fit a piping bag with a small star pastry tip. Pipe green icing onto the window boxes. Add a red sprinkle to create a some Christmas greenery. Repeat the process below all of the remaining windows.

Design Wreath: Fit a piping bag with a small star pastry tip. Pipe green icing into a circle. Add round sprinkles and jimmies to create a bow at the bottom of the wreath.

Add the Chimney

To build the chimney, squeeze a line of icing along the bottom and sides of the angled pieces. Attach to the peak of the right side of the roof. Adhere the remaining two chimney pieces to create a complete square. Allow to dry. Once the chimney is solid, cut a large marshmallow in half and snip the top edges to create a smoke-like appearance. Carefully stuff the marshmallow into the top of the chimney. To finish, pipe lines onto all four sides of the chimney to resemble bricks. 

Landscape the Farmhouse

Make Trees: Pipe green icing onto the edge of the waffle cone. Place the inverted cone onto the board in desired location. Using a star tip, pipe icing in rows around the cone until you reach the top. Decorate the tree with nonpareils and a star sprinkle. Add additional 2 trees to gingerbread farmhouse property.

Create Bushes: Invert a Reeses peanut butter cup onto the board in the front and back of the farmhouse. Fill an icing bag with green icing. Using a star tip, pipe icing in rows around the candy piece until you reach the top to create the appearance of a green bush.

Set up Axe, Stump and Wood Pile: To build a stump start by inverting a Reeses peanut butter cup into the middle of the front yard. Secure to the board with a small dab of icing. Next, cut a Tootsie Roll in half and warm in your hands by rolling it around. Alternatively, you can heat it in the microwave until pliable. Mold into the shape of an axe head. Attach the axe head to a pretzel stick with a small dot of icing. Position the axe to the stump as desired.

Cut 12-16 pretzel sticks in half using a sharp knife. Cross stack the pretzels in rows of 4 using icing to secure the sections together.

Decorate Chickens: To create the gingerbread chickens, you will use a flood work technique. Starting with a stiff white royal icing, outline the chicken, leaving space for the red beak and comb. Thin out the royal icing with a little bit of water. The consistency should be similar to maple syrup. Flood the inside of the outlined chicken with a layer of icing. If there are any gaps between the flood work and outline, use a toothpick to encourage the icing to completely cover the surface. Add red food coloring to a small amount of icing. Pipe the beak and comb into the chicken. Allow to dry for several hours before attaching them to the board in your desired location.

Build Walkway: Ice the board to create a walkway in front of the farmhouse. In a blender, crush a handful of stick pretzels. Sprinkle the crushed pretzels onto the walkway all the way to the edge of the board.

Make a Fence: Cut a Tootsie Roll into 3 pieces. Starting in the front of the house attach each piece to the board with a dab of icing. Place another small amount of icing onto the top of the Tootsie Roll piece and set the fence post on top. Make your way around around the board, covering the front and two sides with fencing panel.

Create a Snow-Covered Yard

Spoon powdered sugar all over the board to give the look of freshly fallen snow. To finish the gingerbread farmhouse, add 1/3 cup powdered sugar into a small fine mesh strainer. Gently dust the land and house with a final touch of snow.

Additional Christmas Craft Ideas

Do you enjoy making Christmas decor or crafts? Here are a few projects you might be interested in:

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Flannel Stocking

Wooden Christmas Star

Pin for Later