Gingerbread townhouse recipe

1. Follow the recipe for the basic gingerbread dough mix (it's best to do this the day before). When you're ready to make your gingerbread townhouse, remove the dough from the fridge. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180ºC, fan 160ºC. Print and cut out the Gingerbread townhouse template. Line two flat baking trays with nonstick baking paper.
2. Roll out the gingerbread dough between two pieces of nonstick baking paper to a depth of 6-7mm. Remove the top piece of paper, place the template over the dough and, working quickly before the dough gets too warm, cut around the template. Keeping the dough on the paper you rolled it out on, carefully transfer it to the lined baking trays and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. Bake the biscuits for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Using the end of a pencil or a sharp knife, stamp out a small hole in the top of the biscuit so a ribbon may be threaded through. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
4. To make the icing, put the lemon juice into a small bowl and sift over the icing sugar, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps forming. You may want to add more lemon juice if the mixture isn’t a thick, dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle (3-4mm) or spoon into a plastic sandwich bag and cut a tiny corner away to serve as a piping bag.
5. Attach the ‘Shreddies’ windows with small dots of icing before piping on crosses and frames on each window. Pipe on a small door and decorate the roof. Allow the icing to harden for an hour or so before serving, or threading with ribbon and hanging on your Christmas tree.

Download the Gingerbread town house template here