Gingerbread House Making and Baking
December 14, 2015
Last weekend was our annual gingerbread baking day. We've used various different kits over the years, some needing us to make the whole thing from scratch and bake in the oven, others just needing some icing construction. This year's was from Lakeland and I think it's the best one yet.
We always make it at the start of December and then wrap it up and leave it on display for a couple of weeks before cracking into it in front of a Christmassy film just before the big day. The Lakeland kit was an easy one with traditional German gingerbread pieces all ready to go. It smelt heavenly too!
It came with a little iced family and lots of sweets which we decided not to use on it in the end. I wanted more of a classic look this year. We added our own chocolates and sweets to use as roof tiles, midget gems and white chocolate jazzies.
The only 'hard' part was to prepare the icing with an egg white and some lemon juice. All the instructions were on the box though, I mean let's face it - it's probably aimed at kids making it.
It didn't come with a base so we made one quickly, cutting some cardboard to size and covering it in foil.
I got Ben to help with the construction of it before I swooped in to do the pretty bits.
We left the main house to set and harden for about 20mins before I started icing the rest of it.
I copied the design on the box for the most part, adding icicles and snow drifts at the front.
And then created the roof tiles with the chocolate buttons in overlapping rows on each side. For the Christmas tree I just coated it in icing and wiped it off to give it the white wash effect. And then made snow drifts either side of the path. We broke a candy cane in half to go around the door.
Simple as that! I know you can do the whole thing from scratch, making the dough, measuring and cutting out the right pieces and then baking. But really the fun part is the decorating and eating so I'll save making dough for some gingerbread biscuits instead.
All done! Next year I might make one with a tea light inside and some glass windows.
Is this one of your Christmas traditions? If not then it should be! Just don't blame me when you've eaten allll the leftover icing...
You can buy the kit from Lakeland here {and my jumper is from Joules}.
R <3 xx
1 comments
Well done, your gingerbread house looks cute. I am not very good at cooking or baking so I tend to stay clear of anything creative that involves either.
ReplyDeleteAll things nice...