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Gingerbread House
Getting into the holiday season was a little tough for me this year. I recently moved into a new house and have been swamped with house projects (repainting your ENTIRE house is a silly idea), and I've been busy trying to get the house ready for holiday guests. Plus, I am not spending the holidays at "home" this year:( With all of this business going on, the holidays just kind of snuck up on me.
One thing that did help get me into the holiday spirit this year was the December Daring Bakers challenge - Gingerbread Houses! How fun! I have never actually made one of these from scratch and my husband and I had a good 'ol time baking and decorating the house. I call it the Candy Cane Cottage. Below I have included the recipe for anyone who wants to make it this holiday season (or next). Sorry no ice cream in this post (although some gingerbread ice cream my be a future post). Enjoy!
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas
1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]
Preheat the oven to 375'F (190'C).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
Roll the dough out to about a 1/8 inch thickness on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
Royal Icing
1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract
Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.
Baked goods 
Reader Comments (2)
Cute gingerbread house! I always have trouble getting the walls/roof to stay standing up in order to decorate--any tips?
I would say measuring so the walls are even, trimming when still warm, and using lots and lots of royal icing!