Merry Christmas 2009

Christmas Gingerbread House

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 make the dough recipe from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book for my gingerbread house. I made the one from Good Housekeeping first, and I was not pleased with the taste of the dough. My mom is going to squirm when she reads that I threw away that dough. I started fresh with the Scandinavian recipe, and I am so glad I did. It smelled like gingerbread (duh!) and the dough tasted good, too! Bingo! So I made the dough, and sketched out random shapes to cut for the house (above).

I had to add several more tablespoons of water to my dough until it got to the right consistency. And make sure not to overmix the dough because you'll overdevelop the gluten and make the dough tough and shrinky. While it sat in the fridge, I sketched out different ideas for decorations. Aubrey and I went to the store to buy some candy.
This dough can easily be frozen and then thawed when you are ready to roll it. The baked pieces can also be tightly wrapped in plastic and frozen for assembly later.

I used some chocolate covered sunflower seeds for the candles in the window, the wreath above the front door, and the lights lining the roof. These are my favorite parts of the house.

I glued other candies on the house with royal icing. Everything on the house is edible. I also used some Wilton icing for snow and embellished with white sugar crystals to give it a shimmer.

I had so much fun making this house. Aubrey and I have some friends that have 2 children. We took it to them on Christmas Eve, and the kids absolutely loved it. The candy sidewalk disappeared first. Then the gumdrops on the roof. Then the candy canes. Then it was time to put it away so Santa would have some to eat when he came to visit.

Ingredients:
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, well packed
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup boiling water (plus more, if needed.... which you probably will)
5 cups all-purpose flour

I just love the wreath!

Directions:
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. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 2 hours or overnight.

Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, side walls, door, chimney, gables (whatever you'd like to make) out of cardboard. I just used paper, and it worked fine. It just got a little greasy, but they are thrown away anyway after I cut out the dough.

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 or pizza cutter, but leave the pieces in place. (I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8-inch thick... the dough puffs a little when baked.... Then I cut out the shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.

Preheat oven to 375-degrees. 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 or pizza cutter. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

Decorate the cookies and let decorations dry before assembling the house.

To assemble the house, I just used the Royal Icing recipe that I'm most comfortable with:

Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Mix together for the base icing... store in an airtight container until ready to use. This icing is too thick to pipe at this point.
When ready, scoop out the amount of icing you need to glue the house together. Add water to the icing, 1/2 teaspoon at a time until it's the right consistency. You don't want it too thin; just thin enough to pipe.
I also used Royal Icing to draw windows, doors, and roof.

If you'd rather stick the house together with simple syrup, you can place 2 cups sugar in a small saucepan and heat until just boiling and the sugar dissolves. Dredge or brush the edges of the pieces to glue them together. If the syrup crystallizes, remake it.