Make The Sweetest Gingerbread House Cookies with Royal Icing Transfers

Hey Besties! Coming in hot with another edition of ask and you shall receive! There has been such an overwhelming amount of love for our haunted house and campfire royal icing transfer sets, I promised I’d come through for the holiday season! And I’m just giddy to share the transfer sets for gingerbread houses!! I created a large variety of royal icing transfers, so you have endless options to create your own designs! And if royal icing transfers are new to you, no worries, there’s a full tutorial to help you make these too! Let’s jump in!

Oh Sweet Gingerbread

First things first! You need a delicious canvas! And while you can use our delicious vanilla cutout cookie recipe, our gingerbread recipe is really what makes this authentic! Confession: I disliked gingerbread my whole life until this recipe. Seriously, now I can’t get enough; I wait all year to make these. They are soft, chewy and beautifully spiced, although you can add even more spices if you’d like! And if you’ve made gingerbread before, you know they usually like to spread (thanks molasses). But if you chill these and use Reynolds parchment sheets or perforated baking mats, you won’t have spread! Which makes these perfect for creating all your favorite shapes and making gingerbread house cookies!

Dreamy Royal Icing

If you need a royal icing recipe or if the one you use gives you any trouble, you should absolutely try THIS recipe. The magic is in the method of how you make this royal icing. I hear feedback all the time from seasoned cookie decorators that they try this recipe and are shocked at how beautiful it is and easy to work with. Silky smooth consistencies, without any color bleed or other common issues. It’s a dream to work with and it’s what we use every single day for all of our cookies.

Royal Icing Transfers 101

Besties, let’s give a quick summary on the basics of making and using royal icing transfers, along with my best tips for success! If transfers are new to you, THIS tutorial explains everything, but let me share some of my best tips here for easy reference.

Making royal icing transfers is not vastly different than piping directly onto a cookie, except that there’s no risk of ruining a cookie! You have endless opportunities to pipe the designs, letters and numbers you want until they are exactly how you like them. Let dry for up to 24 hours and then they should easily pop off your sheet to add to your cookies!

Royal Icing Transfer Tips

• I use sheet protectors for all my royal icing transfers. This allows your transfers to dry with completely flat backs to sit flush on your cookies. If you use parchment or wax paper, it will likely curl from the moisture leaving the backs of your transfers uneven. THESE are the sheet protectors I use which are made from food safe material (Polypropylene).
• When making transfers, you want to use thicker consistency icing to hold good shape, puff and dimension. Thicker icing will also make your transfers more sturdy and less prone to cracking and breaking. The best way I can describe the consistency I use is that a spoonful will glob into your bowl with little to no ribboning. It should require light scribe work to smooth and perfect.
• I use a dehydrator to speed up the drying process, but you can use a fan or just air dry if you don’t have a dehydrator. Dry times will depend on your icing and your climate. But should not take more than 24 hours to fully dry. If your transfers are taking longer than that, I recommend trying THIS royal icing recipe and using sheet protectors. If you live in a very humid environment, a fan or dehydrator will help greatly.
• When you go to remove your transfers from the sheet protector, make sure to curl the sheet away from the back of the transfer. They should release easily. If they are not releasing, they likely need more time to dry. Do not try to peel a transfer off of the sheet…it will break since they do not have any flex or bend.

• Transfers can be stored at room temp forever. No need to freeze or anything. I use THESE organizers to store our transfers. Again, these organizers are made from Polypropylene, which is food safe.

Adding Your Transfers

• You can add your transfers to dried flood using tiny dabs of royal icing as glue. Don’t put too much or the transfer won’t sit flush on your cookie.
• Or you can add to wet flood. I always suggest letting your flood set for a minute or two, so your transfers don’t sink too much. There is a slightly different look based on if they are added to dried or wet flood, so this is your personal preference.
• If you’d like to see transfers being made, THIS tutorial includes a demo video as well as THIS tutorial on making transfer letters.

Gingerbread House Royal Icing Transfers

It’s hard to overdo it when it comes to gingerbread houses – the more, the better! Which is what makes this transfer set so much fun. You have endless options to create your designs!

For the designs I made, I simply flooded my houses in different color combinations and added all my transfers once the icing was completely dry. Look at the transformation from flooded cookie to stunning gingerbread house!

It’s Your Turn!

Ready to gingerbread house royal icing transfers? You can download the PDF transfer sheet file HERE! I also included these on our royal icing transfer sheet website page HERE. You will also find actual gingerbread man transfer sheets and other fabulous designs there. New designs are added every week, but all new designs get released in our weekly newsletter first! So if you want access to the newest designs as they get released, make sure you’ve subscribed below!

I hope you LOVE these royal icing transfer sheets for making your own beautiful gingerbread house cookies! I’d be willing to bet that there will not be two of the same gingerbread houses created and that’s the best part! If you’d like to share your work, see the work of others and connect with other Besties, you can join our Facebook group HERE!

And hey, if you prefer to pipe directly onto your cookie and skip making transfers, you can use these designs with your projector as well! If there’s one thing I always give my Besties, it’s options! Regardless of technique, I hope this has inspired you to create some fun gingerbread house cookies!

Oh, and here’s that chance to subscribe to receive the weekly newsletter! Never miss out on a new recipe, technique, product recommendation, bakery biz strategy, Featured Baker and free printables! Happy Baking, Besties! Oh, and if you need me, I’ll be living in the yellow gingerbread house. 🥰