Celebrate Christmas like the President and the First Family by creating a gingerbread White House. Get an early start like the Presidential Chef who begins his gingerbread masterpiece each September. Add a little patriotism to your celebration and amaze your friends and family with an edible replica of the White House.
Instructions
Get Ready
1. Find a gingerbread recipe that holds its shape and tastes good. Ask your mother, grandmother or friend for their gingerbread recipe. Search in Christmas magazines if networking does not work.
2. Create a cardboard replica of the gingerbread house before attempting the real thing. Look at pictures of the White House and notice that the main house is a rectangular cube. Purchase poster board your local school supply retailer. Gather tape, scissors, ruler and a pencil and begin your White House replica.
3. Measure your rectangular cookie sheet. Use your ruler and a pencil to draw three rectangles and three squares several inches smaller than the cookie sheet. The squares need to have the same measurements as the sides of the rectangles. Cut the rectangles and the squares from the poster board with a pair of scissors.
4. Tape two squares to two rectangles in order to form a closed cube. Place the remaining rectangle on top of the cube. Cut another piece of poster board to cover the roof if needed. Begin work on the front door.
5. Roll several pieces of cardboard into eight tubes the height of the White House replica. Tape the tubes closed. Use the remaining square to create three more squares. Fold one square in half to form the north entrance of the White House replica. Cut the poster board at the fold to create a triangle. Tape the bottom of the triangle to the edge of one of the squares. Use the remaining squares to create a roof over the exposed sides of the poster board triangle. Tape the pieces together.
6. Fasten four rolled tubes under the poster board triangle. Tape two tubes to each edge but under the roof of the entrance. Place the entrance against the replica to see if the tubes need to be trimmed. Trim the tubes so the roof line of the house and the entrance of your replica match. Secure the entrance to the house.
7. Compare your replica to a picture of the White House. Create any structures you want to duplicate in gingerbread. Imagine windows and other ornamentation. When you are satisfied, take your replica apart carefully labeling each piece of cardboard. Get ready to make gingerbread.
Build the White House
8. Follow your gingerbread recipe. Grease the back of the cookie sheet. Roll your dough with a rolling pin to 1/4-inch thickness on the greased cooking sheet. Use your poster board cut outs as templates for the gingerbread. Leave the gingerbread dough on the cookie sheet and bake according to the recipe's instructions or until golden brown.
9. Place the templates over the warm gingerbread and trim any excess. Allow gingerbread to cool on the cookie sheets but use a spatula to loosen them before they cool completely. Store baked gingerbread on a metal cooling rack.
10. Frost the gingerbread with white icing before assembling the White House. Let icing harden. Put together your gingerbread White House exactly as you put together the poster board White House. Use moist frosting in place of tape. Try to create pillars from gingerbread or use candy canes or other stick candy. Hold pieces of gingerbread together with stick pins until the frosting hardens.
11. Draw windows and doors on the gingerbread house with frosting markers or a icing from a pastry bag. Create ornamentation with gumdrops or other candies. Decorate the gingerbread White House to your heart's desire.
