With the holidays just passed and plenty of spare time on my hands, I have never been so adventurous with my baking!
In attempt to instill some festive White-Christmas style spirit into an otherwise seafood doused December, I set myself the challenge of designing and baking a Gingerbread House from scratch. Evidently trending this holiday season after being featured on Junior Masterchef 2011, and in numerous household magazines, Gingerbread Houses are a superb Christmas-time family bonding opportunity. Pre-baked packs are also available at select supermarkets and speciality confectionary stores.
The (exhausting yet manageable) Process:
Using a recipe from an aging Woman's Weekly biscuit magazine, I constructed the house's foundations (2 rectangular side walls, 2 triangle-topped square end walls, 2 rectangular roof pieces, 1 arch-shaped door, and a rectangular chimney). As a template for each piece, grease-proof baking paper was measured, cut out and placed atop the rolled out Gingerbread dough, which was then cut to match. Each piece was baked until just past the point of 'golden brown' to achieve a firm biscuit which wouldnt bend and crumble under pressure. Whilst the Gingerbread cooled, I prepared the 'glue' - 4ish batches of extra thick Royal Icing (1 Egg White, 1 Tsp Lemon Juice, 2.5 cups Pure Icing Sugar). With the help of my handy icing contraption (traditional piping bags will work just as well) and just about all of my patience the house slowly came to life. After allowing the icing to set, the battle of decoration began - my ammunition... mini marshmellows, Cachous ("the little shiny silver ball thingies"), and crushed Pistachio nuts.
An end result Hansel & Gretel would be proud to consume:
- To view recipe and template examples visit the Recipes page -
In attempt to instill some festive White-Christmas style spirit into an otherwise seafood doused December, I set myself the challenge of designing and baking a Gingerbread House from scratch. Evidently trending this holiday season after being featured on Junior Masterchef 2011, and in numerous household magazines, Gingerbread Houses are a superb Christmas-time family bonding opportunity. Pre-baked packs are also available at select supermarkets and speciality confectionary stores.
The (exhausting yet manageable) Process:
Using a recipe from an aging Woman's Weekly biscuit magazine, I constructed the house's foundations (2 rectangular side walls, 2 triangle-topped square end walls, 2 rectangular roof pieces, 1 arch-shaped door, and a rectangular chimney). As a template for each piece, grease-proof baking paper was measured, cut out and placed atop the rolled out Gingerbread dough, which was then cut to match. Each piece was baked until just past the point of 'golden brown' to achieve a firm biscuit which wouldnt bend and crumble under pressure. Whilst the Gingerbread cooled, I prepared the 'glue' - 4ish batches of extra thick Royal Icing (1 Egg White, 1 Tsp Lemon Juice, 2.5 cups Pure Icing Sugar). With the help of my handy icing contraption (traditional piping bags will work just as well) and just about all of my patience the house slowly came to life. After allowing the icing to set, the battle of decoration began - my ammunition... mini marshmellows, Cachous ("the little shiny silver ball thingies"), and crushed Pistachio nuts.
An end result Hansel & Gretel would be proud to consume:
- To view recipe and template examples visit the Recipes page -
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