In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and shortening until fluffy. I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer for this with the paddle attachment.
Add in the eggs, molasses, spices, and corn syrup until mixed.
GRADUALLY, add 1 C of flour at a time until the dough can be easily formed into a ball.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and not sticky, adding more flour if needed.
Place in a ziploc bag and chill for several hours or overnight.
Make your patterns for your house design out of poster board. You will need side walls and roof pieces. Cut out the patterns and make sure that they fit together perfectly. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Place parchment on a cookie sheet large enough to hold all of your pattern pieces. Roll the dough out directly onto the parchment paper on the cookie sheet 1/8" for the small houses...1/4" thick for larger houses. Use the tiny cookie cutters for the tiny houses and cut two of each: front/back with doorway; roof; and sides. If you are making larger ones, create patterns out of poster board for the sides, roof and front/back and lay the patterns on the rolled out gingerbread dough and using a knife, cut out each pattern. When all patterns are cut out, remove the excess dough from the cut pieces and place back into the ziploc and into the refrigerator. Be careful not to place cut pieces too close together or they will spread and touch one another.
Bake small houses for 10-12 minutes until done. Larger houses may take 12-14 minutes or until edges just begin to brown.
When out of the oven, make sure that you cut between any pieces that may have touched one another during baking.For large pieces that you used a pattern, place the pattern back onto the baked pieces and trim off any excess while warm. Waiting until cool will cause the pieces to crack or break. Let the pieces cool completely on the cookie sheets.
Repeat until all pieces are baked.