Title: Gingerbread House Construction
Categories: Info Holiday Cake
Yield: 1 Servings

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I made a gingerbread house this year, using the gingerbread recipe and Royal Icing recipe I found here.

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.

But it really did take more than one day to put together.

Dave From: Dave Sacerdote Date: 16 Dec 96 National Cooking Echo Ä

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