December 28, 2009

The Daring bakers Make…Gingerbread Houses

That’s right…from scratch. Not those “ready to decorate” deals you pick up at Walmart, but REAL gingerbread houses.

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.

I chose to use the Scandinavian recipe, just because it was more similar to what I was used to making. i had the help of the two main men in my life – Jon, the Husband, and Seven, The Boy. Seven mainly wanted to eat everything before turning it into a house…Jon, on the otherhand, was very meticulous and was into building the structure more so than the decor. We used gumdrops, Skittles, candy canes, M&Ms, and that crazy smelling gum they used to make in the 80’s as the roof tile. (Gee, I wish I could remember what it’s called, but I recognized the packaging immediately the other day when I was at WalMart so I knew I had to pick some up for this particular purpose. It looks so nice!

For any of you out there so inclined to make your OWN gingerbread house, here is the recipe!

Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from 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]

1. 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.

2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.

3. Roll the dough out 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.

(I rolled my gingerbread thin, about 1/8 inch thick between two pieces of parchment, which I then froze before cutting into shapes. I rerolled any extras, then re-froze and cut into decorative pieces or cookies.)

4. Preheat the oven to 375’F (190’C). 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.