Daring Bakers December Challenge
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.
I chose Y's recipe for gingerbread. Some Daring Bakers were saying that the Great Scandinavian recipe was too dry. I had no problems actually. I found the dough easy to mix and the proper consistency. I will say though that if I make this recipe again I will not chill the dough. I found that it cracked instead of rolled properly. When the dough was room temperature it rolled easily and did not stick to the board.
The above is the pattern I used for my gingerbread house. As you can see, there was supposed to be a chimney yet there is not one on my finished house. Honestly, it didn't fit. So that was that.
It took me about three days to make my first gingerbread house. The first day I made the gingerbread. I wanted it to cool completely before assembling everything. On the second day I decorated the individual pieces. I read that decorating the house before assembling it was easier then trying to decorate after the house is put together. The final day I put the house together and put the finishing touches around it.
And now for a recipe:
Ingredients gingerbread cookies
- 1/2 C shortening
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/2 C molasses
- 1/4 C water
- 2 1/2 C flour
- 3/4 t salt
- 1/2 t baking soda
- 3/4 t ginger
- 1/4 t nutmeg
- 1/8 t allspice
- decorations (gumdrops, raisins, candied cherries)
Method for cookies
- Cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in the molasses, water, flour, salt, baking soda, and the spices. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
- Heat the oven to 375 F. Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut with gingerbread boy cutouts or any other cutout you like. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Press raisins into dough for eyes, nose, and buttons. Use candied cherry for other trims. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately remove from baking sheet. Cool and decorate with royal icing.
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