Christmas Gingerbread House

This is our third year making a gingerbread house of our own, and I think I have finally found a fantastic gingerbread biscuit recipe. This was a dream to work with, from the dough through to cooking it. It does spread quite a lot even with loads of dough chilling time, but I'm yet to find one that doesn't.

This recipe is from Mima Sinclair in the December 2015 edition of Delicious magazine. Due to our inability to use royal icing because of allergies, this year I again used caramel 'glue' to stick the house together. It's so quick to try and bond the sides together. I did use regular icing for the rest, but it needs to be quite thick to hold everything in place.

This dough makes the MOST delicious biscuits - I cooked the trees (and holly leaves/presents I made for the teacher's gifts) for 10 mins and then iced once cool. This made the biscuits soft-ish in the centre, and no word of a lie, they were absolutely amazing!
For the gingerbread house I cooked longer for a crisper biscuit.

We love adding extras like the trees and the marshmallow snowman. I managed to use the Easter carrot sprinkles yet again for the nose...oh and we even added some 'seasonal' mushrooms to the scene this year too!

My son's favourite part (besides the sweeties) is putting the snow on top. 

Gingerbread dough

Ingredients:

• 140g golden syrup
• 200g soft light brown sugar
• 200g unsalted butter
• 4 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda (baking soda)
• 500g plain flour
• 1tsp salt
• 1 medium free-range egg, lightly beaten

1. Pour the golden syrup into a large saucepan with the sugar, butter and spices, then heat over a low-medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Increase the heat to bring mixture to boiling point, then take off the heat and beat in the bi-carb of soda. The mixture will froth and bubble at this point as the bicarb reacts - mix briefly until combined and leave to cool for 15 mins, then pour into a large mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl),

3. Sift the flour and salt, then fold into the spiced sugar mixture in batches, using a wooden spoon or stand mixer. Beat in the egg until just combined. Don't over work the mixture of the biscuits will spread too much during baking (they spread anyway, but this may stop it going too far!)

4. The dough can be quite sticky to begin with but don't add any extra flour unless you absolutely have to, and even then use just a sprinkling - the minimum you can to get it less sticky and usable. Scrape out the bowl onto a clean surface and knead together until just smooth.

At this stage you can wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for an hour or until cool. But I prefer to roll the dough out between sheets of baking/parchment paper to the thickness I want the biscuits to be. I then chill the ready rolled dough on trays ready to cut afterwards. It's much easier than rolling out fridge-hardened dough.

5. Cut out the house pieces using the template and place them on the parchment paper straight onto a baking tray. Don't try and lift it off the paper, as it will go out of shape. It will  spread slightly when cooked so to help avoid this, put the tray back into the fridge or freezer for 10 mins before baking. See instructions below for more detail.

6. Bake each tray for around 15-20 mins (depending on the size of the pieces) on 160 degrees C, or until slightly browned on the edges.  Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack ready for decorating.

Caramel 'glue'

Ingredients:

• 200g caster sugar
• 60ml cold water
• a few drops of lemon juice (optional but I found this stops the sugar syrup crystallising)
• sugar thermometer (optional)

1. Put the sugar and water and lemon juice if using, in a large, lowsided frying pan over a medium to high heat. Without stirring, bring to 160deg C on a sugar thermometer. If you don;t have one, the syrup is ready when the sugar has dissolved and it turns a light golden colour.

2. Swirl the syrup gently in the pan to even out the colour. Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool for a few moments to thicken slightly to the consistency of honey.

3. If the syrup begins to harden, put it back over a gentle heat until it has returned to the required consistency.

Royal Icing (basic)

• 500g royal icing sugar, sifted
• 80ml water

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, adding the water andmix until a thick paste forms. Add more water as required but only a drop or two at a time. If you make it too runny, you can add more icing sugar to thicken it up.

2. Put into a piping bag ready to use on the house.

Royal Icing (egg free)

• 90ml (1/3c) aquafaba
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4c icing/powdered sugar

1. Pour aquafaba into a mixing bowl and mix with electric beater until it starts to foam.

2. Add vanilla and sugar and whisk for about 5 mins until the mixture is thick and very white.

3. Add a very small amount of water ( a few drops) if the icing is too stiff. You need it to be thick icing though, as it is used as glue to stick the house together.

4. Put into a piping bag ready to use on the house.

To Make the House

• 2 quantities of the gingerbread dough. You won't need all of it, but you will need more than one. The rest can be used to make biscuits.
• 1 quantity of the caramel glue or royal icing mix
• jelly beans, dolly mix, mini candy canes, marshmallows or any other sweets you like, to decorate
• piping bag
• gingerbread house template
• pizza wheel or sharp knife
• star/heart shaped cookie cutter
• boiled sweets, whole, for the windows

1. Print and cut out the template onto baking paper. Heat the oven to 160 deg C. Cut out two large sheets of baking paper and roll the dough out in batches to 5mm thick. 

2. Place the template onto the dough and cut out the first shape. It's easiest to use a pizza wheel for this, otherwise a sharp knife. Leave the piece of cut dough on the paper and transfer to a baking sheet - this avoids it losing its shape while being transferred. 

3. Place into the freezer for 10 mins while you do the next piece. If adding sweets to the windows, place the colour you want, then bake for 20 mins until golden at the edges.

4. As soon as it comes out of the oven, place the template back onto the shape and re-cut, as it will have spread. This is REALLY important so it fits together properly. Leave to cool for 5 mins and then transfer paper and biscuit to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Using the icing, add detail to the windows, around the star/heart and around the door. It's easier to do this before you stick it together.

6. While that icing sets, make the caramel glue if using to stick the house together. Once it is ready, dip the ends of one side of the house into the caramel and glue the front and back to the side. Repeat for the other side.

7. To attach the roof, I find it useful to add the tips of toothpicks to help anchor it into the base. I put two per side. Add the caramel/icing to the base and then lay the roof on, pushing it firmly into the base and the toothpicks. Remember to remove them when eating.

8. The caramel glue sets almost instantly, so you can decorate virtually straight away.

9. I like to add a couple of trees, the marshmallow snowman (he has a toothpick in the middle to attach the marshmallows together). The sky is the limit really, be creative!

10. Oh and then add your snow with a fine sieve and icing sugar!