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 was planning on sitting out this challenge because I had so much on my plate. But my 19 year old son said his date wanted to make a gingerbread house. So I asked if I could make the dough using the DB recipe and they could bake it and decorate it. I used Y’s recipe and I didn’t have the problem many other DB’s had with it being too dry.
It was my son’s first time making a gingerbread house and using a pastry bag. He and his date had fun creating this cute gingerbread house and they did a great job!
Y’s Recipe:
Gingerbread House
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature [226g]
- 1 cup brown sugar well packed [220g]
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ cup boiling water
- 5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]
- ROYAL ICING:
- 1 large egg white
- 3 cups 330g powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- 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. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
- Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
- 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, but leave the pieces in place.
- [I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly ⅛ inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]
- Preheat the oven to 375’F (190’C). 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. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
- ROYAL ICING:
- Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren’t using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.
glamah16
Im glad you found time to make it. Looks great. I could really go for a slice of thst Cranberry Apple Streudal however.
The Double Dipped Life
You are daring! What a fun date idea, and what a wonderful mom you are!
Michelle
Oops forgot to mention how gorgeous your candy cane sweet rolls are! Perfection…absolute perfection!
Jaime
how funny that his date wanted to make one! glad you didn't sit this one out, that's a cute house 🙂
happy holidays to you, too, Barbara!
Mimi
Very cute GB house. Your son and his date did a great job.
Mimi
Yasmeen
Wonderfully done 😀
bake in paris
Very cute little house! It brings out festive mood and joy to everyone 🙂
Sawadee from Bangkok,
Kris
kristenly
your house turned out great but even more importantly it sounds like you're a great mom. hope that you and your family had a wonderful holiday.
Anna
Aw, how sweet! I love how many families built their houses together 🙂
shaz
Oh how sweet. That is such a cute gingerbread house and it looks like they had lots of fun with it:) Very pretty.
Jamie
Too cute and very romantic… a house for two. Great job!
Aux délices des gourmets
la maison est superbe bravo pour ton fils
bonnes fêtes de fin d'année
Donna-FFW
Oh they did a lovely job!! Happy Holidays to you.
Katy ~
Oh this does look like fun! These evoke so many feelings of Christmas. Well done!
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
Mum you did an awesome job and very smart splitting the chores! I wish I could have come for that delicious ham 😀 Merry Christmas to everyone in my "family"! 😀 xxx
Deeba PAB
What a lovely festive house Barbara…yay you did it! I had fun with it oo!
Merry Christmas girlfriend & hope 2010 is as wonderful as can be.
Catch you in Hawaii(was it???), and we will still make Ednah walk the plant with Hugh Grant…no matter what!!
{HUGS & KISSES}
Jill
Love your festive gingerbread house! I love the colors of the little path up to the house. 🙂
Merry Christmas!!
Nitsie
Awww looks cute.I loved the candy cane fence…looks beautiful:)
Pontch
Cute gingerbread house 🙂
Daniela
E' bellissima questa casetta versione dolce.
Buon Natale e Felice 2010,
Daniela e Diocleziano.