« Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife | Main | I Think I'll Take The Seasick Crocodile! »
December 20, 2006
Gingerbread Houses 2006 Editions
Yesterday we cut out the components for gingerbread houses (or I did anyway) and baked them using this recipe I posted a while back. It's best to let the house peices sit out overnight and dry out a bit because it makes them sturdier. Today I put the houses together and decorated mine, while Alexis decorated hers. We had a lot of fun!
Miss G's House:
My House:
I used the template for my house from this site minus the chimney which I decided not to do. I came up with the template for Alexis' house on my own. The batch of gingerbread just did make the two houses and two gingerbread men. You need cut them a little thicker than gingerbread cookies so they are more sturdy.
To make icing/glue use this recipe:
3 tablespoons of meringue powder (Make sure it's labeled meringue powder. I thought powdered egg whites were the same thing, but it turns out after reading the labels of each that it isn't!)
3 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
4-8 tablespoons of cold water
Beat until well blended. The icing should be stiff, but not to stiff that you can't work with it! This is especially true if you are going to use a pastry bag, though we didn't and I usually don't. This makes about 2 cups of icing.
I was a bit short on meringue powder so I only had enough to make one batch of icing, so the yards don't have as much snow as I would like, but overall they turned out very nicely. I usually make two or three batches of icing so everything is nice and white.
Alexis basically copied my house, right down to the upside down Kit Kat (which I didn't notice until my icing was dry and it immediately made my OCD twitch!), but she added a few touches of her own. She's an artist my girl! ;o)
You can check out more Gingerbread House pictures here.
Posted by Dianne at December 20, 2006 3:24 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.daffodillane.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/7533
Comments
goodness, you are so good!
how on earth do you find the time to do all the cooking and baking that you do?
Posted by: gorillabuns at December 20, 2006 5:36 PM
I heavily involve Alexis so I know what she's up to! LOL ;o)
Posted by: Dianne at December 20, 2006 5:46 PM
how sweet! I love this and I believe I will plan to do some next year for sure!
Posted by: London Southern Belle at December 21, 2006 8:43 AM
I used to make one every year. One year I even made one for all my friends as a Christmas present! This is the first year I've made one in a long time, but it's so much fun and Alexis had a ball so I think it will most definitely become a tradition from this point on! :o)
Posted by: Dianne at December 21, 2006 8:49 AM