It’s bakemas 2020!
If it’s your first bakemas here, welcome. It is my annual mini-series in which I show you how to make a various Christmas themed baked goods – perfect if you want to impress your family and/or friends or if you’re hosting a festive get together.
Today I’m sharing my version of a gingerbread house.
I’ll be 100% honest with you, I haven’t made one before. I’m 24 years old and have been baking for the past 8 years properly and yet haven’t ever attempted a gingerbread house as they always seem so much more effort. Don’t get me wrong, it may cause you to panic or swear at it a couple of times but don’t worry, its all in the spirit of the holidays… right?
I can totally see why you may prefer to buy a pre-made kit and just decorate it, I do but why not try making one from scratch. My gingerbread recipe is a very stable biscuit and can be used for eating or construction and for the ‘glue’ that holds the structure together is a simple but essential royal icing (this works best as when it sets, it’s like concrete).
I’m aware the decoration looks like a 5 year old may have gone a little heavy handed but trust me, a 24 year old made it… Don’t judge too harshly.
This would honestly be a great project to make with kids, right from the dough up to the decoration. It’s the perfect time too, as Christmas is just around the corner and you could easily spend the day making this, perfect with the current situation at hand.
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Gingerbread:
700g plain flour.
10g bicarbonate of soda.
30g ground ginger.
200g butter.
350g light brown sugar.
140g golden syrup.
2 eggs.
Royal icing – I already have a blog post, check it out.
Decoration:
Sweets and/or chocolates, that you’d like to like jelly beans, jazzies etc.
Method:
Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I recommend starting by weighing up all of your ingredients, line your baking trays with parchment paper and grab any equipment you may need, such as a food processor and spatulas.
For the royal icing, check out the blog post. I like to make my royal icing the day before.
To start on the recipe, take a medium bowl and add in the egg and sugar. Whisk the two together until they are combined (the mixture should be almost perfect smooth).
Into the food processor, place the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger and pulse them together until they are combined.
You can then go ahead and add in the butter, then pulse until its fully incorporated. It will look a little more yellow-ish, a dough shouldn’t have formed.
Now you can add in the sugar/egg mixture and then pulse until its incorporated. A dough shouldn’t form at this stage but should look different to previously.
Go ahead and add in the golden syrup and pulse that in until a dough starts to form. Once you see a dough forming, remove from the food processor and place onto a floured surface.
Then you can go ahead and knead it all together until a clear dough forms. Bring it into a fat disc shape and wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for about an hour.
Once your dough has chilled, remove it from the clingfilm and place onto a floured surface and roll it out to be around half a centimetre – this is the perfect thickness to build the house with.
For the templates of the house, I used the last template here.
The ingredients will make two batches of dough, so keep them separate and then the scraps of the tow can be combined and rolled once more, that way you will have enough dough to make the sides, front, back and the roof – along with some gingerbread people.
Once you have all of your shapes done, chill in the fridge for a short while, then you can preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f. For the front and back bake for 15-17 minutes, for the roof and sides bake them for 10-12 minutes.
Now everything is baked, cooled and ready to go – start the assembly.
Before you get started on assembly, you’ll want to pipe on any decorations like windows, doors and patterns. Just give that time to firm up.
To start the assembly, grab your board/stand/plate this will be the base of your gingerbread house. I used my trusty Christmas cheeseboard but you can use whatever you’d like.
Take either the front or back and one of the sides, onto the side pieces edges, pipe royal icing onto both edges and then squash it to the front/back. You may need to use a small tin/jar to secure everything into place. Repeat with the other side and then press the other front/back on and secure it in place. Allow the royal icing to firm up before continuing.
Once the structure has firmed up, you can go ahead and apply the roof. On all of the exposed edges on top of the house, pipe on a generous amount of royal icing. You can then grab a jar and place it just under where the roof will sit, to help secure it in place. Then press one of the roof pieces into place, ensuring it resting on the jar. Repeat with the other side and allow to firm up fully, it should support its self.
If you made any gingerbread cut outs, now is the perfect time to decorate them, ready to use later on to decorate with them.
After a while the structure should be very safe and sturdy, remove the jars and attempt to tidy up any untidy bits with some royal icing
Attach the final gingerbread decorations, along with any sweets/chocolates that you may also want to use.
That’s it really, it’s not complex its just a process. I hope you have fun making this!
That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.
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