Title: Gingerbread House Construction
Categories: Info, Holiday, Cakes
Yield: 1 help file
Gingerbread
First I made templates out of corrugated cardboard. Two side
walls, a front and back wall, two roof sections, two porch roof
sections, two porch floor sections. (My gingerbread house is a
two-story American farmhouse with a corner porch.)
I prepared and rolled out the dough on baking parchment, then laid
the cardboard down and cut out the walls. After the cutouts were
cut, I removed the cardboard. I also cut out the windows to leave
open holes. Before baking, I poured melted sugar into the windows
to make "glass."
Then I baked the gingerbread sections. After they were baked, but
still warm, I put the cardboard back on them to see if they were
the same size, because cookie dough often spreads a little when it
bakes. Sure enough, the pieces needed trimming. So I trimmed them
with a sharp knife, and Lynnie and I ate the bits we cut off.
Next, I put all the house parts on racks to cool overnight.
The next day, the cookie pieces were cooled and dry. I put the
walls together with royal icing, propped them up with mason jars
so they would stand, and left for work. When I came home that
night, the icing had set and the walls were solid.
Next I glued the roof and porch floor in place with the icing.
The roof wanted to slide off the pitch of the walls, so I kept it
in place with a couple of straight pins (I removed the pins after
the icing hardened.) Then I left these bits to harden overnight.
The next morning, I put on the porch roof. It needed to be
propped with mason jars, too. I also put on the porch columns
(candy canes) to hold the front of the roof up. When I got back
from work that night, the house was ready to finish.
The roof came first: I buttered the roof with a nice thick layer
of royal icing and shingled it with Necco wafers. Shingled, mind
you, over- lapping the the wafers like little slate shingles, not
putting them edge-to-edge. I did that on both the main roof and
the porch roof.
Next, I piped white frosting around the windows and door, for
molding. I piped red frosting on the windows for the window panes.
Between the windows I glued little candy wreaths, then piped green
frosting between them to make holly bunting, and piped red bows to
"hold it" there. I made the foundation out of sugar cubes, and
downspouts from candy canes. And I glued various Christmas candies
all around the house for decoration. When I was all done, I made
frosting icicles hanging from the eaves.
From: Dave Sacerdote Date: 16 Dec 96 National Cooking Echo Ä
