Gingerbread House From Scratch
So... what are you planing for this holiday season? Why not to make a gingerbread house. This is fun project to do with your family, plus, it is so yummy! This is not an assumption, this is reality. We've made one at America House and had lots of fun.
Below is a recipe that Velida Kent shared with us. Of course we are not as good as Velida in making gingerbread houses, she is master, indeed. This year together with her family she've made gigerbread Lviv Rynok square.
The following recipe is for one basic house with some extra dough for making figures like trees and people.
The dough:
400 g honey
200 g sugar
100 g butter (not margarine)
4 eggs
4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoon baking powder
1000 g (1 kg) flour
How to make the dough:
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat, take away from the heat and add sugar and syrup. Stir to melt the sugar, reheat if necessary but be careful not to boil.
Cool to lukewarm. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, add to the saucepan. Stir well.
Have 2/3 of the flour in a container and add all the spices and the baking powder. Stir well. Pour the content of the saucepan into a large bowl and add the flour mix in portions while stirring well between each adding. Use your hands to mix when the dough gets thicker.
The dough should not be sticky when finished, add some of remaining flour if necessary. Set the rest of the flour aside, you will need it when rolling out the dough. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and put each piece in a plastic bag and seal well. Refrigerate over night or at least 12 hours.
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Roll out dough to an even thickness of 2-3 mm. Rub a little flour over the surface of the dough.
Place the pattern pieces on the dough, as many pattern* pieces as will fit on the dough. Use a small sharp knife to cut out the pattern pieces from the dough, wiping the knife surface clean frequently.
*Patterns - there are all sorts of patterns. Choose the one you like!
Place all elements on the cookie sheet 2cm apart from each other. If dough pieces stretch during the transfer process, push them back into shape.
Bake for 8-12 minutes. Transfer pieces to a wire rack and let it cool.
Time to assemble using royal icing.
Royal Icing:
1 large egg
3 cups sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine egg white with half the powdered sugar. Mix at low speed until sugar disappears into a paste, then gradually sprinkle in the rest. Increase speed to medium and beat until smooth and light, about 2 minutes. If too stiff, thin icing with a few drops of water. Use immediately; keep covered tightly in plastic to prevent icing from drying in bowl. Royal icing can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature up to 12 hours.
Transfer icing to a ziplock plastic bag (or a pastry bag). Snip off a bottom corner of the bag.
Prepare a base for your house. Use may a piece of plywood covered with foil, a large heavy platter, baking tray or a cardboard. Cover it with icing.
You may decorate a front side of the house and let it dry while you assemble the other three walls as shown below.
Join one side wall to one peaked wall. Pipe icing along the bottom of the side wall and along the bottom and inside of the peaked wall. Join the panels so that the side wall is positioned on the inside edge of the peaked wall. Press the sides together and attach to the base. Hold in place for several minutes until the icing begins to set.
Let your house dry at least two to three hours before decorating. Besides icing you can use colorful candies.
