Minimalist Gingerbread Sheet Pan Village

I was doing some research on minimalist Christmas cakes and I kept seeing tiny ginger bread houses on top of white iced cakes.  I thought to myself how do I make it a bit different?  Ahh!!  Make it a minimalist gingerbread sheet pan village AND make it healthy!

I actually don't have the patience to decorate anything with intricate designs or flourishes, so sticking to my minimalist aesthetics really helped pull this cake together quickly.  That and I had a toddler that was going to wake up in two hours so I had to hurry and decorate and photograph this cute village.

It's reminds me of this tiny town my friend and I stayed in when we went to Innsbruck, Austria during one Christmas and New Year.  We walked around our little hotel and saw these houses that looked like Gingerbread Houses covered in snow.  It was so adorable.  They didn't have any of those showy lights, but it felt like we were in a Christmas wonderland.  That's what I wanted to capture here.

The sheet pan chocolate cake recipe can be found here.  The recipe I will share here is a easy paleo Christmas spice cookie made with a Simple Mills pancake mix, some vegan butter and date syrup.  It's then decorated with Simple Mills Vanilla Icing (to resemble snow)white and green sprinkles from Ticings.  I know you are probably saying how do I get these things together before Christmas to make it??  Your killing me Rezel with all your exotic ingredients.

Giveaway

Well I got you because my friends from Simple Mills and Ticing's are giving you everything you need (but the vegan butter) to create your own Ginger Village.  You get all of these mailed to you before Christmas.

1 Simple Mills Box Chocolate Cake Mix

1 Simple Mills Pancake / Waffle Mix

1 Simple Mills Jar of Vanilla Frosting

1 Simple Mills Pizza Mix (not part of the recipe just an extra because it's Christmas)

1 Packet of Gourmet White Chocolate Sprinkles

1 Packet of Gourmet Green Sprinkles

1 3D Mini Gingerbread Cutter (from me!)

I have the best friends ever!!!  To enter all  you have to do is subscribe to my blog through the form below and as a bonus you also get a copy of the first issue of my e-magazine (you can see a preview of a recipe here) talking about all things hot chocolate.  So you can make this cake and enjoy it with a nice cup of cocoa!

Created in Partnership with Simple Mills and Ticings.  All opinions and recipes are my own.

[giveaway id=2341]

Minimalist Gingerbread Sheet Pan Village

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Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 People

Author: Rezel Kealoha

Ingredients

For the Mini Gingerbread Houses

• ▢ 1 Box Simple Mills Pancake Mix
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Powder
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
• ▢ 1 Teaspoon Ginger
• ▢ 1 Teaspoon Cardamon
• ▢ ¼ Teaspoon Cloves
• ▢ ¼ Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt
• ▢ 4 Tablespoons Vegan Butter (Coconut Oil works too but must be very cold and solid)
• ▢ ⅓ Cup Date Syrup (you can also use Maple Syrup)
• ▢ 1 Egg

To Put Together The Village

• ▢ 1 Chocolate Sheet Cake
• ▢ 1 Jar Vanilla Frosting
• ▢ White Sprinlkes
• ▢ Green Sprinkles
• ▢ Rosemary Sprigs

Special Equipment

• ▢ 1 10x15 Sheet Pan
• ▢ 1 3D Mini Gingerbread Cutter
• ▢ 1 Christmas Tree Cutter
• ▢ 1 Mini Bear or Gingerbread Person Cutter

Instructions

Make the Chocolate Cake First

• The ingredients above are just for the gingerbread houses.  For the recipe for the chocolate ginger village follow this recipe.  Make the chocolate sheet cake first.  Make sure to cool it at room temperature first to let the cake rest and finish baking.  Once the chocolate cake is fully cooled down stick it in the freezer while you are making the cookie dough.
  

To Make the Gingerbread Houses

• Place the pancake mix, all the spices and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix.
• Add in the vegan butter and process until it resembles fine crumbs.
• While the processor is running pour in the egg and it will start to turn into a dough.
• Add in the date syrup to fully bind the dough.
• Place the cookie dough in a one gallon ziplock bag and zip it closed. Press the dough out to the edges of the bag and place in the refrigerator for an hour to rest.

Baking Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 325 Degrees and line 2 cookie sheets
• Rolling out grain free dough is quite different from regular dough. Idealy use a large silpat to use as a base.
• Cover the silpat with cling wrap and take out the dough from the refrigerator and cut it out of the ziplock bag. Place the dough on top of the cling wrap.
• Cover the dough with another piece of cling wrap and then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a ¼ of an inch. Use the 3D Cookie Cutter to cut out as many as possible. Then cut out a few trees and bears.  Keep cutting until you use up all the dough. If the dough starts to get really soft place in the freezer for about 5 minutes to make it easier to handle again.
• Place on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes. The edges should just start to get brown. Take out and cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a cookie rack to fully cool down.

To assemble the Gingerbread Houses and Trees and Bears

• Using a knife line the edges of the cookie with vanilla frosting to build the houses.  Follow the directions provided by the cookie cutter packaging.  Set aside.  Frost the tree and bear cookies with frosting and decorate with sprinkles.
  

To assemble the Minimalist Gingerbread Village

• Take the chocolate cake out of the freezer and frost with the remaining vanilla frosting.
  
• Arrange the houses on top of the frosted cake next to each other to resemble a village.  Then take some white chocolate sprinkles and let it snow over the village.  Be as heavy handed as you want with the sprinkles.
  
• Then add in the cookie trees and rosemary sprigs to create a feel of a forest. Finally add in your bears to finish the cake.
• Lay it out on the table and watch the kids go ooohh and ahhh.
  

Did you enjoy making it? I would love to see it! Tag me on Instagram @rezelkealoha with the #rezelkealoha!