Happy Holidays! I’m back with a Stranger Things-inspired holiday treat! I am a HUGE fan of the show and wanted to create something that would be instantly recognizable to fans of the show. I came across a website of floor plans from popular televisions shows and found Will’s house! It was a no-brainer that I had to create a Stranger Things Gingerbread House.
To make the gingerbread house:
- Gingerbread Cookie Dough (see below)
- Thick Royal Icing (see below)
- Store-bought graham crackers
- Piping bags and assorted tips (small round and petal)
- Candy Canes and assorted candies for decorating
- Black Gel Food Coloring
- A large cake board
- Mini battery-powered Christmas lights (for inside of house)
- Small led or regular Christmas lights (for roof)
- Template – Stranger Things House Template (PDF) Stranger Things House Template (Word Doc)
- Will’s House Floor Plan – Stranger Things House (PDF) Stranger Things House (Word Doc)
For the dough:
- 3 c. AP Flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ c. soft Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- ½ c. molasses
- 2 tsp vanilla
For the royal icing:
- 2 lbs powdered sugar (aka confectioner’s or icing sugar)
- 4 ½ Tbls meringue powder
- ½ c. plus 2 Tbls warm water
- 1 Tbls. vanilla extract (can also just replace with water since you’re not eating it)
Let me show you how it’s done!
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
- Make the dough. Whisk your dry ingredients (flour, salt, and spices) together in a mixing bowl and set aside for later. Cream together the butter and sugar either by hand or with a mixer until just combined. Don’t incorporate too much air. Mix in the egg, and then the molasses and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and slowly mix until it’s all combined. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and bring it together into a ball with your hands. Sprinkle with more flour if it’s too sticky. Optional: Chill your dough in the fridge for 30 minutes – 1 hour. It will make it much easier to roll out and cut, but you MUST bring the cookies back to room temperature before baking.
- Make the House. Roll out the dough on some parchment paper to about a ¼ inch thickness and lay the templates on top. Cut out with a pizza cutter or sharp knife. For the sides with windows use a knife to cut the shape of the windows but leave them in while they back to keep their shape. Once the walls are fully baked re-cut the windows and remove those pieces. This recipe was JUST enough to make all the template pieces for me so you shouldn’t have to make a second batch, but that might depend on how thick you roll the dough out.
- Bake. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. (This is longer than the smaller cookies bake, but I wanted to make sure the walls weren’t soft at all once fully baked). Let cool fully before decorating.
- Make the Roof. Use a small round piping tip to make 26 holes in the roof tile before baking. 8 in a line at the top, and 9 on the middle and bottom lines. Bake like the other pieces.
- Make the Royal Icing. Whisk the meringue powder, water, and lemon juice in the (clean) bowl of a stand mixer until frothy. Add all of the powdered sugar, and slowly mix with a very clean paddle attachment for 3-4 minutes. (Don’t go past medium speed, you don’t want to incorporate too much air). After 3-4 minutes add the vanilla and beat for another 5-6 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and mix for a bit longer. Use a bit more water to thin it out if you need so it’s pipeable, but still very thick.
- Make the Siding of the House. Tint some icing gray and put into piping bag fitting with a small petal tip. Starting at the bottom of a side piece pipe lines of icing horizontally withe the smaller end of the piping top toward the top. Skip the windows of course. Then pipe on the window frames in white icing and a small roudn tip. You can also make the crosses in the windows, but I left them out. Make sure to add the Door to the Front Piece with brown icing and a small round candy for the doorknob.
- Decorate the Roof piece. Spread white icing all over the roof piece and something long like a skewer to get the icing out of the holes you made earlier. Put your led light through each hole and use more icing to secure them if necessary. Pipe on the alphabet in black icing with a small round piping tip. Let dry completely.
- Assemble the House. Glue a side piece down on your cake board with royal icing. Tip: Side A is the Left Side (two windows) Side B is the Right Side (three windows). Use some small soup cans or spice containers to keep them upright while they dry. Glue the next side piece to it using icing along the side as well as the bottom. Continue until all four walls are up. Let dry overnight before continuing.
- Make the inside of the house: Use the floor plan of Will’s House as a guide and guide the store-bought graham crackers to create the interior of the house. Glue the walls in with royal icing and cut any small pieces you need with a large sharp knife. You may have some graham casualties, but you should have enough if you need more. Decorate the two living room walls with ABSc like in season one. Use black royal icing to pipe on the alphabet and small candies for the lights. You can go wild decorating the inside of the house with other candies and chocolates. I even made a green fondant couch!!
- Decorate the outside. Royal icing the porch piece down and make 4 starter holes for the columns. Cut some candy canes to be the size you need and glue them in. Lay the Roof Overhang piece on top. Spread royal icing all over the board and have fun decorating with different candies!
- Add the roof piece. Finally, add the roof on top (you don’t have to add icing if you want it to be removable – it should stay) and light it up!
And there it is – my Stranger Things Gingerbread House and me!!
