Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin

Monday, December 28, 2009

Daring Bakers' Gingerbread House



What could be better than taking the holiday to face my fear? Like this gingerbread house which from reading DB Forum it gave me a huge doubt that I could ever build it or have the patience to work out the pieces. It seemed like a huge task, and therefore I had been hesitating until the last moment when the challenge had come to haunt me closely. I gave in and built everything from scratch..... for the very first time.



And my worry during the proces was whether royal icing is capable to stick gingerbread pieces together. I was surprised it did it all. The dough was chilled for two days and as I was rolling it into the desired size, it shrank substantially (about 10%) so I decided I would chill it for only half an hour (enough to rest the dough) the next round I happen to make it again. As a consequence, the initial drawing has to be scaled down to 90%. The amount of dough is just nice for the number of pieces that I needed. But one and a half recipes of royal icing was needed for such elaborate work.



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. Thanks to Anna and Y for this great challenge!



Have made some adjustments to the recipe for my own convenience. Original recipe could be found here

Happy New Year, Everyone!



GINGERBREAD HOUSE





Y's Recipe:
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas

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
- 1 cup boiling water
- 5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]



Method:
- 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.
- Cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet.
- 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.



2. Royal Icing

Ingredients:
- 1.5 large egg white
- 3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract

Method:
- Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency.

3. Assembly



- For decoration or detailing, pipe royal icing on gingerbread pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using royal icing 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.
- Pipe on the edge of the house pieces and join up together. Hold with your hand for a while until the royal icing set or lean these pieces to a box.

46 comments:

  1. Is this what happens everytime you face your fears? :)
    Wow, love your gorgeous multistoreyed mansion.

    Happy Holidays and Best Wishes For A Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great job as always! I am glad you tried the royal icing because it really works.

    Happy Holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh that is one incredible gingerbread creation! I'm so in love with those windows! Amazing, amazing work Kris!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kris, what can i say but wowwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

    Is this house here in Bkk? wanna go there ><

    ReplyDelete
  5. Haha, that comment of Aparna! :-D That's what I thought... this house is soooooo beautiful! Congratulations, you won a place in my list of honor!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh wow, this looks absolutely, absolutely fantastic. You did a fantastic job.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is your first gingerbread house, ever? Kris, you have nothing to fear! It is simply fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, stunning! Your gingerbread house is beautiful!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wooowwwww wonderful one.Its so different to the usual ones....loved it.Wat a beautiful one:).Great clicks too:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. WOW oh WOW Kris!! A four-story house and your very first one!! I absolutely LOVE it!! I love the little stained glass windows that you piped on each one and the roof is excellent! I love how clean and beautiful your house turned out! Great piping details and the snow looks amazing! Well done!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. You were simply awesome! I didn't detect any fear there - just creativity. Well done! Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's awesome! I love the windows, and their detail! The roof is really unique too! Bravo, as usual! Beautiful photographs!

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a breathtakingly beautiful house!!! I am very impressed indeed. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  14. its beautiful and so professional looking! i love your stained glass windows. hope that you had a lovely holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love this house! It is adorable. And, your sketches are so exact and professional (are you really an architect?)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Absolutely beautiful! I love your design.
    Mimi

    ReplyDelete
  17. Adorable, I love the details! Is it inspired by something?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Holy crap! This is gorgeous! Great job on the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow wow wow! Can't believe you would've even doubted yourself to begin with. This is amazing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am so totally impressed - you are a gingerbread goddess!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I am still shaking my head here? This has to be the best gingerbread house I have seen. I had such trouble with my icing. Yours is just perfect, and neat! Well done. You are the Queen of Gingerbread.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Your gingerbread house is lovely! Beautifully done and stunning photos, as always :)
    All the best for 2010!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh Wow! was my reaction when I saw your elaborate creation! Truly a work of art! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  24. WOW! Do you mean this is the first house you have made from scratch? This is amazing! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  25. What an amazing house!!! It's magnificent. Fantastic job.

    ReplyDelete
  26. That's awesome! The detail you put in!! Absolutely stunning! Glad you faced your fear! :) Happy New Year.

    ReplyDelete
  27. what an elegant gingerbread house! I love the colored stained windows. Happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Wow, what an enormously impressive gingerbread house you made! All those details in the windows... Love it! I was also surprised at how well the icing actually cements everything together... It is still standing strong today!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Happy New year and wishing you & your family all the best for the coming year.

    ReplyDelete
  30. This is a very, very pretty house. Really wonderful job on it!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Your house is just amazing. Love your photos too!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Wow!
    As always your challenge result rocks!
    The house template is great, and created a beautiful design
    I really love the decorations- the piping is perfect
    Really amazing work
    Inbal

    ReplyDelete
  33. congratulation one more time, Kris! its fun get another badge at begining of new year. Happy New Year for you and T hope you always find your happiness together..

    ReplyDelete
  34. Wow, what a beautiful gingerbread house! I can never eat this house. It is too pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Wonderful house, a mansion! You've done a great job with the project.

    ReplyDelete
  36. KRIS - OMG, I cannot believe I missed your GB HOUSE! I opened your page last week, to get to later, then crashed a little later on.. and with all the hubaloo trying to get back online, I forgot about it! I'm so sorry!! That said, WOW..I saw this in the DK forum the day I posted, and was blown away. Now that I've seen it in full, I'm stunned. I think yours is one of the best, if not THE best, GB house in this challenge! Amazing templates, execution, construction, decor, presentation, and of course, photos! Happy New Year, sweetie, you rock!!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Oh my gosh, fab gingerbread 'mansion'!
    Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Your house turned out utterly fabulous! Awesome job!

    Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

    ReplyDelete
  39. My daughters and I are going to try this elaborate house Christmas eve.....wish us luck!

    ReplyDelete
  40. My Daughters and I are going to try this house Christmas Eve....

    ReplyDelete
  41. My Daughters and I are going to attempt this house Christmas Eve....2011

    ReplyDelete