Gingerbread 'House' Hints and tips, plus recipe....

If you haven't made a gingerbread house this year, there might still be time if you're at a loose end, or check out these hints for next year!

I saw a multi-tiered gingerbread house in a shop window earlier this year, but the tiers were made using a cardboard box for support. I felt it would be possible to do a multi-storeyed structure entirely of gingerbread, so this this is how I did it (ably helped by daughter No.2!)

First came the design. I wanted to make something based on the Flemish bell towers you see in Belgium and Holland, with octagonal tops, multiple tiers and flying buttresses. I thought their designs would also help with the gingerbread structure's strength. I sketched out a design that combined a couple of towers, then drew and cut out templates for every part. When planning the parts of your construction, don't design any one part larger than your largest oven tray!

I adapted my usual gingerbread recipe to make something harder (note: Harder=more brittle!) This is the recipe I used:

175g strong white flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
75g margarine
75g dark brown sugar
1 tbsp treacle
(I multiplied this by ten times to get enough gingerbread for my tower.)
Mix this all together by hand, adding a little water if it is too dry to come together into a dough. Knead a little to ensure a good mix, then rest in the fridge, wrapped.

Roll out portions of the dough between two sheets of baking paper (not greaseproof paper!) Turn them over occasionally and roll from the back to eliminate creases. When it is thin enough (about 4-5mm) peel off the top sheet and lightly flour the dough so your template won't stick to it. Lay the template(s) on the dough, cut around it with a sharp knife and remove the bits you don't want. You can then lift the paper and dough onto a greased baking tray. Bake at around 180DegC for around 10 minutes until just coloured. Leave the dough on the tray to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Store your finished kit somewhere flat and airtight.

You can bake coloured windows into the design by crushing boiled sweets in a mortar and spooning the crushed sweets into a window opening (just level with the dough). These will melt and form 'stained glass windows.' However, you can also make window frames using the templates that you have already created for the windows, and cook the windows separately to be glued on later. This is worth doing if you have a complicated design that may break or crack in construction and need remaking.

Note here: Things that didn't work... Slot together sections of the design. Great in principle, but needed lots of allowance in slots for expansion/warping of the gingerbread. Also very difficult to slot together large and delicate pieces. I had to do a fair amount of 'reconstruction.'

To stick gingerbread together you will need to make a royal icing for piping:

Separate 3 eggs and beat the whites with a little lemon juice until you get 'soft peaks'. Add icing sugar a spoon full at a time and stir in to mix with a metal spoon, gently at first. Continue adding more icing sugar until you have a stiff piping consistency. In fact make it as stiff as you can manage to pipe (if it's too stiff, let it out again with a little water.) This royal icing will be both glue (using a larger nozzle) and decoration (through a writing nozzle.) You can colour it, or use writing icing too for decoration. Royal icing is quite tacky, but will take a minimum 4 hours to set. Your structure will have to be either self supporting, or have additional temporary support (card, elastic bands, pegs etc,) Or built in sections that can be put together more easily. For an instant grab you could put crushed boiled sweets in a joint and melt them with a few passes of a cook's blowtorch, then quickly put the joint together. This will set in minutes and be stronger than the gingerbread, but be careful of burning the gingerbread.

One more tip: If your gingerbread warps, pop it into a warm oven for a few minutes until it gets soft again, then set it between two baking sheets.

So there it is, with my 'little' helper. Of course you can decorate your structure with all manner of sweets etc. It's completely up to you. And if you were wondering... The tower stood for just over 24 hours before the structure inside supporting the second storey gave way! I should have made it double thickness... Or perhaps used a cardboard box?