Lucille's Gingerbread House w/Sucker Stainglass

For a lovely tradition, from a lovely lady.

Dry:
11 c flour
2 t salt
4 T baking powder
4 t ginger
4 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
2 t nutmeg

Wet:
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 c oil
2 2/3 c molasses
4 eggs or 12 egg yolks (can save whites for the icing)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Pour 3 (of the 11) cups flour into a sifter with rest of dry ingredients. Mix brown sugar, oil, molasses, and eggs in a mixer (Use whisk attachment.) Sift in sifter ingredients, and then add the rest (8 c) of the flour. (Use hook attachment.) Mix until moist and pliable.
2. Roll quarters of dough out onto sheets of greased tin foil- (that were cut just a bit bigger than the size of the cookie sheet.) Roll it out to the edges. It will be pretty thin. About 1/8 ".
3. Rough cut the dough with a pizza cutter. (About 1/2" bigger than pattern. ) And slide entire sheet of foil, with cut dough onto your cookie sheet. Trim edges off along bottom crease of pan. Cook for 12 minutes. And remove.
4. While still hot/warm place patterns back on dough, and "fine" cut the pieces out with a paring knife. Use a long serrated knife to slide under the dough and loosen it from the foil. Place finished pieces on another foil lined cookie sheet.
5. Add broken hard tack pieces in windows and cut outs.
6. Cook for 8 more minutes.
7. Let cool, make icing, and decorate!
8. Make a base for house with a piece of cardboard about 12" x 13" big. (Bigger if you want a bigger yard.) Cover it with foil (taped on, underneath.) Cut out a 2" square from the bottom if you want to use a light.

Royal Icing:
3 egg whites
3 1/3 c powdered sugar or 1 lb bag
1/2 t cream of tartar
Beat all to heck!

Beat until it is dull (not glossy) and passes the "peak test." (When you touch it and the little peak does not bend over...) Icing will crust immediately when you leave it out, so cover with a damp towel when not in use! Can leave it out covered overnight.

Hard Tack (For Stained Glass):
2 c sugar
2/3 c karo
1 c water

Combine in a saucepan, and stir until sugar dissolves. Cook to 290 degrees. "Hard tack." Remove from heat, add oil flavoring, and color, and stir. Pour out on sheets of foil. Cool, and crack. If you have leftovers, you can save temporarily in a ice cream bucket. You may also save until the next year in an airtight glass container.

1/2 t flavoring:
red-cinnamon
orange-orange
yellow-lemon
blue- anise, or licorice
green- wintergreen

1/4 t flavoring:
pink-peppermint

Tips on constructing the house: Make sleighs first, and place on a piece of wax paper. Do flat work next; (like writing words or making window lines...) Line bottom of one of the sides of house first and place on base. Put a jar next to it, as support, while drying. Line 3 sides of next piece and attach. (Now is free standing.) Add other sides, and then the roof pieces. We careful to hold pieces a little in from the edge to avoid breaking....