Make a Gingerbread Potting Shed

This simple structure and just a few decorations are all you need for an adorable gingerbread potting shed.

You will need: gingerbread dough (follows)/ rolling pin/ gingerbread template (follows)/ knife/ circle cookie cutters/ food dye/ buttercream or frosting of choice/ piping bags/ assorted tips as desired, sheet cake (optional)/ light corn syrup/ shredded coconut/ Make the gingerbread by whisking together 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl mix together 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature), 1 cup packed light brown sugar, and 1 large egg (room temperature) beating until smooth on medium speed. Add 1 cup unsulfured molasses and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat until light and fully (about 5 minutes). Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until fully incorporated. Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to one week. Preheat oven to 350˚F before rolling out.

Use this template to make your gingerbread pieces. Roll out the prepared dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured work surface. Cut out your template pieces.

Using the template pieces as your guide, cut out the dough pieces with a sharp knife. To prevent sticking you may want to dip the end of the knife in flour. Carefully transfer the cut-out pieces to a parchment lined baking sheet leaving a couple of inches of space between pieces. Bake the pieces for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool completely on the tray. The pieces are ready to use within about an hour, but would be better if left to dry out for a day.

Cut out circles of varying sizes for the tree.

Using buttercream or frosting of your choice, fill a piping bag fitted with a circle tip and make a bead of frosting on the edges where pieces will meet. For added stability and appearance we used a simple sheet cake topped with white buttercream as our base. You can press the structural pieces into the icing for added support. When the pieces are in place, add another (liberal) bead of buttercream to the outside of the house at all of the joints.

Add two window box pieces on top of each other to the shed just below the window. Secure them with a bead of buttercream. Repeat for the shutters. Add green food dye to some of the buttercream and place in a piping bag fitted with a leaf tip. Use the buttercream to create plenty of greenery coming from the top of the window box. Make red buttercream to add some flowers to the greenery.

Stack the circles from largest to smallest placing "dripping" buttercream between each layer to simulate snow branch tips. 

Poke the gingerbread "stones" into the icing to create a walkway to the front door of your potting shed.

Lightly brush the roof with a bit of light corn syrup.

Use finely shredded coconut to sprinkle on the rooftop while the corn syrup is still wet. Cover it completely.

Add a circle "sign" to the front of your shed and decorate with some greenery and flowers to indicate a potting shed. Add decorative touches to your door or other areas as desired. We made tiny dough "pots" and topped with even more greenery and flowers to add to the front door.