Gingerbread Traditions

One of our favorite Ivy Hotel holiday traditions is the annual gingerbread house. Each year, our talented Pastry Chef imagines a whimsical gingerbread display to be enjoyed by guests all throughout the season. The excitement always grows around the grand reveal and this year was no exception.

Magdalena Pastry Chef, Lauren Petri, built Baltimore’s iconic Penn Station into a gingerbread dream, complete with trains, trees, and our very own mansion next door. Below she shares the recipe she used for the gingerbread, which is ideal for crafting your very own gingerbread masterpiece.

Structural Gingerbread

Makes Two Houses

2 cups corn syrup
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
1 ¼ cup butter (2 ½ sticks)

9 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons cloves

-In a medium saucepan, melt together the corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter until the sugar is dissolved and the butter is completely melted.

-Meanwhile, combine all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attached.

-Once the butter mixture is completely melted, immediately pour into the dry ingredients and mix on low until fully incorporated. Once everything is together, it must be rolled immediately between two sheets of greased parchment paper or wax paper. The dough will dry out quickly when exposed to the air and when the dough cools down it will be very difficult to roll out. If it cools down too much, simply reheat it in the microwave in 30 second intervals.

-Roll the dough to ¼-inch thick as evenly as possible. This will allow the cookies to bake evenly and help avoid any soft spots in the dough.

-Bake in a 350F oven for 10-15 minutes or until a nice golden brown. The time will vary depending on the size of pieces you are baking.

-Allow to cool completely before decorating and assembling. Decorate with royal icing!