Disclaimer: This post is created in partnership with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. All opinions and statements are my own, as always.

Easy to make Gingerbread Dog Houses are a wonderfully fun treat for the holidays and a great way to celebrate the pets in your life.. Perfectly spiced, soft and sweet, this is the BEST gingerbread cookie recipe ever.

So easy to make, these festive Gingerbread Dog Houses are a tasty and fun way to celebrate the holidays! | TheSuburbanSoapbox.com #SecretLifeofPets #PetPack

Hey everyone! I hope you’re having a great December so far and getting your holiday list checked off. We’ve been so busy here decorating and shopping and just trying to feel festive and it’s, actually, pretty exhausting. So, we decided to take a day off and enjoy a family movie night a few days ago….and it was just what we needed to wind down a bit. And lucky for us The Secret Life of Pets arrived at our doorstep as a little holiday surprise. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you’re in for a real treat. This is, by far, one of the cutest movies I’ve seen in a long time. We did go see it in theaters so I was super excited that it is now available on Blu-ray and DVD….and it’s been on a non-stop play schedule daily in our house.

So easy to make, these festive Gingerbread Dog Houses are a tasty and fun way to celebrate the holidays! | TheSuburbanSoapbox.com #SecretLifeofPets #PetPack

The Secret Life of Pets Blu-ray and DVD comes with close to an hour of bonus footage plus 3 mini-movies!! If you ever wondered what your pets do when you’re not at home, you will love this movie. It imagines what each pet does when you leave for school, work or wherever you go and it was created by the humans behind Despicable Me! You can view the trailer here:

YouTube video

To celebrate our family movie night we created our own special treat….Gingerbread Dog Houses inspired by the characters in the movie…Max, Duke, Gidget, Pops….they each have their own special house and were so much fun to decorate with the kids. You can make the cookies in advance then decorate just before the movie begins. They make a super tasty snack to nosh on during the flick and the kids love that they had a hand in creating them.

So easy to make, these festive Gingerbread Dog Houses are a tasty and fun way to celebrate the holidays! | TheSuburbanSoapbox.com #SecretLifeofPets #PetPack

To make the gingerbread super simple, I used my very popular Gingerbread Recipe from years ago. The same one I used for these mummies and these Gingerbread Cups. They’re really easy and you can even make the dough several days in advance making this a simple treat to whip up in no time.

So easy to make, these festive Gingerbread Dog Houses are a tasty and fun way to celebrate the holidays! | TheSuburbanSoapbox.com #SecretLifeofPets #PetPack

So, have you seen The Secret Life of Pets? What did you think? It’s now my favorite animated movie of all time!

So easy to make, these festive Gingerbread Dog Houses are a tasty and fun way to celebrate the holidays! | TheSuburbanSoapbox.com #SecretLifeofPets #PetPack

Get the Recipe: Easy Gingerbread Cookie Dog Houses

A fun way to celebrate the holidays! Gingerbread Cookie Dog Houses are a kid friendly holiday treat.
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy.
  • In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside.
  • Add the sugar to the butter annd beat until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer to low and mix in the molasses, egg and balsamic vinegar. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and continue mixing until thoroughly combined.
  • Cover and chill about 2 hours or until the dough is easy to handle.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Divide the dough in half and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll each half of the dough to 1/4" thickness adding flour as needed, the dough is very sticky so use flour liberally to prevent your cutouts from sticking to the surface.
  • Using cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment approximately 1" apart.
  • Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5-6 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for one minute and move to a wire rack.
  • In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Whisk to combine. Spoon mixture into a pastry bag or zip top bag and snip off the tip. Decorate as desired.
  • Store in an airtight container.
Serving: 0g, Calories: 161kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 17mg, Sodium: 30mg, Potassium: 137mg, Fiber: 0g, Sugar: 19g, Vitamin A: 130IU, Calcium: 27mg, Iron: 1mg