Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread houses remind me of fairy tales. :-) I made my first "gingerbread winter village" a couple of years ago, and it's become an integral part of my Christmas preparation by now. You may say it's quite time (an labour!) consuming, but most of all - it's so much fun! OK, maybe apart from the moment of sitting still and holding the walls and roof to "stick the house" together. :-)

Ingredients (enough to make a couple of houses)

2 and 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 egg
5 tbsp soft butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
3 ground cloves

Icing:
Egg white
Icing sugar

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, soda, and spices. Melt butter on a hob and add honey and stir until they blend, then pour into the bowl with other ingredients and crack in the egg. Knead until the dough is smooth. Cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Prepare a template for your house (front, back 2 walls and 2 pieces to make the roof). Roll the dough on a dusted surface and cut out the pieces of the house. Cut out the windows and place a boiled sweet into each - they'll melt into colourful "window panes". You can cut out the door, however, it needs to be done at the bottom of the "front wall" - if you cut the door out higher (leaving a threshold) it won't stick onto the house and you won't be able to give your houses slightly ajar door. That's what happened with my first houses, thus they lack doors. :-)
This tear I went for the "log cabin effect" - by making slight incisions on the gingerbread "walls", and created a small pile of wood in front of the house.

Bake the parts in 180C for about 10 minutes. Leave them to rest, then decorate the parts with icing before assembling the house. Leave the decorated parts to dry. Then stick the walls together with icing (and support them until the icing starts getting dry), then attach the roof.

My very first gingerbread house

my first gingerbread winter village

gingerbread log cabin

Comments

My Take on Italian

Italian cuisine is often to be considered to be simple. I guess it is like with elegance - simplicity is the key. Good quality, real Italian ingredients are crucial, combined with a bit a passion, and not too complex a recipe. Pronto! Though, to tell you the truth, my very first steps with Italian cuisine included ... using instant sauces ... Nowadays I can't quite comprehend how anybody can claim they taste of anything, but I guess it takes trying to "the real deal" ... The very first thing I cooked from scratch, and we both instantly loved, was spaghetti Pomodoro e Basilico, as the Italian call it. Even though for the Italian it is "primo piato" (first dish), an introduction to the main meal, it is just the matter of the amount, as it surely can be the main meal as well! All we need is spaghetti pasta, 4-5 ripe, sweet tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of passata, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a few basil leaves, salt and pepper to seaso...

Gingerbread Layer Cake

This Christmas I decided to "pimp up" my gingerbread a bit, after a last minute inspiration. I saw a photo of this cake, literally a day before making the cake and decided it's an absolute must this Christmas. I really like how the cake combines gingerbread and gateau type cake features, it's both presentable and delicious. The cake (4 layers): 150 g honey (liquid) 200 g butter or margarine 500 g plain flour 3 yolks 4 tbsp milk 1 tbs purified soda 100 g sugar 1 tbsp ground ginger 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp ground cardamon 1tsp ground cloves a pinch of ground black pepper Combine the ingredients in a large bowl - as it's really hard to do, you may be best off using dough whisks on a food mixer. Cover the bowl with cling film and put into the fridge for 24 hours. After that time, divide the dough into 4 parts, place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and bake in 180C for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool. The cream: ...

How come I'm in Italy?

My little students often ask me: "Miss, how is it possible that you speak Italian and also English?" It's very cute when they do, but others ask equally often - how come you live here? Well, some people have their "American dream", I've got my Italian one. That's it. I've always loved Italy. I've liked the sound of the language, Italian food's always been one of my absolute favourites, and one day as I was travelling in Italy I had a thought - why not try to live and work here? There are some many teachers like me, who work in this country, I could do it too! I like doing things my way instead of following the same path as others. Life's short and what's the point wasting it repeating the things other people have already done? And so, a day before the end of the year we landed in Brindisi, Puglia where our Italian life began. I'll always have a soft spot for Puglia. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I feel that it was the time o...

Search This Blog