Keto Gingerbread House Recipe: A Festive and Deliciously Sugar-Free Tradition

It just wouldn’t be the holidays without gingerbread! This article provides everything you need to create a stunning keto gingerbread house, from the gingerbread itself to the royal icing and decorations. Whether you're a seasoned keto baker or a beginner, this guide offers options for every skill level.

The Magic of Keto Gingerbread

This keto gingerbread recipe is perfect for building small gingerbread houses, making gingerbread people, and eating. Blending it with a few more ingredients and all gingerbread spices results in a gingerbread dough everyone will love. This recipe is designed to be a perfect fit for people with diabetes, offering fully keto recipes to low-carb, sugar-free, and gluten-free options.

Waffle Gingerbread House

I just made this lovely little Keto Gingerbread House Recipe and it’s made with waffles! I’ve concocted a recipe that tastes just like a real gingerbread cookie! It’s nice and sturdy so it will hold up perfectly when you make a gingerbread house with it. I used this Keto Royal Icing recipe to get this gingerbread house to stick together. I just love being able to make old-time favorite recipes sugar free and gluten-free for everyone to enjoy!

This recipe has one very special ingredient that makes this gingerbread flavor better than any other recipe out there. It’s made with Mapleine extract. I’ve only ever found it on Amazon. com. I highly suggest getting some because this extract is so good that this won’t be the only time you use it if you follow any of my recipes. Here’s another tip: You can use this Mapleine extract to turn any keto sweetener into brown sugar! Adding this Mapleine to sugar turns it into the most amazing brown sugar you will ever taste. It’s better than any brown sugar on the market today. I’ve also seen some really cute straws that you can use for decorations too. There are so many Christmas colors out right now to choose from. This house doesn’t not only need to be decorated with candy.

Ingredients for Waffle Gingerbread House

• Square waffles (made using a square waffle maker)
• Keto Royal Icing
• Mapleine extract

Instructions for Waffle Gingerbread House

1. Allow the batter to sit for about two minutes.
2. Bake the waffles for between 4 and 6 minutes.
3. Use this Keto Royal Icing Recipe and add it to a large piping bag with a large round tip. You can use a star tip too if you want. It all depends on the look you want.
4. Once the waffles have completely cooled, you will use 7 of the waffles to assemble to this gingerbread house.
5. Start by deciding what this gingerbread house will stand on because once you assemble it, you won’t want to move it.
6. Then for the front of the house place to waffles on each of the ends but place them tall.
7. While one person holds the pieces together, the other person should use the royal icing to glue these sides together. You can use toothpicks to hold this together if you don’t have a helper.
8. Now cut one waffle just like this to create the triangle you need for the roof.
9. Before you assemble the triangles you will need to add the Royal Icing to all the outside edges of both triangles. We made sure to add the Royal Icing to all the outside edges before assembling the roof. It fit perfectly!
10. We adding the Royal Icing to a piping bag with a Wilton #10 round tip and decorated the house.

Classic Keto Gingerbread Cookies for a Gingerbread House

These keto gingerbread cookies have become a family favorite in my house, ever since I first created them back in 2013. These cookies are crisp and delicious with a gingery bite, they’re perfect for decorating and sharing with friends and family. Gingerbread cookies should be both crisp and tender, which isn’t an easy texture to achieve with keto ingredients. But these cookies live up to the promise! They have the tiniest bit of chewiness to them as well.

Read also: Easy Low-Carb Cheese Crackers

Keto Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

This is a very simple recipe that requires only a few basic ingredients combined with warm spices. The dough is easy to work with and holds its shape beautifully while baking. Use any cookie cutter shapes you have or free-form cut the pieces for a small house.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup (48 grams) butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (50 grams) almond flour
• 2 tablespoons (14 grams) coconut flour
• 1 large (50 grams) egg
• 1 teaspoon (2.5 grams) cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) pure vanilla extract
• Sweetener of your choice

Instructions:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together very well until the dough is even in color.
2. The dough will be too soft to roll right away. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, flatten it into a round disk shape and let it chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.
4. Roll the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap until it is about ¼ inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut the desired shapes. Re-roll the excess and cut more shapes until all the dough is used.
5. Bake for 15- 20 minutes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Lager cookies will need a longer cooking time.
6. Allow the cookies to cool.

Tips for Perfect Keto Gingerbread Cookies

• Almond flour: For keto gingerbread cookies that have good texture and aren’t grainy, make sure you use finely ground almond flour. If you need to be nut-free, try using sunflower seed flour.
• Sweetener: I prefer to use Brown Swerve in this recipe but you can use any erythritol based sweetener. If you want that brown sugar flavor, make sure you add a little molasses or Yacon syrup. I do not recommend allulose or BochaSweet as they will come out much too soft.
• Coconut flour: Since coconut flour is a little drier, it helps firm up the dough for rolling out and cutting. You could try using some oat fiber, if you can’t use coconut flour.
• Molasses: If you can’t get Swerve Brown, add 2 teaspoons of molasses for color and flavor. It will only add about 0.5g of carbs per serving.
• Spices: Gingerbread cookies should have plenty of ginger, along with a little bit of cinnamon and cloves.

Constructing Your Keto Gingerbread House

Step-by-Step Assembly

1. Prepare the Gingerbread Pieces: Bake the gingerbread pieces according to your chosen recipe (either the waffle version or the classic cookie version). Ensure the pieces are completely cooled before assembling.
2. Prepare the Royal Icing: This icing can be made ahead of time too. I can easily store in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks with no issues at all.
3. Set Up the Base: Start by deciding what this gingerbread house will stand on because once you assemble it, you won’t want to move it.
4. Assemble the Walls: Use the royal icing to glue the sides together. While one person holds the pieces together, the other person should use the royal icing to glue these sides together. You can use toothpicks to hold this together if you don’t have a helper.
5. Attach the Roof: Now cut one waffle just like this to create the triangle you need for the roof. We made sure to add the Royal Icing to all the outside edges before assembling the roof. It fit perfectly!
6. Add the Chimney (Optional): Create a chimney from gingerbread pieces and attach it to the roof with royal icing.

Securing the Structure

• Royal icing can be a second option for attaching your house together. This is especially great if you are trying to decorate your house.
• How to secure the roof: I cut a piece of baking paper slightly smaller than the finished roof size, covered it in icing and pressed the roof pieces firmly onto it. Í did this step first to allow the icing to set as much as possible.
• Make the royal icing in two parts: The icing will start setting so it's best to make it in two parts, one for assembling the house and one for decorating the outside of the house.

Keto Royal Icing: The Glue That Holds It All Together

Keto Royal Icing Recipe

Sugar-free royal icing is easy to make and so perfect for decorating any kind keto cookies. I followed traditional recipes quite closely, and used egg white powder to produce a soft icing for piping that dries very firm and hard. How much water you need varies depending on the consistency you want to achieve.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs. Egg white powder
• 1/4 tsp. Cream of tarter
• 2-2 1/2 Tbs. Water
• 1 Cup. Powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend

Instructions:

1. Whisk egg white powder, cream of tarter, sifted powdered sweetener and 2 Tbs. water vigorously add a teaspoon of water at a time if needed to get it to hold a peak
2. Color if desired and put into piping bags with different tips if desired to decorate

Tips for Perfect Keto Royal Icing

• Powdered Sweetener: You want a powdered erythritol, such as Swerve Confectioners, for keto royal icing to firm up properly. Allulose and BochaSweet tend to make it far to soft and watery, so it won’t harden on the cookies.
• Egg white powder: This is just powdered egg whites, and it helps the icing harden into place. You can use egg white protein powder as well. If you purchase meringue powder, make sure it doesn’t have any added sugar. You can skip it if you really need to but it’s a helpful ingredient.
• How to make the royal icing look best: I found the best way to make the icing look snowy around the edges was to pipe the icing and then use a teaspoon or brush to drag the icing down to look like snow drifts.
• Eight-second test: To test your consistency, do an eight-second test; trace a pattern in the top of the icing with a knife and then count down the seconds until it disappears back into the surface. Eight seconds will give you perfect piping consistency.

Decorating Your Keto Gingerbread House

Keto-Friendly Decoration Ideas

• Sugar Free Bobs Starlight Mints: I found these at my local Walmart but I did find them on Amazon too.
• Things you can use to decorate:
  • Slice almonds for siding or roof (I thought I had some)
  • Lily's chocolate chips in all colors and types
  • Lily's gummy worms or bears or other sugar free gummy (most don't have good ingredients though)
  • Smart Sweets or kiss my keto gummies
  • Gingerbread cut outs covered in colored frosting
  • Russel Stover's or Atkins M&Ms (I don't recommend eating them though)
  • Sugar free hard Candies (these either)

Creative Decoration Techniques

• I cut up the gummies to decorate the walkway and as ornaments on my tree and used smart sweets swedish fish just to add some whimsy to my gingerbread house, along with my dinos!
• I used the hard candies by bashing them in a baggie and placing them into my window cut outs before I baked my pieces. They melt down and become stain glass windows.

Additional Tips and Tricks

• How to get clean cuts: It's best to use ready-made gingerbread cookie cutter like this one. You could do it by knife but it could get tricky. Also, when you cut the doors and windows out of your dough, leave the section in while you bake the gingerbread. This will help the lines to stay clean.
• Soft vs crunchy gingerbread house: The gingerbread cookie will start to soften after 1 to 2 days but you can make it last crispier for longer if you dehydrate the cut-outs just before assembling. Make sure the cookies are cut out (follow the recipe until Step 7) and then bake the cut-outs at 100 °C/ 210 °F (fan assisted), or 120 °C/ 250 °F (conventional) for 20 to 30 minutes.

Storage and Freezing Instructions

• Can you freeze an easy keto gingerbread house? I doubt it would be easy to freeze the whole gingerbread house or a village once assembled. I would not suggest this.
• But what you can do, is bake all of the pieces of gingerbread cookies and freeze those. Once ready to decorate, take it out the night before and let all the details thaw naturally.
• Storage Information: Because these cookies are baked hard and dry, they are good on the counter in a covered container for up to a week. I recommend freezing the baked cookies undecorated, stacked carefully in airtight containers.

Serving Suggestions

As we ate some of the house we put a giant dinosaur next to it to make it look as though the dinosaur wrecked the house part that we ate! LOL!

Other Keto Holiday Treats

• Our Festive Christmas Tree Cupcakes Recipe in a shape of a Cone decorated with Green Frosting and Colorful Sprinkles are Favorites for all kids.
• Learn How to Make Pine Cone Cheese Ball Recipe as a perfect Festive Appetizer using Almonds.
• Those Sugar Free Meringue Cookies took me 4 years to develop, but they are the best ever.
• Enjoy the Best Keto Eggnog Recipe as a Holiday Drink without Carbs using Almond Milk.
• This Low Carb Chocolate Roulade or as some can call it Keto Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake is not only Sugar-free but Grain-free, gluten-free and also scrumptiously soft, fluffy and creamy, filled with cocoa aroma.
• Our Sugar-Free Keto Cranberry Sauce Recipe is done in 10 minutes using homemade Brown Sugar you will all enjoy.
• Super simple to make, this Keto Spinach Roulade with Smoked Salmon and Caviar is a perfect Gluten-Free and Low Carb Cold Appetizer or a Canape to make for your next party or gathering.
• Keto Almond Crescent Cookies are Made with Almond Flour Every Single Year as a Must make for the Holiday Season.
• Spiced and Warming Instant Pot Keto Mulled Wine Recipe enriched with Fresh Cranberries for your Festive season.
• Those Homemade Sugar Free Keto Sprinkles are best invention in the whole Univers.
• Those Super Easy Sugar-Free Eggnog Popsicles Ice Cream will become your Favorite Holiday Keto Dessert with a hint of Eggnog Drink transformed into a Frozen Delight.
• Fully Gluten-Free, Keto, Low Carb, and of course perfect for Diabetics, you and your family will never be deprived of anything during your Holiday Season and far beyond.
• Our Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies Keto Version is made with Gluten Free Flour and a Replacement for Molasses.
• This quick and easy “Potato” Keto Salad flavored with Pickles, Mayonnaise and Yogurt is not only a great Low Carb Side Dish, but also fully Gluten-Free and extremely Delicious.
• This Decadent and Creamy Rich Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate Mix with spiced Cinnamon and only 3 Ingredients is a perfect Winter Warmer for your Keto Breakfast.
• Learn How to Make a Christmas Santa Hat Cupcake Recipe for your next Holiday Party.
• Quick and Easy, Soft and Fluffy, Moist and Sugar-Free, our Keto Cupcakes are done in 10 minutes with only 1 gram of total carbohydrate.
• Easy Christmas Cheese Ball Recipe as a Make-Ahead Antipasto delicious Appetizer for your Festive Table.
• Easy to make, those Super Moist Chocolate Keto Cupcakes with creamy Low Carb chocolate cream cheese frosting are filled with rich flavor.
• Discover the refreshing taste of homemade Cranberry Juice with this easy recipe done in seconds.

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