Valentine’s Day Gingerbread House

Ingredients

• 2 cups light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups margarine
• 9 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Royal Icing (recipe below)
• Decorative cookies, candies, sprinkles, etc.
For the icing:
• 3 Tbsp meringue powder or 3 egg whites (if you plan on eating the icing, use the meringue powder)
• 6 Tbsp warm water
• 4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

• In a medium microwave safe bowl, heat corn syrup, brown sugar and margarine until the margarine has melted and sugar is completely dissolved. Stir until smooth.
• In a large bowl or mixer, combine flour and salt. Add the heated sugar mixture. Blend in the mixer, or knead with your hands, into dough.
• Combine the dough into a large mound and wrap in plastic. Let dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
• After 30 minutes, turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Unwrap the dough, and roll out into 1/8-1/4 inch thickness on a large piece of parchment paper (1/4 inch thickness makes pretty thick and heavy pieces to work with, if you use 1/8 inch the pieces are thinner and you can stretch the dough to make two houses). If the dough is too hard, you can microwave it for 20-30 seconds. This softens the dough and makes it more manageable.
• Lightly flour the cardboard patterns and place them on the rolled-out dough, leaving 1 inch space between pieces. For clean edges, cut with a pizza wheel. Remove and reserve excess dough.
• Grab the opposite edges of the parchment paper and transfer to baking sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes or until pieces are firm and lightly browned on the edges. Cool completely before removing from pans.
• Once pieces are cool, you can start assembling your house using the Royal Icing and decorative cookies, candies, sprinkles, etc. Every gingerbread house is unique - use your imagination and have fun!
For the icing:
• Blend all the ingredients together in a mixer, scraping the sides as you go.
• This icing hardens and dries out quickly. As you decorate your house, take out the amount you will need and leave the remaining icing in a bowl covered with a wet dishcloth or plastic wrap.