December is my favourite month of the year! I have got lots of Christmas baking ideas I would love to make, gingerbread house is first on the list :-D I changed last year's ginerbread house recipe a little bit by using black treacle, I really like the subtle caramel flavour from the black treacle, it goes so well with the spices in the cookies.
I only managed to bake all the pieces for the gingerbread house, but didnt have enough time to build it before Kristina's Christmas Party, Kristina is now going to take this home to her family : ) one of her friends suggested maybe i could have just brought the pieces to the party, so everyone can build together, i will prob try next year :-P
Gingerbread House
For the Gingerbread House
250g unsalted butter180g dark muscovado sugar
7 tbsp black Treacle
580g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp mixed spice
For the Decoration
1 bag of marshmallow (or selection sweets of your choice)1 tube of 125g jelly diamonds (or selection sweets of your choice)
4 candle canes (or selection sweets of your choice)
2 egg whites
480g icing sugar
A Gingerbread House template (A4 size below)
Methods
1. Preheat oven to 180C.2. Melt the butter, sugar and treacle in a pan.
3. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice into a large bowl.
4. Stir in the melted butter mixture to make a soft and smooth dough. If the dough is bit dry, add a tiny splash of water for the dough to come together,
5. Prepare and cut out the template of two side walls, a front and back wall and two roof panels.
6. Put a sheet of baking paper on your work surface and roll about one quarter of the dough to 0.8cm thick.
7. Cut out one of the sections according to the template, then slide the gingerbread onto a baking tray lined with baking sheet.
8. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two side walls, a front and back wall and two roof panels.
9. Any leftover dough can be cut into Christmas trees/gingerbread man/stars.
10. Bake all the sections for 10 mins, turn and bake the other side for 5 mins until firm and just a little darker at the edges.
11. Leave to cool for a few mins to firm up, then trim around the templates again to give clean, sharp edges. Leave to cool completely.
12. Put the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon into a piping bag with a medium nozzle.
13. Pipe the decorations on the house before it is assembled.
14. Pipe the windows, roof tiles, doors or any design of your choice over the outside of the house. Stick the sweets onto the walls and door of the house with some icing.
15. Leave them to dry completely.
16. To assemble, pipe a thick line of icing along the wall edges, one by one, to join the walls together.
14. Use a small mug/bowl/box to support the walls from the inside, then allow to dry completely.
15. Once dry, remove the supports and fix the roof panels on. The angle is steep so you may need to hold these on firmly for a few mins until the icing starts to dry. Dry completely, ideally overnight.
16. Dust the roof with icing sugar and edible glitter for a snowy effect.
17. Your gingerbread house will be edible for about a week but will last a lot longer.
