Entry 5 - Ginger Bread House

Ginger Bread House


Its Christmas Eve. I wanted to celebrate with something special. So planned to bake Ginger Bread house from scratch. I started this 2 days before and finally done :). Feels so happy to see the house.

Royal Icing

1 large egg white
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Lemon

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

Ingredients for Cookie Dough

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, well packed
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour

Method

1. 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. Refrigerate for 2 hours or more.

2. Meanwhile using the wax paper make the house patterns. It requires 2 Front Panels, 2 Side panels and 2 Roofs. Also cut the Ginger Bread man pattern

3. Using the Rolling pin roll the dough, place the wax paper patterns on the dough and run knife gently to get the desired shape and transfer them to baking sheet

4.Preheat the oven to 375'F and Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

The toughest  time was to assemble the house.

5. Prepare the base initially. I used White Square Dinner plate as Base to my house
6. Time to place the side panel first, Pipe the Royal icing on the plate as long as the side panel and then place the side panel and give it a support. I used Coke tins as support. In a similar fashion place the f ront panels and the other side panel. Lastly the roof. 
Be careful don't break your panels as I did. I broke one of the side panels :)
7. I left the house with all supports over night and then next day decorated the house with some candy and Ginger Man.
It was real fun making this Ginger Bread house. 

Wishing All a Merry Christmas