Gingerbread Houses

I got ambitious and decided to make some gingerbread houses for a neighborhood activity that I was in charge of for some youth to decorate.

This recipe that I am going to put here made enough dough for seven small gingerbread houses. They were rolled out about 1/4 inch.

The royal icing that I used here worked out really well - except I realized that it worked much better after I had let it sit for a couple of hours. (The first houses decorated were done in such a rush without time for icing to dry, and the roofs started sliding off. We had to do emergency repairs once, or twice :) Oops!)

Gingerbread House (adapted fr Simply Recipes)

6 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves or allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) butter, softened
1 1/2 c packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 c dark molasses
1 tbsp water

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside

Beat together butter and brown sugar until fluffy and well blended (electric mixer on medium). Beat in eggs, molasses, and water until well combined.

Beat half of the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in remaining flour. Knead until well blended. If dough is too soft, add a little more flour.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours, pref overnight. Let sit at room temp at least 10 minutes before rolling out.

Okay - so I did this with less time allowed. I only chilled in the freezer for just a little while to get it chilled, then I generously floured the surface I was rolling on - biggest thing is that you don't want it to stick, because you have to cut the pieces out and maintain their shape.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Have several flat cookie sheets ready, pref ones that will not warp in the heat.

Divide dough in two. Spread parchment paper or wax paper on large flat surface - dust lightly with flour (or generously if you're me and seriously nervous about sticking dough :) Use rolling pin to roll out dough to even thickness (I did 1/4 inch). Add a little flour to surface of the dough as rolling, and check for sticking as you roll out. If dough starts sticking, dust with more flour.

Rub a little flour over surface of dough. Place on your pattern pieces - as many as will fit. Use a small sharp knife to cut out the pattern. Also, you can use scissors and cut straight through the wax paper and even cook the dough on the paper. It will peel off easily at the end.

Bake at 350  for 1-15 minutes, (until edges just begin to darken); 6-8 for small pieces. Remove to cool.

Right after you take the cookies out, while they are still slightly warm, you can lay the pattern pieces over again and use a straight chef's knife to trim off any parts of the pieces that have spread beyond the pattern. I was in a rush, so I didn't do this. It's not a must, but if you're a perfectionist, you may just want to make time for this.

Royal Icing (aka Edible Glue)

2 large egg whites
2 2/3 c powdered sugar, divided

Whisk together egg whites and 1 1/3 c of the powdered sugar until smooth.

Add remaining 1 1/3 c of powdered sugar to mixture. Using an electric mixer, beat on high until the icing holds still peaks. If it doesn't form stiff peaks, add more powdered sugar.

That's it. However, if you want your icing to actually kind of taste good in my opinion, add a little extract of some sort - almond, lemon, orange. If you like your sugar straight up, then don't worry about it!

I probably used 2-3 times this much icing for the 7 small houses that I did with this recipe.

I usually cover the icing while I'm not working with it - so I mix it in some type of tupperware with a lid. That way it can slightly dry out which actually makes it easier when your using it, but not too dry to work with.

When you're ready, fill a decorating bag with the icing. And put your house together!

First, the walls - icing along the base and the side seams. After you place, put icing again around the base inside and out, and the side seams. Let it sit for a while (depends on the size of your house how long you will want to wait. I was good in about 20 minutes, but it was a small structure). Then, do the roof! Once again, icing along the seams of the walls, and then along the seam of your roof. The roof looks good if you use a pattern that has a slight overhang at the ends. Hold the pieces for a few minutes so they don't slide off. Pipe top seam with some extra icing. Add icicles if you want. They look cool! Usually you should wait at least an hour after this step to do more decorating so that your house sets up really well and will stay under the pressure of added candy (I found out the hard way at first with limited time at our activity).

Decorate with CANDY! Use the icing to glue the candy on.

I really had fun decorating these. There are so many fun things you can do.

Enjoy!

Here's the pattern I used (I modified it a little, however, because the walls did not match up quite evenly for some odd reason). I was also too lazy to do the chimney, cuz seemed like lots of work for little reward on this teeny house. Maybe when I'm more ambitious in the future.....

 Merissa Wilson's Gingerbread House!

Leanna Watt's Gingerbread House!

My niece Jaide, helped me decorate this next house......

What a good poser! She used lots of marshmallows for snow, and we used cinnamon toast crunch to make the roof shingles. Also, Uncle Ben made a red snowman in front.

Jaide's sisters enjoyed eating all of the candy while we decorated! That's really how a 4 and 2 year old help decorate a gingerbread house.

Lots of candy!

The super tall marshmallow snowman was contributed by Julie.

These last couple that I have here I made and we donated them to some homeless shelters along with dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies. Way to go Tom and Ginny Lakey! My in-laws are so caring and always do cool things like this around the holidays. Also, my husband is awesome, who helped me cut out and bake sugar cookies for 4 hours one evening. I believe the count was around 14 dozen, and we were just doing about 1/6 of the quantity that was prepared for delivery! But enough about cookies. Here's the pictures already!

Tortilla Chip Roof

Add caption

Smarties house. For some reason, this reminds me of the gingerbread man on Shrek.

Maybe it's the expression of the front of the house. So worried.

Last but not least, the peppermint house.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Roof

That's it for this year. Will I be more ambitious next? We'll see.  Maybe one of these?

Cute cottage scene

Ginger"bird" house

Gingerbread Castle

Let's be honest. Most likely not. But they are quite pretty :)

(These last three are from the Festival of Trees 2009 in SLC)

Key Lime Pie

Cool refreshing dessert. Instead of one big pie, this time I got the aluminum muffin cups and made mini pies. That way you don't eat as much, right?

Gourmet, May 2003

For crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 (2 1/4-inch by 4 3/4-inch) crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling:
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh or bottled key lime juice 

For topping:
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Make crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (4-cup) glass pie plate. Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.

Make filling and bake pie: Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly). Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

Make topping: Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll

This is one of the most delicious forms of pumpkiny goodness ever! Seriously, I think anything that's wrapped with cream cheese in it is a winner!

Recipe courtesy of: Sundance Inn Bed and Breakfast, New Braunfels, Texas

3 eggs

1 c sugar

2/3 c canned pumpkin

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3/4 c flour

Filling:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

4 tbsp butter, softened

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar. Beat in remaining cake ingredients. Grease a 10" x 15" jelly roll pan. Line pan with waxed paper, then grease and lightly flour the waxed paper. Pour batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. * Cake cooks fast so watch carefully to avoid burning the edges. While cake is baking, sprinkle powdered sugar heavily over the kitchen towel, using a sieve or sifter. Turn hot cake onto the towel. Remove waxed paper. Trim off burnt or crusty edges. Sprinkle more powdered sugar over the hot cake and quickly roll up with towel inside. Let cake cook completely, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare filling by beating together all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Unroll cooled cake and spread with the filling mixture. Roll up cake with filling on the inside. Wrap in waxed paper and then foil. Refrigerate or freeze. To serve, slice cake about 1/3 inch thick and sprinkler with powdered sugar. Note: Cake cuts best when still slightly frozen.

The last time I made this cake, I was taking it to a party with a lot of different treats, so I wanted to make the slices smaller. Instead of one baking sheet, I put the batter on two smaller baking sheets, and made two smaller rolls. It worked out really well!

Holiday Treat Overload!

Wow. So, I have some serious recipes to post on here. I'll admit, I've been indulging lately, but I could hopefully say that I'm still being "responsible", meaning, only seconds, not thirds or fourths :)

So, here's what's on the way:

• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll
• Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
• Key Lime Pie
• French Chocolate Silk Pie
• Cake Balls/Pops, and Cheesecake Balls
• Gingerbread Houses

Don't worry ya'll. Chocolate is still my main passion, but there are still other delectable treats to appreciate in life, and so I wanted to share these recipes as well for a little change up. ENJOY and Happy Holidays!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ok, so not chocolate, but still delicious! We can't have chocolate all the time, right? (Actually, probably could, but there's still things to appreciate beyond chocolate once in a while). Recipe comes from epicurious.com website.

Lemon Meringue Pie (Gourmet, 1995)

For shell
1 recipe Pastry Dough for a single-crust 9- to 10-inch pie
raw rice or pie weights for weighting shell

For filling
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest

For meringue
4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

Make shell:
On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out dough into a 13-inch round, (about 1/8 inch thick) and fit into a 9-inch (1-quart) pie plate. Trim edge of dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, and crimp edge decoratively. Prick shell in several places with a fork and chill, covered, 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line shell with wax paper and fill with rice or pie weights. Bake shell in middle of oven 10 minutes. Remove paper and rice carefully and bake shell until golden, about 12 minutes more. Cool shell in pie plate on a rack. Lower oven temperature to 350°F.

Make filling:
In a heavy saucepan whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt and gradually whisk in water and milk, whisking until cornstarch is dissolved. In a bowl whisk together egg yolks. Cook milk mixture over moderate heat, whisking, until it comes to a boil. Gradually whisk about 1 cup milk mixture into yolks and whisk yolk mixture into milk mixture. Simmer mixture, whisking, 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter, lemon juice, and zest until butter is melted. Cover surface of filling with plastic wrap.

Make meringue:
In another bowl with an electric mixer beat egg whites with cream of tartar and a pinch of salt until they hold soft peaks. Beat in sugar in a slow stream, beating until meringue just holds stiff peaks. Pour filling into shell and spread meringue on top, covering filling completely, sealing it to pastry. Draw meringue up into peaks and bake pie in middle of oven until meringue is golden, about 15 minutes.

This recipe turned out excellent, and this is my first attempt at a lemon meringue (have to admit, I was a little nervous). The meringue did weep a little, so I am still looking for a good addition to the meringue to help that not happen again.