Gingerbread House Icing is the perfect royal icing recipe to hold together all of your baked gingerbread cookies!
We start with Perfect Gingerbread Cookies or even Sugar Cookies as a base. This gingerbread house icing is quick drying, sturdy and strong.
Gingerbread House Icing is the perfect “glue” for your baking! This can be used to make full gingerbread houses however, we also use it to make gingerbread houses out of graham cookies or mini gingerbread houses. (I have the cutest mini gingerbread house cookie cutters).
How to Make Gingerbread House Icing
Gingerbread house icing is more than just icing, it’s the glue to hold your gingerbread house together. This is most definitely the most difficult part of making a gingerbread house… but not anymore! The key is to make sure you have the right icing that dries quickly and holds well.
This gingerbread house icing uses raw egg whites and while I’m completely fine using them raw, if you’d prefer you can also buy pasteurized egg whites in a carton to use in this recipe.
You’ll want to make sure your eggs are at room temperature.
As you begin mixing the ingredients they will form a pasty icing mixture however you’ll need to continue mixing to make sure it’s thick and glossy. When you run the back of a spoon through the icing, it should hold its shape.
If your gingerbread icing is over mixed, it can become too thick making it difficult to pipe. In this case, you can add vanilla or water to thin it out a little bit (about 1/4 teaspoon at a time).
This recipe can also be used to make smiles on gingerbread men and of course to decorate your house or even to attach decorations to Sugar Cookies or Gingerbread Cookies. It’s a thick icing, intended to be used as glue so it doesn’t work well as an icing to decorate entire cookies.
More Christmas Baking You’ll Love
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- Christmas M&M Cookies
- Mexican Wedding Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Eggnog Cookies
- Hot Chocolate Brownie Cups
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large egg whites room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whip egg whites until foamy, then add cream of tartar. Continue to mix for 30 seconds.
- Add in powdered sugar a little bit at a time mixing well.
- Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, turn mixer to high and continue beating until thick and the icing holds its shape (about 3-5 minutes).
- Store well covered.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
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Hi will the icing recipe still work if you don’t have cream of tartar ?????
I’ve only made this with cream of tartar, it helps stabilize the egg whites. I can’t say for sure how it would work without it.
Easy and PERFECT for gingerbread houses! Exactly what I was looking for–thank you!
This icing did not work and my house collapsed
Not happy
Sorry to hear that the icing didn’t work for you Ginger. Were your eggs at room temperature? When you beat it, was it thick and glossy, and did it hold its shape when a spoon was run through it?
Can I color the icing and if so when would I add the food coloring ?
Yes, a bit of gel food coloring can be added.
How essential is the cream of tartar? I don’t have any and don’t want to fill up the pantry with something I use once a year. Thanks!
I’ve only made this with cream of tartar, it helps stabilize the egg whites. If you don’t have any sometimes you can buy it in bulk (and just get a small amount) wherever they sell bulk baking products in your area. I hope that helps.
I heard cornstarch is a great stabilizer!
Ended up with icing that was too thick to pipe (even after microwaving for short bursts). Tastes good, like liquid powdered sugar, but gave up and ate the gingerbread house fixings solo.
If your gingerbread icing is overmixed, it can become too thick making it difficult to pipe. In this case, you can add vanilla or water to thin it out a little bit (about ¼ teaspoon at a time)
Icing worked great for gingerbread houses!
So glad it worked well for you Stacy!
We made this over the weekend with homemade GF gingerbread cookies cut into squares (biscuit cutter) and made houses with it all. It worked beautifully! Instant favourite! The only question I have, what if you wanted to make the icing flavored? I think you’d just add a little extract, but how much is too much? I am thinking 1/4 to 1/2 tsp, adding only a little bit at a time at the end while the mixer is running (and fluffing up the peaks). Would love to hear your thoughts on that. I was thinking hazelnut would be pretty epic.
I haven’t tried it but it would depend on the type of extract. Something like peppermint or almond are quite strong so you don’t need lots to add a bit of flavor (where vanilla might need a bit more). I think if it were just a tiny amount (¼ teaspoon) it might be ok. Let us know how it works out for you!
Nice
I just made a Gingerbread log cabin with our grandson and a friend and this recipe was great! They each did their own and I had doubled the recipe using a 2 lb bag of confectioners sugar and it worked very well!, thanks!
Sounds like such a fun time! Glad you loved the recipe!
Hello, thanks for sharing the recipe. Would I be able to make the icing a week in advance and store it in ziplock bags?
The earliest I would recommend making it is the night before. Store it in a ziplock bag and make sure to squeeze all of the air out!
I used this to ‘glue’ together my cookie turkeys for Thanksgiving and it worked amazing! I tried to pull a marshmallow off after it dried and it ripped, win in my book. Can’t wait to try your gingerbread cookies for Christmas and decorate them. Thank you!!
PS- I didn’t have room temp eggs so I put the whites in the microwave for 10 seconds and it worked perfect.
Thanks for sharing!
Can I replace egg whites with meringue?. IF So please tell me how’ve many tsp or Tblsp per egg white. thanks
I have only tried this as written with egg whites. Let us know how it goes if you try it.
Does this icing need to be refrigerated? My friends and I plan on making Gingerbread houses closer to Christmas and I don’t have that much room in my fridge
This icing does not need to be refrigerated. It dries hardened.
How far in advance can this recipe be made? We are hosting a party after church Sunday night and are having a graham cracker house contest. Hoping I can have this made in the morning/afternoon before we leave for church.
Also I bought 20 condiment bottles from the dollar store, hoping this will be a good applicator for little hands over a piping bag…we’ll see.
Hi Barbi, making it that morning should work great, I wouldn’t make it more then the night before for sure! You will want to store it in a zippered bag with the air squeezed completely out of it to keep it from hardening then add it to the condiment bottles when you plan to use it. Hopefully that works out for you! Have fun decorating!
Hi what’s the best way to store and “revive” it when ready?
I may need to make this the night before a ginger bread house party. Thanks!
Hi Sara, if making the night before I would store it in a zippered bag with the air squeezed completely out of it to keep it from hardening. Then you could even snip the end off the zippered bag and use it for piping onto your gingerbread houses.
havent done it yet
Can this be prepared and stored ahead of time? Classroom project!
Yes, this can be store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
If I am helping with a Christmas party and we are making around 50 gingerbread houses out of Graham crackers how much of this frosting do you think I will need?
Oh boy, it sounds like you are going to be busy Lyndsey! As for how much icing that is a tough one to answer, if you are just using it glue the houses together you can get away with a lot less than if you intend to go crazy with decorating, adding snow, candies, and cereal shingles like we did! We used close to a full recipe to create the gingerbread house in your photos if that helps you decide.
This year we are making gingerbread house and cookies for the first time in 22 years. Your “glue” is going to be very helpful. We are especially happy that it is edible as well as construction material. hahaha
Your newsletter is one of the few I have kept, and this icing is just another example of why.
Thank you.
Enjoy Gregory and have fun making gingerbread houses!!