Recipe courtesy of Linnea Rufo.

Ingredients:

6 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 teaspoons ground ginger

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp.) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup dark molasses

1 tbsp. water

Preparation:

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.

2. Using a mixer, beat on medium speed the butter and brown sugar until fluffy and well blended. Beat in eggs, molasses and water until well combined.

3. Beat half the flour mixture into molasses mixture until well blended. Stir in remaining flour. Knead until well blended. If dough is too soft, add a little more flour.

4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours, preferably overnight. Let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before rolling out.

Royal Icing

Royal icing is not only used for decorating, it's the mortar that holds the gingerbread pieces together to form the house. The following proportions should make enough icing for both the mortaring step and for decorating for one gingerbread house.

2 large egg whites*

2 2/3 cup powdered sugar, divided

1. Whisk together until smooth egg whites and 1 1/3 cups of powdered sugar.

2. Add remaining 1 1/3 cup of powdered sugar to sugar/ egg mixture. Using a mixer, beat on high speed until the icing holds stiff peaks. If it doesn't form stiff peaks, add more powdered sugar.

3. Place a dampened, clean towel over bowl of royal icing. Keep towel over icing to prevent it from drying out while you work with it.

4. When you're ready to mortar or decorate, fill a pastry bag with the icing.

*If you're planning to eat your gingerbread house and are concerned about the safety of raw eggs, you can buy pasteurized dried egg whites at a craft store or liquid egg whites at a grocery store.

For detailed directions for making the pattern and gingerbread pieces, and constructing and decorating the house, visit the Bee & Thistle website, www.beeandthistleinn.com. For downloadable gingerbread house patterns, go to www.ultimategingerbread.com.