Last year I decided to finally learn to make those darling tiny gingerbread mug houses. I wanted to just enjoy the process and not feel like they had to be Martha Stewart approved designs.
Not only was I able to trick my youngest son and his girlfriend into making them with me, they’ve already asked when we’re gonna make them this year. I can’t wait!
Today I’m sharing what we did so you can have fun making and gifting these as well. I’m not a baker AT ALL and I have zero patience for things and these still turned out great.
Just imagine how amazing they’ll turn out if you have patience and actual skill!
What you’ll need:
1. The PERFECT gingerbread and royal icing recipes. Luckily Michael from Inspired by Charm has already done the hard work for us.
It’s simple, foolproof, delicious, easy to work with, AND if cared for, can last years. The finished photos of the houses in this post are from what we made last year, I unpacked them and took photos of them today–a year later.
2. Tiny house cookie cutters – I use these
3. Icing piping tools like this or this. (I Iike working with mostly the smaller tips)
4. Sprinkles! I love these, these and these.
5. Cellophane bags to gift them — they’d be great gifted with a pretty mug.
Simply follow Michael’s directions, then when you roll out your dough, you’ll use your tiny mug house cookie cutters to make your shapes.
Make the royal icing and, once the cookies cool, use it to glue them all together.
Here’s a fun little YouTube video where you can watch how to glue it all together and some decorating ideas.
Need more icing inspiration? I created a guide on Instagram with a few more ideas.