Gingerbread house

Now - the final of my one-post-per-day-till-Christmas session. I've been working on this on and off for the last few days. It's the first time I've done it, and the kids helped. We did a pretty good job as far as I'm concerned, and I dare you to defy the family Walton. 

I was particularly disappointed to see a gingerbread sleigh kit down at the local supermarket for $12.99 today, just as we were finishing.

Gingerbread Ingredients

• 250g butter (softened)
• 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 cup golden syrup
• 2 egg yolks
• 5 cups flour
• 2 tbsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350F), and line pans with baking paper, then get started on the mix, by beating butter and sugar, then adding golden syrup and egg yolks.
2. switch to wooden spoon or knife, then sift in dry ingredients, stirring until it forms a dough
3. turn out in sections onto a sheet of baking paper, roll to about 5mm thickness, then cut to size. Then bake for 10 minutes, and leave to cool.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 egg white
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar (approx)

Instructions:

1. Whip egg whites until they form soft peaks, then sift in sugar and fold in. Colour if desired.
2. Put in piping bags, and pipe the thin end on both sides, then attach two long side sections. Sit on base (ie. in U shape) and leave to dry, propping if necessary
3. Pipe two sides of other thin section and attatch, then leave to dry.
4. Position roof using dressmaking pins, then pipe icing in generously, allowing it to flow over in sections so it looks like snowy dribbles.
5. Add door, piping along hinge area and prop until dry.
6. Decorate like crazy

If you'd like the template, please email me on admin@thehedonista.com, but it's pretty simple - I used an A5 sheet (almost the size of a "letter" page halved) for two walls and the two roof pieces, then turned it on its end, and made a pointed top for the front and back. We also whipped up a little dog house in honour of our new Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Harry. Cut the windows and door before you bake.

Because the frosting has egg whites in it, you should consume within a few days, or avoid the frosting if you consume later. But to be honest, the gingerbread will harden too much in more than three-four days anyway. After that, it's just for display. This could be done in one day - the frosting takes about 2 hours to harden completely.