How to make a Christmas cookie house step-by-step (it’s like a gingerbread house, but without the gingerbread)

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Vintage Christmas, Vintage crafts & hobbies, Vintage dessert recipes, Vintage family & old-fashioned parenting, Vintage food & drink, Vintage magazines

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People of all ages will love these cute vintage Christmas cookie houses, which can be made easily and inexpensively. See examples and get directions here!

Castle of the Snow Queen Christmas cookie house (1970)

Aglow in the midnight sky, the brilliant domes of our Christmas castle are encrusted with penny candies and lacy cookies.

Decorations: Hershey’s kisses, gumdrops, peppermints, JuJuBes, orange slices and candies of all kinds work with Linzer cookies, petit beurre biscuits, graham crackers, sugar cones and more to make this stunning cookie house!

Cute vintage Christmas cookie bungalow design (1980s)

Christmas cookie house – Swiss mountain chalet (1980s)

Fairy tale castle: A pretty Christmas cookie house (1969)

Cute vintage log cabin made of cookies & snack food (1986)

A beautiful gingerbread-style log cabin with pretzel stick logs and almond shingles

ALSO SEE: Classic 70s Christmas cookies: 20+ deliciously memorable recipes to try

Vintage cookie house how-to: Alpine house design

The cookie house (1967)

The cookie house can be your merriest holiday decoration ever. Embellish with homemade or packaged cookies and yummy confections.

A cookie house this Christmas

As a family activity, you’ll find building this storybook cookie house delicious old-fashioned fun.

Created in the American Home Kitchens, our cookie house makes a delightful table decoration. Its basis is a cardboard house form 12 inches high.

Clapboards and chimney, window and door decor are homemade cookies you attach with special frosting ([vintage] kit has recipes and directions). Roof and ridgepole cookies are packaged.

A peanut-brittle path leads to the door, and other candies add colorful trim. Trees are paper cones covered with green sugar; snow is salt and sugar crystals.

(See detailed directions for how to make a cookie house below)

ALSO SEE: What are cute ways to decorate gingerbread houses? See 32 candy holiday homes

How to make a holiday cookie house for Christmas (1976)

For sheer imagination and warmth, Christmas cannot be compared with any other holiday.

Part of its charm is taking the time during the hustle and bustle of shopping, cooking and cleaning to do something with the children and other members of your family. Making a Christmas decoration is fun — a quality no amount of money can buy.

People of all ages will love a Christmas cookie house. It’s made easily, and won’t cost an arm and a leg during this season when most of us are low on funds.

The house we suggest hos a cardboard box base with Christmas cookies as its main decoration. Since time is so valuable before Christmas, you may want to use refrigerated cookie dough. This will allow you more time for “building” your happy little cottage.

After the cookies have cooled thoroughly, decorate them and assemble the cardboard box base. This doesn’t have to done in one step, but may be accomplished during two or three days.

Frost the house with your favorite buttercream frosting or use a packaged mix. Use a decorating cone or pastry tube to outline the chimney and form “snow.” Semi-circle cookies fashion bricks on the sides of the house with red sugar-topped cookies becoming roof shingles.

The front of the house is made festive with a bright Santa, angel and other holiday-shaped cookies. Happy decorating with these ideas!

ALSO SEE

28 classic gingerbread house ideas: Get inspired & find out how to make your own

HOLIDAY COOKIE HOUSE

Materials:

2 rolls refrigerated sugar cookies OR homemade sugar cookie dough
Red tinted sugar
3 packages (15.4 ounces each) vanilla frosting mix OR 6 to 8 cups homemade buttercream frosting
Pressurized cake and cookie decorators (red and green) OR Decorating cone OR Pastry tube and tips and tinted frosting
Candies for decorating cookies
Cardboard box with top flaps (9x12x9 inches)
Heavy cardboard for roof (14×15 inches)
Masking tape

COOKIES

For roof shingles: Slice 1 roll of cookie dough into 50 slices (less than 1/4-inch thick); sprinkle with red sugar. Bake at 350F for 8 to 1O minutes until, golden brown around edges. (Do not overbake.) Cool on rack.

For wall bricks: Slice 28 slices (1/4-inch thick) from second roll of cookie dough. Refrigerate remaining dough. Cut each slice in half. Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes until light brown around edges. (Do not overbake.) Cool on rack.

For house decorations: Slice remaining cookie dough into 1/4-inch slices.

Santa: Use 2 slices; cut narrow strip from 2 sides of 1 slice, forming a triangle. Place triangle over 1 edge of whole slice for Santa’s hat. Use two narrow strips for mustache. Add 2 chocolate chips for eyes and candy mouth. Bake and cool on rack. Frost hat and mustache with vanilla frosting, using a decorator tip, if desired. Sprinkle hat with red tinted sugar.

Angel: Use 1-1/4 slices of cookie dough. Cut narrow strip from 2 sides of full slice to form triangular body. Place cut-off strips at sides for wings. Roll 1/4 slice into ball for head. Place at top of triangle and add candy eyes. Bake and cool on rack. Outline body and wings with decorator writing tip.

DON’T MISS: 6 collections of sweet & spicy gingerbread recipes – the ultimate Christmas treat!

ALSO SEE

How to make a gingerbread house with Rice Krispies (1999)

COOKIE HOUSE

For cardboard house: Cut the 2 longer flaps from box, reserving 1 for the chimney and the other for reinforcing. Shape shorter flaps into triangles, cutting from top center of flap to corners of box. to form peak at front and back of house. Reinforce triangles on the inside by taping cardboard over the flap fold.

Fold 14×15-inch piece of cardboard in half to form roof. Tape securely to house. From reserved flap, form and tape chimney. cutting bottom at same angle as roof. Tape to roof.

TO DECORATE COOKIE HOUSE

Prepare vanilla frosting according to package directions. (Keep frosting covered as you work.) Spread frosting over sides of chimney. With red cake and cookie decorator. using small writing tip, pipe lines of frosting to resemble bricks. Spoon vanilla frosting around top of chimney to resemble snow.

Spread a thick layer of vanilla frosting over sides and back of house. Press cookie bricks securely into frosting.

Spread vanilla frosting over roof. Starting at the bottom, arrange a row of red tinted sugar cookie shingles. Overlap remaining shingles in rows to cover roof. Carefully press cookies into frosting to secure.

Spread frosting over front of house. With leaf tip and green cake and cookie decorator. make door and shrubs. With small writing tip make window. Arrange decorated cookies on front. Press into frosting to secure. Spoon remaining vanilla frosting on peak and around edge of roof to resemble snow. If frosting becomes too stiff, add a few drops of warm water.