How to Make a Gingerbread Ranch, Part 1

Fairy-tale cottages are fine in their place, but if you long to escape to the wide open spaces, why not build a gingerbread ranch instead? This takes a lot of gingerbread - but go ahead, think big. (Part 1 describes how to build the ranch house; see Part 2 for the barn and corral.)

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Frostings
• Gingerbread Dough
• Lots Of Candies
• Kitchen Utility Knives
• Pastry Bags
• Rolling Pins
• Scissors
• Scissors
• Rulers

Making a Pattern for the Ranch House

1. Gather a ruler, pencil and paper. (Cardboard from a cereal box works well, too.)

2. Make a pattern for the ranch house walls: Draw and cut out two rectangles 10 inches long by 5 inches high.

3. Measure, mark and cut a door and two windows on one of the long walls and a couple of windows in the other. Try to space the windows equidistant from the door so the front wall is symmetrical; the back wall is less visible. The door should start 1 1/2 inches up from the bottom (to accommodate the porch you're going to build) and be 2 to 3 inches high.

4. Make a pattern for the narrow walls: Draw a rectangle 6 inches wide by 5 inches high. Situate the pattern in front of you so that the rectangle is horizontal, find the center point along the top of the rectangle (the 3-inch mark), and measure and mark a point 2 inches above the top of the rectangle. Draw lines from this point to the top corners of the rectangle - this is your roofline. (Essentially, you're adding a triangle sitting on top of the rectangle.) Cut out this shape in one piece.

5. Measure, mark and cut a window in the narrow wall; center it about 2 inches up from the bottom.

6. Make a pattern for the roof: Draw and cut out a rectangle 4 1/2 inches by 11 inches.

7. Make a pattern for the chimney: Draw and cut out two squares, each 2 inches by 2 inches. Lay one of these aside. Find the center of one side of the other square and from this measure 1/2 inch in toward the middle. Mark this point and then draw lines from it to the two nearest corners. (You're essentially taking a triangle-shaped bite out of one of the sides; this is so it will straddle the roofline.) Cut out the triangle.

8. Make a pattern for the porch: Draw and cut out a rectangle 10 inches long by 4 inches wide.

Cutting Out Your House

9. Roll out gingerbread dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch.

10. Use the pattern pieces you've just made to cut out the house: four walls (two long, two narrow), two roof pieces, and two of each of the chimney pieces (four total).

11. Cut out the windows, then cut a door in one of the long house walls.

12. Cut 8 strips, 4 inches by 1/4 inch, for 8 porch railings; 6 strips, 2 inches by 1/2 inch, for porch posts; and 15 "bricks," 1/2 inch by 1 inch, for porch supports.

13. Cut out stairs from the scraps: You'll need three pieces, each 2 inches long with the following widths: 1/2 inch, 1 inch, and 1 1/2 inches.

14. Bake as directed in "How to Make Gingerbread for a Gingerbread House."

Building Your House and Porch

15. Spread your frosting "mortar" thickly along the short edges of the house walls.

16. Stand them up and join them together to make a box with an open top. Use soup cans to prop up the walls and hold them until the mortar dries.

17. Spread mortar thickly along the top edge of the walls, all the way around, and on the long edge of one of the roof pieces. Place the roof pieces on the roof, pushing them together firmly so that they meet solidly at the roofline. Prop them with something solid (perhaps cookbooks) to hold them so that they don't slide down the roof as they dry (it should be reasonably solid in about an hour).

18. Spread mortar along the inside edges of both the cutout triangles and along the side edges of all four chimney pieces.

19. Build your chimney on the roofline, about 1/3 of the way in from the side of the house. You can't prop anything on the roof (it's not strong enough) so have something ready - a piece of plastic wrap or a clean strip of rag or cheesecloth - to wrap around the chimney to hold it steady while it dries.

20. Stack the bricks 3-high in front of the two front corners of the house and at two points 4 inches in front of this; place the last set in the center of the "box" you've just outlined. Spread mortar on one long edge of the porch; set it on the bricks, and secure it to the house; build the stairs in the middle (right in front of the door) by stacking the pieces from biggest to smallest; let dry for about an hour.

21. Build your porch railing (you have to do this while it's lying down and set it up after the mortar dries): Make a section by laying a rail (at right angles to the post) flush with the top of a post and across the post at the midpoint (so that it looks kind of like a capital F); make 3 more; allow to dry. Set up the last posts at the corners of the porch and join two sections at each corner (so that a forward- and backward-facing F meet at each corner post at a 90-degree angle); allow to dry.

22. Use mortar to prop the door at an inviting angle.

23. Decorate your house with candy, using the mortar to secure it: Frame windows and door, edge the roof and the foundation - the sky's the limit here. Drip some mortar from the eaves to suggest icicles; dust with powdered sugar for snow.

Tips & Warnings

• Build your house on a surface that's large enough to also accommodate the barn and corral.