My Gingerbread House

12.13.2018

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Ever since I can remember building and decorating gingerbread houses has been my favorite Christmas tradition.  It started with building graham crackers into a home, then it went to buying gingerbread kits and this year I decided to bake my own gingerbread and build exactly what I imagined, and although this may seem daunting, I have to say this was SO fun! So fun, that I prolonged the process of decorating just so that it wouldn't end.  It was my relaxing time after the kids went to sleep and was the perfect therapy for me after long days.  I'll post the recipe I used and what candy was used for each design. 
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gingerbread, gingerbread house decorating, christmas gingerbread house, gingerbread recipe, christmas house, gingerbread house recipe,

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gingerbread, gingerbread house decorating, christmas gingerbread house, gingerbread recipe, christmas house, gingerbread house recipe,

Since this was my first time baking and constructing a house I found a pdf pattern of a haunted mansion that I liked and based my design off of that.  I changed up the windows and some of the design once I printed it out, but it was super helpful to have something to go by for my first house.  

What I learned about baking gingerbread for the house was that you don't want to add any baking soda or powder because that makes it rise and softer, so don't add that in. 
I used the gingerbread recipe from Christine Mconnell

GINGERBREAD HOUSE RECIPE

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 normal jar of molasses
2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cinnamon
4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice/clove
2 large eggs
7 cups all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
To make this easier, cut out your planned structure on paper and use that as a pattern to cut your gingerbread house to ensure a solid structure. 

1. In a mixer, beat the butter & sugar until creamy, add the molasses and eggs. In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients.  Once done, slowly mix into the wet ingredients and stir until it's clean from the sides. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in the fridge to chill. 

2. Heat the oven to 360 degrees F.

3. Dust parchment paper with flour and start rolling out the dough directly onto the parchment paper. Cut out the shapes using the homemade stencils and save the scraps of dough for the next sheet.

4. The baking time varies depending on how large your cookie is. Honestly just keep an eye on your first batch and you can figure out what works best for your next batch. Take them out when it's golden brown. 

5. When removing the gingerbread from the oven cover it with a sheet of parchment paper and place another cookie sheet on top to keep it from puffing up and to make it flat, allow it to cool completely before handling. 

ROYAL ICING RECIPE

2 egg whites
4-5 cups of powdered sugar
half a lemon juiced *
2 tsp. light Karo syrup

DIRECTIONS:
1. Separate the egg yolk from the egg whites and put in bowl, start beating until light and fluffy. 

2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and beat for 10 min or until smooth and shiny.  

*So this recipe isn't exact because depending on if you want a stiff icing for detailed decorating you'll need less lemon juice and more powdered sugar or if you want to flood the cookie like I did for my board you'll want to add more lemon juice. *

WINDOWS

I used jolly ranchers for the windows. I unwrapped them, put them in a bag and smashed them, then set them on parchment paper and estimated the size for each window. Put it in a preheated oven at 350F and kept an eye on it until it was ready. If you leave it in longer you get more bubbles in the candy, I thought I initially ruined mine but once it cooled down I broke them into the sizes for the windows and it was perfect. I added it to the house by using my stiff royal icing and lining the inside of the window to hold the jolly rancher like glue. 


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CANDY LIST!

Roof- Bubble gum tape
Hearts- Starbursts
Wreaths- green royal icing piped with a tip
Red berry bushes- gummy candy
Windows- Jolly Ranchers
Bricks- Starbursts
Trees- Mini ice cream cones piped with green royal icing using a tip topped with powdered sugar once it's dry
I used red M&M's for decorating and leftover holly berries & leaves from a previous year of buying a gingerbread kit.

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I did all of the detailed piping before I assembled and left the heavy candy for once the house was built.

Juniper & Josie

10.29.2018

Something I do not want to forget about right now is how much these two girls love each other.  Josie is so attached to Juniper and gives her kisses ALL DAY LONG and guess what, she WILL NOT give me or Landon kisses?!!? Only Juniper! She knows it and when we say "kisses" she goes straight to Juniper and looks at us smiling. Juni always makes her laugh, they play so well together and are the little buddies I had hoped for. I know this may not last forever so I want to remember this moment.  

Butterflies!


Bats, Butterflies & Toddlers, OH MY! Wearing last year's Halloween for a fun play day! 









Pumpkin Bundt Cake



Roger Williams Halloween Spectacular



 

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