Protein Gingerbread House
Ingredients
For the walls, we used approximately 6 x our original gingerbread cookie recipe. For exact measurements, see below.
- 6 cups of wholemeal or spelt flour
- 6 scoops Bulk Nutrients WPI/WPC Vanilla protein powder
- 6 Tbsp almond meal
- 210g organic butter or coconut oil
- 6 Tbsp rice malt, honey, maple or molasses (we used no added sugar maple)
- 180g chopped dried dates
- 6 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 12 tsp coconut sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 6 tsp cinnamon*
- 3 tsp clove*
- 3 tsp nutmeg*
- 3 tsp ginger*
For the roof, we used 2 x our original gingerbread cookie recipe and added 2 Tbsp cocoa powder to the recipe. For exact measurements, see below.
- 2 cups wholemeal or spelt flour
- 2 scoops Bulk Nutrients WPI/WPC Vanilla protein powder
- 2 Tbsp almond meal
- 70g organic butter or coconut oil
- 2 Tbsp rice malt, honey, maple or molasses (we used no added sugar maple)
- 60g chopped dried dates
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 4 tsp coconut sugar
- 2 egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon*
- 1 tsp clove*
- 1 tsp nutmeg*
- 1 tsp ginger*
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
* If you love spice, you can increase the measurements of each of these to suit your tastes.
For the caramel to stick your house together:
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup water
Directions
Make the mix and divide into 3-4 batches. Wrap mix in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30minutes before rolling out between sheets of baking paper. Roll mix to a 1/4 inch thickness.
Bake: Until golden (approximately 15-20 minutes). They must be golden, if not they will be a soft cookie and not crisp which will cause weak points in your house and can cause a collapse!
Any extra gingerbread dough; freeze for later use, or make into our cookies!
To make your stencil
Print out a stencil – you can opt for a template like this one OR you can make your own:
- For the roof, cut a 26 x 15cm rectangle and for the sidewalls, cut a 24 x 15cm rectangle
- For the front and rear walls (above), use a card at least 16 x 25cm in size. Draw a 16cm (width) x 15cm (height) rectangle on the bottom of the cardboard. To shape the roof, mark a point in the centre of the top of the rectangle then mark another point directly above it, 10cm higher, for the top point of the roof. Draw lines from the top corners of the rectangle to the rooftop.
- For the chimney, draw a 3cm (width) x 6cm (height) rectangle. To fit the slant of the roof, measure 2.5cm from the top of one long side and mark a point. Draw a line from this point diagonally to the bottom of the rectangle on the other side. Cut it out, then flip the template, trace it and cut out another piece.
For the caramel, to stick your house together there really isn’t much of a substitute for the strength of caramel syrup – warning – this part is not clean- but it is Christmas after all!
- Bring sugar and the water to a boil in a medium saucepan; reduce heat, and simmer until thickened and light brown, about 10 minutes. Use immediately.
For the decorations, decorate as you wish! Click here for some awesome ideas and inspiration!
For our ‘snow’ we combined desiccated coconut with melted organic white chocolate, with about a tablespoon of cacao butter or coconut oil.
Gingerbread houses are all about personality – so let your creativity shine!
We wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas!
Formerly working as part of Bulk Nutrients R&D team for many years, Nicole Frain is a food scientist, personal trainer and a professional international cyclist.
She's applied her learnings at the national stage for bodybuilding, and has several qualifications in Food Science, Nutrition and Business!
More about Nicole Frain