Gingerbread Houses

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Gingerbread Houses

• Happy Holidays

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1-2-3 Gingerbread HousesGingerbread Dough

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup full-flavor (dark)molasses
• 1 egg
• 4 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground all spice Icing

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• Heat oven to 350F. Line jelly roll pan, 15
  1/2x10 1/2x1 inch, with heavy-duty foil, leaving
  1 inch of foil overhanging at each end of pan. In
  large bowl, mix sugar, shortening, molasses and
  egg with spoon. Stir in all remaining Gingerbread
  Dough ingredients. Divide dough in half. Press
  half of dough in pan.
• Bake gingerbread about 15 minutes or until no
  indentation remains when touched in center. Cool
  5 minutes carefully lift foil and gingerbread
  from pan
• Cut gingerbread lengthwise in half, then
  crosswise 2 times to make 6 rectangles. Cut
  angles from 2 corners of each rectangle to form
  roof of house. (The corners make good nibbles.)
• Cool completely, about 1 hour. Repeat with
  remaining dough. Decorate houses with frosting
  and candies.

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Alternative Recipe

•   I've used this recipe a few times and find it
  works well, particularly because you DO NOT chill
  it. In fact if it gets cold you must get it warm
  again to use it.
•   1 cup vegetable shortening 1 cup sugar 1 cup
  dark molasses or corn syrup (dark gives dark,
  chocolate colored dough corn syrup gives light
  dough...or use half molasses and half corn syrup
  for a medium colored dough)
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• Melt these three items in a pot over low heat.
•   Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon
  baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ginger
  1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cinnamon
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• Then stir in 4-4 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup at a
  time. (You may have to enlist the help of an
  electric mixer on the last cup as the dough gets
  quite thick and hard to stir. Split the dough
  into manageable balls, wrapping excess in plastic
  wrap. Roll out, cut pieces, bake at 375 for 6-12
  minutes.
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• Note If you feel like the dough isn't working
  well, heat it in the microwave about 10 seconds
  to warm it, knead again and then roll it.
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CONSTRUCTION TIPS

• To assure proper fit, check gingerbread pieces
  before assembling if necessary shave edges with
  a rasp (sold in hardware stores) or a sharp
  knife. When assembling gingerbread pieces with
  icing, work with pastry bag with medium tip.
  Check vertical angles of major pieces with a
  right triangle or carpenter's square.
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• To attach right angle pieces Pipe a line along
  the edge of one piece press it against the
  adjoining piece and hold it in place for several
  minutes until the icing sets. Let dry thoroughly
  propping attached pieces with a sturdy small
  object. When dry, smooth seams with a damp cloth
  fill in any spaces with more icing.
• For extra stability, pipe icing along the inside
  seams as well. Allow to stand for an hour until
  the icing has completely dried before decorating.
  

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MERINGUE POWDER ROYAL ICING

• 3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder (available where
  cake decorating supplies are sold)1 1 LB box (3
  3/4 cups) confectioners sugar4-6 Tablespoons
  cold waterPut dry ingredients together, add
  half the water, then add more water as needed.
  The consistency of the icing should be thick,
  where a knife can be drawn through it leaving a
  clean path...but not so thick it wont go through
  an icing tip. Takes about 2-3 minutes with this
  method.

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ICING TIPS

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• You will need a basic knowledge of decorating
  with icing tips and bags to make gingerbread
  structures.If you have never done this before,
  practice first. Go to a cake decorating store and
  buy a Wilton book. It will show you techniques
  and give you lots of ideas.Buy some disposable
  plastic pastry bags, or ziplock bags and some
  tips.You can use tips you like some of the ones
  I use over and over areRound tip 1Round tip
  2Round tip 3You will also need what are called
  couplers . Buy several, you will want to have
  one for each color of icing you plan to use...buy
  at least 5.These are two piece sets, half goes
  inside the pastry bag, the other piece holds the
  tip on the pastry bag. If you are not familiar
  with this ask at the cake decorating store...its
  really easy, but like anything else, if you have
  not done it before, its a little hard to
  explain.

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Frosting

• Mixing icing is a double edged sword. Its much
  easier to mix it all ahead, but you need to use
  it in a timely fashion or it hardens. I usually
  mix it up, and try to fold the pastry bags over
  to keep the top from drying out. If I need to
  keep icing overnight I put it in a Tupperware
  container right in the bags. They sell covers
  for the tips to be used for storage, but in my
  opinion they dont make that much difference. You
  are going to have to unclog the tips anyway if
  you leave them sit for any period of time.Keep
  toothpicks handy for cleaning out tips, and a
  paint brush works well too for getting into the
  points of the tips.Toothpicks work well for
  helping correct errors, keep some handy

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• Coloring icing
• Color small batches of this icing as needed with
  Wilton decorating pastes, which are much more
  intense and not watery like liquid food colors.
  Using the pastry bags This is a simple matter
  of practice. Practice on wax paper before you try
  and decorate on the house.You might also want
  to decorate the house pieces flat before putting
  them together. It can be much easier to do
  intricate decorations flat rather than trying to
  work vertically.

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• Painting
• Another technique I use a lot is painting. I
  put a little icing into a small container or bowl
  and then add just the smallest amount of water.
  In fact sometimes I just wet the paintbrush and
  then stir the paint with it and that is enough
  water. You then paint the gingerbread pieces. The
  result when the icing dries is a smooth coating
  with no visible brush lines.

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Decorating Techniques
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• This is a very basic house design. You can
  improvise from here. Add a chimney, cut out
  squares of gingerbread for a walkway, shingles,
  or whatever you can think of!

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• Other candies to use
• as your imagination allows
• Gum dropsM Ms Red HotsChiclets Wafers
  Candies (flat, round, old fashioned candies,
  wrapped in a wax paper wrapper)Marshmallows (for
  snow piles, snowmen, etc.) Little candy fruits
  (I've always wanted to do a market scene and use
  these somehow...)

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Sites to visit

• http//www.gingerbreadlane.com/
• www.homecooking.com
• www.ichef.com
• www.bhg.com
• www.bettycrocker.com
• www.allrecipes.com
• www.cooks.com