This Halloween gingerbread house was inspired by the Haunted Sweet Shop Luminary from Bath & Body Works. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make a cookie version!
You can place flameless candles inside to make the windows glow. The full tutorial, templates, and recipes to make them yourself are in the Cookie Art Club!
You can watch this members-only video tutorial (without ads!) when you join my Cookie Art Club!
Get access to exclusive cookie decorating tutorials, my cookie and royal icing recipes, and individualized cookie decorating advice by joining my Cookie Art Club!
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The edible glass windows on this Halloween gingerbread house are made with pre-cooked Isomalt from Simicakes. I used to be hesitant to work with Isomalt because I was intimated by it! The only experience I had with it was when I used it to make pulled sugar decorations and that was very difficult! But now I use it all the time to make windows on my gingerbread houses. You just heat it up in the microwave or on the stove and it’s ready to be poured.
Make sure you have the cookie on a non-stick baking mat like a Silpat when you pour the hot Isomalt into the windows!
I used my gingerbread cookie recipe to make this house, which you can find in the Cookie Art Club along with all of my cookie and icing recipes!
Here’s what you’ll need to make this Halloween Gingerbread House Luminary
These supplies are available in my Amazon store
- Chilled sheet of gingerbread cookie dough
- House templates
- Skull template
- Craft knife for cutting windows
- Baking sheets and perforated baking mats
- Non-stick silicone baking mat
- Pre-cooked Isomalt
- Royal Icing
- Black, yellow, orange, and pink food coloring (I used Chefmaster and Ann Clark brands)
- 4 12” decorating bags with couplers
- Decorating tips 1, 2, and 3
- Bag ties or rubber bands
- Scribe tool
- Wax paper covered board for skull royal icing transfers
- Vodka, grain alcohol, or paint powder activator for painting the windows
- Paint palette or small dishes
- Paper covered board for assembling and displaying the house
- Round decorator brush (I used Sweet Sticks)
- Small piece of modeling chocolate or fondant
- Flameless tea lights for illuminating the windows
Relevant tutorials: Royal Icing 101, How To Pipe Filigree, How To Pipe Borders (available in the Cookie Art Club!)
As I was making this Halloween gingerbread house, it reminded me of one of the first cakes I ever made when I was studying baking and pastry at The Culinary Institute of America, which was almost 20 years ago now (can’t believe that). I LOVED this cake when I first made it and I still think it’s awesome!
Want to make this gingerbread house yourself? The video tutorial and recipes to recreate it are available to Cookie Art Club members and you can try it free for 7 days.
Let me know if you make this gingerbread house and share your photos with me in the Cookie Art Club!