Wednesday, December 23, 2009

December Daring Kitchen: Gingerbread House

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.

Take 1


Originally I had the recipe placed here, but it is not good. So I'm not going to share it. It tasted bad, shrunk horribly, and was hard to work with. You'll notice how thick the walls are, which while makes it sturdy makes it hard to fit things together.

I made my own template, if you want to use it it is below. Just click on the image for full sized version. Each page is 8.5 * 11 inches. Oh, and the bay window does not work... it is too small.



Take 2

For the second go around I used a completely different recipe. Chocolate Sugar Cookies were my foundation for the house. I know I know, it's not even gingerbread.... so sue me. Let me tell you, these taste wonderful and the finished house makes your house smell like chocolate. I'm assuming everyone here loves chocolate. Anyhow it is mostly decorated with royal icing and fondant. Captain had a blast mixing the colors and Harvey helped by eating the first two snowmen produced. I made my own template based on this house, but I did it by hand so I don't have a template for you to print off.

Work in Progress


Harvey exiled from the kitchen after the snowman fiasco.

Finished House, I'm much happier with the way this one turned out.

Roof has fondant shingles
Chimney is rice crispy treat covered with fondant.
Royal icing was piped on to hide mistakes :P
Simple syrup holds the walls together and is in the windows.


Other angles.


Notes for making your own gingerbread house (or other type of cookie).
  • Put it together with melted sugar. It sets almost instantly
  • Roll the dough as thin as possible
  • Over bake
  • Keep snowmen out of reach of toddlers.

17 comments:

Juline said...

I love your architectural design skills, and the roof is beautiful! Well done. :)

Lauren said...

Gorgeous job! Both of them are beautiful and amazingly well constructed =D. Happy Holidays!

Jeanne said...

What a fabulous roof on the second house! Both of your houses look wonderful!

Judy K said...

I love the abominable hand going after the snow balls!

Anonymous said...

Holy moley! Those are both fantastic, I love your designs, I'll have to borrow next year. Great job!

chef_d said...

Oh wow, your gingerbread houses are so pretty! Well done!

Angry Asian said...

ok, the picture of Harvey? ADORABLE! i love both your creations but that second roof? whoa, talk about detailed and intricate! and the stone chimney... wow. just wow!

Lisa said...

This is gorgeous! You did such a lovely job!

chattycha said...

The fondant house is amazing! And what a super cute toddler assistant you've got there. Merry Christmas!

Jenny said...

I absolutely love how whimsical your structure is with the curves in the gingerbread/chocolate pieces. Well done! Your roof is gorgeous too. :)

Y said...

What a beautiful house! I love your template - very clever! Sorry to hear you didn't like the original recipe. The end result looks amazing, and the snow men are so cute!

MaryMoh said...

That's very beautiful and creative. Well done!

Gala said...

The roof is gorgeous!

Sheltie Girl said...

Your second house turned out fabulously. I love all your little candy touches, especially your diamond shingle roof.

Natalie @ Gluten a Go Go

s said...

I liked both..GREAT JOB!!

kristenly said...

both of your houses turned out great. i actually like the wonkiness of the first one. it reminds me of my strawberry shortcake dollhouse as a child. your little one is super cute. kudos for having a toddler and finding time to make not one but two houses! bravo!

Laura said...

Both houses are great, but I really love that fondant roof! And I agree about the sugar syrup making construction much easier. Oh, and about exiling toddler during contruction.