How to Make a Gingerbread Schoolhouse

Fairy-tale cottages are all well and good - but why not show your support for education with a little red schoolhouse instead? It's just as easy to make, and will set you apart from the crowd.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Gingerbread Dough And Mortar
• Lots Of Candies
• Red Sugar
• Kitchen Utility Knives
• Rolling Pins
• Scissors
• Scissors
• Paper And Pencils
• Rulers

Make a Pattern

1. Gather a ruler, pencil and paper.

2. Make a pattern for the long schoolhouse walls: draw and cut out a rectangle 10 inches long by 5 inches high. Make windows: measure and draw horizontal lines 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inches up from the bottom. Measuring from either side, draw vertical lines at the 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-inch mark (measuring in from either side). Cut out the two rectangles.

3. Make a pattern for the short schoolhouse walls: draw a rectangle 6 inches wide by 5 inches high. At the center of one of the long sides (the three-inch mark) measure and mark an additional 2 inches - this is the roofline. Draw lines from this point to the top corners of the rectangle (essentially, you're adding a triangle that sits on top of the rectangle). Cut out this shape in one piece - twice.

4. Make a door and window in one of the short walls: measure 1 and 2 1/2 inches in from the left side, and 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 inches up from the bottom. Then measure 1 and 2 1/2 inches in from the right side, and 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inches up from the bottom. Cut out both squares.

5. Make two windows in the other short wall: measure and draw horizontal lines 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inches up from the bottom; measure (from either side) and draw vertical lines at 1, 2, 4 and 5 inches. Cut out the two squares.

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

7. Make a pattern for the cupola: draw and cut out two squares, each 2 inches by 2 inches. Put one of these aside. Take the other and measure 1/2 inch in from the center point of one of the short sides. Draw lines from this point to the two corners (you're essentially taking a triangle-shaped bite out of one of the short sides; this is so it will straddle the roofline). Cut out the triangle.

8. Make a pattern for the cupola roof: draw and cut out a square 3 inches by 3 inches. Mark the midpoint (1 1/2 inches) of one of the sides. Draw lines from this point to the two opposite corners to make a steep triangle. Cut out the triangle.

Cut Out Your Schoolhouse

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

10. Use the pattern pieces you've just made to cut out four schoolhouse walls (two long, two short), two roof pieces, two of each of the cupola pieces (four total), and four cupola roof pieces.

11. Cut out the windows on the long schoolhouse walls.

12. Cut out the door and windows in the schoolhouse walls. Trim 1/8 inch off the door piece all the way around.

13. Cut out stairs from the scraps: you'll need 3 pieces, each 1 1/2 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."

Construct Your Schoolhouse

15. Spread mortar thickly along the short edges of the schoolhouse walls.

16. Stand them up on a tray and join them together to make a box with an open top; let dry for about an hour.

17. Build the steps while the walls dry: stack the strips in front of the door beginning with the widest (1 1/2 inches) and ending with the narrowest, using thin coats of mortar between them.

18. Spread mortar thickly along the top edge of the schoolhouse walls all the way around and on the long edge of one of the roof pieces.

19. Place the roof pieces on the roof, pushing them together firmly so that they meet solidly at the roofline.

20. Prop them with something solid (cookbooks, for example) so that they don't slide down the roof as they dry (they should be reasonably solid in about an hour).

21. Use mortar to prop the door at an inviting angle while the roof dries.

22. Spread mortar along the inside of both the cutout triangles and along the long sides of all four cupola pieces.

23. Build your cupola in the center of the roof. 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 cupola and hold it steady while it dries.

24. Make the cupola cap while the cupola dries: spread mortar along the two long sides of each triangle and join the triangles together.

25. Use mortar to attach the cap to the cupola.

26. Decorate your schoolhouse with candy, using the mortar to secure it.

27. Drip some mortar from the eaves to suggest icicles; dust with powdered sugar for snow.

Tips & Warnings

• Build the schoolhouse on a tray large enough to accommodate whatever "setting" - trees, a swing set, an outhouse - you want to add.
• Use soup cans to prop up the walls and hold them until the mortar dries.
• If you want to put a bell in your cupola, do so before you attach the cupola cap.