x
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Press
  • About
  • Let’s talk!
Instagram Pinterest BlogLovin
Home › tutorials › Sweet & Petite Gingerbread Houses (with Wilton!)

FacebookTweetPin

link to follow on instagram  link to follow on Pinterest  Follow on Bloglovin

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Constellation Inspiration

Constellation Inspiration

A Dessert Blog

  • Cookbook
  • Tutorials
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Recipes:
  • cake
  • cookies
  • cream puffs
  • tarts
  • bars
  • candy
  • Asian-inspired
  • seasonal
    • Valentines
    • halloween
    • christmas
Leave a Comment
tutorials

Sweet & Petite Gingerbread Houses (with Wilton!)

by: Amy on: Dec 8, 2020

It’s my favourite time of the year! Gingerbread house decorating time! Please note I said gingerbread house decorating and not baking because the baking part is just a necessary evil for us to get to the happy place...

Review

It’s my favourite time of the year! Gingerbread house decorating time! Please note I said gingerbread house decorating and not baking because the baking part is just a necessary evil for us to get to the happy place that is decorating. That’s why I buy a gingerbread house kit every year. I get to spend more time decorating the houses with my family, and less time crossing my fingers that my homemade gingerbread house panels don’t lose shape while in the oven.

Throughout the years I’ve purchased many different brands and types of gingerbread house kits. My *biggest* problem with many of the kits out there is that they NEVER give you enough icing to assemble and decorate the house — by the time you go to assemble the panels, there just isn’t enough icing to make everything secure. In the recent years, I’ve gravitated towards buying better quality gingerbread house kits, like this one from Wilton, which give you more than enough supplies and decorations to make the perfect house. This year I’m using the Wilton Build It Yourself Sweet & Petite Gingerbread House Decorating Kit and decorating three houses in three different ways and sharing some of my tips and tricks for gingerbread house decorating in this post. If I miss any tips that you love, please let me know!

Each Sweet & Petite Gingerbread House Kit comes with everything you need for decorating: 6 pre-baked gingerbread house panels, 3 types of candy, green fondant, white ready-to-use icing, decorating bag and tip, and an instruction sheet. In previous years, I’ve used exclusively the decorations that came in the kit but this year I decided to add a few extra touches to make the gingerbread house even more special. In addition to what is included in the kit, I used: different kinds of holiday sprinkles from Wilton, icing decorations, an open-star piping tip, and a bit of green food colouring.

My biggest tip for gingerbread house decorating is to decorate the panels before you assemble the house. It’s much easier to pipe the details on the panels when they’re lying flat. I transferred the icing that came with the kit into the piping bag with the small round piping tip to pipe out the outline and other details of the house. I reserved some of the icing to colour green to pipe the wreath and holly garland for the house. To pipe the wreath, transfer the green icing into a piping bag with an open star tip.

My second tip is to use sprinkles strategically for patterned designs, rather than sprinkling them randomly on the icing. I used the red nonpareils to make the berries for the holly garland and Wilton’s holly mix sprinkles to accent the side windows. The easiest way to work with very small sprinkles like the nonpareils is to use tweezers or get a toothpick with a bit of the icing at the end to transfer the nonpareil from the jar to the house.
Allow all the icing on the gingerbread house panels to fully dry before assembling the house. Because the kit came with so much white icing, I had enough to cover the top side of the cardboard with icing to resemble snow. Applying this thick layer of icing also allows your house to set more securely. Assemble the house by piping the icing to adhere the pieces to each other and allow it to dry. I always find that attaching the roof is the hardest part because it tends to slide while it dries. What I do is that I hold the roof in place for several minutes, allowing the icing to set before letting it dry completely.

Another tip is to use the fondant that comes with the kit for something creative and unexpected. Instead of making the door or covering the roof with the fondant, I rolled out the fondant and cut it into a small rectangle to form Santa’s sleigh. I curved one end of the fondant and allowed it to dry while resting against a cup, so it keeps that shape. Once it has dried, attach the sleigh onto the roof the assembled house and add Santa and his reindeers.
Here are the three houses I made with the Sweet & Petite Gingerbread House Kit! I placed them next to each other on my bookshelf so it looks like a little gingerbread village.

Thank you Wilton for supporting this blog. Head over to the the Wilton website for helpful tutorials and videos for gingerbread house assembly and decorations. While the post is sponsored by Wilton, all opinions are my own!

more like this:

Corn Ice Cream Popsicles

Coconut Snow Globe Cupcakes

Halloween Brown Sugar Breakfast Tarts

The Ultimate Shaker Cookie Tutorial

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sweet Comments:

  1. Zimara says

    Dec 25, 2021 at 6:52 pm

    Amei a maneira de montar a casa já com as peças decoradas. Obrigada

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

a sweet hello.

Welcome to Constellation Inspiration, a buttercream-coated journal of recipes, stories, and love letters that are sweet to read, and even sweeter to eat. These love letters are dedicated to you.

sneak peaks & bonus recipes!

Sign up to get them for free:

featured

day two: sparkly matcha neapolitan shortbread cook day two: sparkly matcha neapolitan shortbread cookies ✨

the instructions might seem confusing, but if you watch the video to see how the different flavour layers are stacked, it will make much more sense! these slice and bake cookies freeze extremely well so you can make the dough now and bake them off when you want to gift them. (makes 40-44)

vanilla dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

matcha dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tsp culinary matcha powder
1/4 tsp salt

strawberry dough 
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g 6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp freeze-dried strawberry powder 
1/4 tsp salt

1 egg white
coarse sanding sugar

for the vanilla dough, combine butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. mix until smooth. add vanilla. add flour and salt and mix until no dry streaks remain. do the same for the matcha and strawberry doughs in separate bowls

place one portion of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll into a 5 x 9-inch rectangle that is about 1/4-inch thick. slide rolled out dough onto a baking sheet and freeze for 10 min until firm. repeat this step with the other portions of dough

remove the top piece of parchment from each slab and stack the strawberry, vanilla, and matcha dough layers. cut the slab down the middle the long way to form two 2.5 x 9-inch rectangles. with one half, carefully swap the order of the layers (example: if the first half of the dough is stacked svm, swap the second half so it’s msv. this will ensure that same flavour squares don’t stack on each other). stack the halves. press the layers gently to adhere them. return the stacked dough to the freezer for another 10min

[recipe cont’d in comments]

#christmasbaking #christmascookies #holidaybaking #holidaycookies #cookiedecorating
day 1: rudolph rings 🦌✨ piped butter cookies day 1: rudolph rings 🦌✨

piped butter cookies are some of my fav cookies to make — they’re buttery! sandy! rich! they get a little holiday makeover and become the cutest rudolph rings when you add a little red m&m nose and antler details. topping the antlers with gold is optional, but adds extra sparkle and festive cheer to each cookie

(makes 12 cookies)
135 g salted butter, very soft
45 g icing sugar
100 g flour
40 g cornstarch
15 g cocoa powder 
1/4 tsp espresso powder 

in a medium bowl, combine softened salted butter with icing sugar with a rubber spatula until smooth

in a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt

using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture until no more dry spots remain

transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip (i used wilton 6b)

apply pressure to pipe the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. if you are having trouble piping out the dough, you can warm up the dough in the piping bag between the palms of your hands, or add an extra 1 tbsp of melted butter to the dough and refill the piping bag. leave 1 inch between each cookie

transfer the sheet of piped cookies to the freezer while you preheat the oven to 325f. chilling the dough will prevent the cookies from spreading in the oven

bake the cookies until the bottoms are set, about 25 – 30 minutes

allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely and decorate

royal icing
1 egg white
150 g icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

in the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium-low speed until frothy, about 1 min. with the mixer on low speed, slowly add icing sugar and vanilla. once incorporated, increase speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form. transfer icing to a pip bag with a small round tip to pipe out face details

#holidaybaking #christmascookies #christmascookie #holidaycookies #christmasbaking
sorry i cant come to the phone right now, i’m to sorry i cant come to the phone right now, i’m too busy baking all the @nytcooking holiday cookies the day they’re released

@csaffitz bûche de noël cookies
@samanthaseneviratne ginger cheesecake cookies
@heysueli matcha-black sesame shortbreads
@ericjoonho lemon-turmeric crinkle cookies
@clarkbar iced peppermint cookies
@sohlae holiday rocky road
@vaughn rum-buttered almond cookies

#nytcooking #nytcookieweek #nytcookies #holidaybaking #christmascookies
presenting: this year’s 12 days of christmas coo presenting: this year’s 12 days of christmas cookies 🎄

matcha christmas tree cookies 
chocolate reindeer cookies
matcha strawberry neapolitan checkerboard
hojicha walnut deer cookies (with a bow!)
hedgehog hazelnut praline shortbread
pretzel shortbread mittens
earl grey decorated wreath cookies 
snowman cookie butter truffles
grinchy pistachio jammy liners
eggnog brûlée cookies
biscoff snowman cookies
chestnut hazelnut praline sandwich cookies

…dropping tomorrow! stay tuned!

#christmasbaking #christmascookies #holidaybaking #holidaycookies #cookiedecorating
preparing for the big weekend… ✨ a tradition preparing for the big weekend… ✨

a tradition that i started in 2019, this will be the sixth year i bake all of the @nytcooking holiday cookies the moment they are released on dec 1. i’m excited/nervous for sunday (i might throw up). here are the cookies from previous years, and a few behind the scenes where you can witness me slowly lose my sanity.

2019: twelve cookies by @susanspungen
peppermint stripe cookies
color-field cookies
peanut shortbread with honeycomb
gingery brownie crinkle cookies
marbled tahini cookies
homemade pocky
abstract art cookies
stamped citrus shortbread
brown sugar-anise cookies
thumbprints with dulce de leche
blood orange poppyseed window cookies
dirty chai earthquake cookies

2020:
cornmeal lime shortbread fans
sparkly gingerbread
vanilla bean spritz cookies
toasted almond snowballs
honey-roasted peanut thumbprints
black and white brownies 
fudgy bourbon balls
cherry rugelach with cardamom sugar

2021: the year that @nytcooking released 24 holiday cookie recipes and i almost passed out/away
m&m cookies
almond spritz cookies
peppermint brownie cookies
brown-butter toffee sandwich cookies
hibiscus-spiraled ginger cookies
guava and cream cheese twists
minty lime bars
chewy gingerbread
savory mixed-nut shortbread
tahini thumbprints with dulce de leche
chocolate babka rugelach
fruity meltaways
iced oatmeal cookies
spiced orange crumble cookies
peanut butter cookies
gingerbread biscotti
cheddar cheese coins
fig and cherry cookie pies
italian rainbow cookies
chocolate-cherry ginger cookies
hindbaersnitter
no-bake chocolate clusters
torticas de morón
piparkakut

2022:
white chocolate macadamia nut cookies
gochujang caramel cookies
chocolate hazelnut cookies
gingerbread latte cookies
orange, pistachio and chocolate shortbread
crunchy coconut twists
savory shortbread with olives and rosemary

2023: last year’s seven cookies which was done after ten hours of baking
gingerbread blondies
mexican hot chocolate cookies
rainbow rave cookies
lemon butter curls
matcha latte cookies
technicolor cookies
neapolitan checkerboard

#nytcooking #nytcookies #nytcookieweek #christmascookies #holidaycookies

Footer

Recipe Index
About
Press
Contact
Legal

sneak peeks & bonus recipes!

Sign up to get them for free:

© 2025 Constellation Inspiration · Site by Meyne