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tiny gingerbread houses, a few variations

gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug

Earlier I made gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug, but I wanted to work on a few more things.

gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug

First, since these are meant to be eaten I wanted to cut down on the amount of royal icing. I still used it to assemble the houses, but to get sugar decorations to stick to the roofs I decided to use simple syrup. I heated one part water and one part sugar and let it bubble for a while on the stove just so it would thicken. After it was thoroughly cooled I put a dot on the roof and spread it around using a small brush I keep to use as a mini pastry brush. Then I sprinkled sanding sugar or nonpareils. I let it dry overnight and it worked nicely. It tastes a lot better than a layer of royal icing, and I like the way it allows the gingerbread to peek through.

gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug

Second, I added a chimney. I rolled out some gingerbread dough a bit thicker and cut out a square-ish shape, using the house template to get the correct angle.

gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug

I think it turned out very cute, though I found that the taller chimneys looked incongruous, so I’ll stick to very short chimneys.

gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug

Third I decided to see what whole happen if I moved the door shape, the part that fits over the mug, off to one side to allow more of the house to hang on the outside of the mug. It worked just fine but moving it over made the pieces more delicate and I broke three out of six during assembly, enough to convince me to keep the door where it is.

gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug

Last I wanted to see if it would work out using sugar cookie dough. This was from a mix (I know, I know but I had hit my cookie dough-making wall) and spread quite a bit despite a good amount of chilling before baking. I trimmed the doors when the cookies came out of the oven and were still pliable. They still worked out nicely. Now I’m wondering if there would be a way to make one out of shortbread.

gingerbread houses meant to perch on the edge of a mug

· comments [116] · 12-22-2009 · categories:christmas ·

116 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Mom That's Cool! // Dec 5, 2011 at 11:38 am

    […] you’re interested in making these cute as cute can be gingerbread house mug side cookies, visit the Not Martha blog for instructions and the details on different methods she tried to make […]

  • 2 Sheera // Dec 12, 2011 at 11:39 am

    Wonderful site! I was just looking for something different for my the children in my home daycare and THIS IS IT! I have a lot of children, so I like the idea of individual houses and adding them to a mug of hot chocolate gives it the “different” factor! Thank you!!

  • 3 Me // Dec 13, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    I was led to this via a facebook link, and now Im going to make some!

  • 4 Karlie // Dec 16, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    I just made these in the sugar cookie variation, absolutely incredible and lovely! Thanks!

  • 5 Katie // Dec 18, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    I’d love to “Like” this on facebook because they are so totally adorable!! Thanks for sharing… can’t wait to make these with the kids!!

  • 6 Heidi // Dec 22, 2011 at 8:48 am

    Love these tiny houses! Adorable! Thanks for the creative insights!

  • 7 Portrait Photographer Sydney // Apr 30, 2012 at 4:19 am

    Lovely and cute. I will try making this with white and dark chocolate as well just for variation in colour. Thanks for the idea.

  • 8 vikki // Nov 3, 2012 at 11:35 am

    http://vikki-vikkisblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/gingerbread-houses-and-men.html

    I made them they are SO cute!!
    Thank you :)

  • 9 migus // Nov 25, 2012 at 10:54 am

    super and cute :)

  • 10 Trudie // Dec 23, 2012 at 1:52 am

    Zo mooi !!!
    Ga ik zeker maken voor mijn kerstdiner !!
    Dank je wel !

  • 11 Mini casette di Natale | Cake Your Life // Nov 21, 2013 at 8:13 am

    […] made a few variations including a chimney and a version made out of sugar cookie dough which you might be interested […]

  • 12 Virginia // Dec 8, 2013 at 10:29 pm

    Wow, it’s been four years since you did this, and not ONCE has anyone made one for me or pointed me in the direction of this post. This is the CUTEST idea when you need a lot of relatively inexpensive presents. I love it!

  • 13 Karen // Dec 16, 2013 at 4:33 am

    I was looking for a cooky cutter for this. I sure was tickled pick to see your lit’ gingerbread houses. What a brilliant idea. I just <3 them all. I'm sure they will be a hit w/ any coffee, tea & milk break. Hope to get a few of these made before Xmas. It's just around the corner. :) Holidays!

  • 14 srbhara // Dec 22, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    I use melted sugar in a cast iron pan to make the cement when I do big gingerbread houses…just put sugar in the fry pan and let it melt…use as soon as it is liquified…it will get dark if you cook it too fast and long but it works like crazy…just be very careful not to get it on you as it also burns like crazy!

  • 15 Krystal // Mar 7, 2014 at 2:56 am

    These look too good to eat!

  • 16 Maggie // Dec 4, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    The traditional “icebox cookie” recipe from the 40’s works wonderfully. Let it stay overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out..covered in Saran type wrap.

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