On the fourth day of Christmas (Gingerbread House)

For a very long time I have dreamed of having a few traditions at Christmas time. I've always wanted to leave some cookies and a glass of beer out for Santa, and of course some carrot sticks for the reindeer. Then there is the present opening on Christmas morning with a yummy breakfast to go along with it. Lunch with the family that ends in everyone needing to undo the top bottom of their pants. But most importantly I want to make a Gingerbread House each and every year - starting this year.

Yes I finally baked and decorated my first gingerbread house and it was so much fun. Even better is the aroma that flows through the house. It is just to die for - the rich smell of honey, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg is lovely and it is definitely making the house smell like Christmas.

The only down part of this experience was the dough (are we seeing a theme yet with me and dough?). Again it was difficult to get it to come together - but it got there in the end. The other thing is that I didn't get to taste the gingerbread since the house is still sitting on our dining room table. I really see it as more of a Christmas decoration than something to eat.


Gingerbread House (from The Australian Women's Weekly - The Christmas Book)

90g unsalted butter
200g brown sugar
1 cup honey
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind (I left this out)
2 eggs, lightly beaten (I needed 4 eggs)
750g plain flour
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Assorted lollies for decoration

1. Combine butter, sugar and honey in medium pan; stir over low heat until sugar dissolves, cool 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to large bowl; stir in rind, eggs and sifted dry ingredients.
   
2. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead gently until mixture loses its stickiness; cover, refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Cut paper patterns for gingerbread house; cut one rectangle (20cm x 15cm) for the roof; one rectangle (15cm x 10cm) for the sides and one rectangle (16cm x 19cm) for the front/back. Trim front/back rectangle so that sides are 10cm high, as shown below.
4. Roll out dough on floured surface until 1cm thick; cut shapes from dough.
5. Place shapes on baking trays lined with baking paper and bake in 200C oven for 10 minutes or until firm.
6. Stand shapes on trays for 5 minutes, brush with glaze (recipe to follow). Transfer glazed shapes to wire racks to cool.
7. Cut door from front of house.
   
8. Cover a small board or tray with foil, spread a thin layer of Royal icing (recipe to follow) over foil to represent snow.
9. Assemble gingerbread house, using the Royal icing to glue together the walls and then the roof, as shown below.
10. Use Royal icing to secure lollies on the roof and walls.
11. Dust with icing sugar.
    

Royal Icing

2 egg whites
4 cups icing sugar, approximately
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1. Beat egg whites in small bowl until just frothy.
2. Gradually beat in enough sifted sugar for mixture to form very stiff peaks.
3. Stir in juice.
   

Glaze

1 tbspn caster sugar
2 tbspn boiling water

1. Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over how heat until the sugar dissolves.
   

Now for the templates, first the roof...


Then the front/back of the house...


And of course the sides of the house...


Use the templates as a guide to cut out the gingerbread shapes...


After baking the shapes are glazed and left to cool on a wire rack...


Then you stick them together with royal icing to build up the house...


The roof is the trickiest bit - but a bit of extra royal icing and spending some time holding the roof pieces in place and it will all work out...


Then decorate to your hearts content, I tiled my roof with Freckles...


Made a colourful Smartie wall...


And gave the house a street number of 24 (which just so happens to be our anniversary and Mat's birthday)...


Rating?
5 out of 5 reindeers!

Baking Mondays - C is for Caramel?

Okay so I was very excited about having caramel as the flavour for this week and I was tossing up between baking caramel spice cupcakes and caramel mud cupcakes. My ever so lovely husband decided that the caramel spice cupcakes sounded nice so I set out on my baking mission. Once they were all baked I sampled one of the cupcakes to make sure they were worthy of frosting (something I do with every batch) - and guess what? They don't taste like caramel at all! In fact I would say they taste more like gingerbread. So while that was a bit disappointing - I must say for a spice/gingerbread cupcake these were darn tasty! So I present to you Spice Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Spice Cupcakes
(Caramel cake from The Australian Women's Weekly - More Cakes and Slices)
Makes 16

185g butter
150g brown sugar
80ml golden syrup
2 eggs
40g almond meal
125ml milk
300g self raising flour, sifted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line 2 12 hole muffin trays with cupcake liners.
2. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and beat well with an electric mixer on low speed until combined.
3. Bake for 15 minutes (again remember my oven is silly - so this time may vary for you).

Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream

4 egg whites
1 cup brown sugar
250g unsalted butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1. Combine the egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl and whisk over a saucepan of simmering water until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is as hot as you can get it without the egg whites cooking.
2. With the whisk attachment on your mixer whisk the egg white and sugar mixture on high speed until a stiff meringue is formed and the mix has cooled down to room temperature.
3. Now put the paddle attachment on your mixer and with the mixer on a low speed add a tablespoon or two of butter at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until the mixture is light and fluffy again.
4. Add vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until you get a good piping texture.

The ratings?

Me - 8/10 - very light, spongy, moist and tasty!! The cake is great and the buttercream is very subtle. My only complaint was that it didn't taste like caramel at all.

Mat - 10/10 - unexpected flavour - but they were sensational (and Mat doesn't even like gingerbread)!

Mat's work friends - 12/10 :o)

German Gingerbread

I've been meaning to buy and try these German gingerbread biscuits for a while now and I finally did yesterday. May I say that they are awesome - not too sweet, soft and chewy :). My local supermarket has a great spread of different international biscuits and cakes, so I am going to sample them whenever I have a bit of spare cash.

Now back to my episode of Fringe - Mat and I have moved our mattress into the lounge room due to the heat wave and are currently enjoying watching a few Fringe episodes.