The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
The dough was not easy to manage. Kneading that huge amount of dough by hand took me forever and left me gasping for breath. In hindsight, I should have halved the portions as I still have some leftover in the fridge. That is also because I dreamt of making this huge castle, turret towers and the works. Thereafter, began looking at designs and dimensions, panicked big time, and downsized my dreams. Fell back to reality with a mighty thud and ended up with a rustic little cottage.
I scaled down a template I found online, and roughly drew sketches on a scrap of paper. Very abstract (cause of my panic), and in the end, very lucky. Had an impressed DH in the end who said I did a good job with the measurements.
I piped on royal icing in abstract patterns before finally gluing the house together. We don’t have beautiful Christmas candy, peppermint sticks etc available here like the West does, so I stuck to basics that I could do on my own. Made cookie dough snowflakes from a set on snowflake plunger cutters that Nic @ Cherrapeno got for me when I met her in London for the Food Blogger Connect a couple of weeks ago. They are lovely! Thanks a ton Nicole!
Putting the house together wasn’t a one man job for me. I engaged the services of the engineer on hand, and DH and me built together our sweet little house, patiently and with much fun. It’s a great family project and was a first ‘building a baked home’ for me. We were slightly under confident of the sugar glue, but woot, never seen firmer and more effective quick edible superglue than this!
In the end we were pretty pleased with our Gingerbread home. I wish I had put it on a better base but it was too late to change that. Once done the hub decided that it was definitely missing a chimney, so I set to make one sawing off extra bits of biscuit I had baked, and voila, there it was! The cookie dough was quite delicious too.
Thank you Y and Anna for an enriching, challenging and engaging project for December. We loved building our home again, and the kids cannot wait to have a chomp at it.
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas
Y’s Recipe
(Half recipe would work fine for a small house. I got a lot of left over dough)
1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]
Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
[I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]
Preheat the oven to 375’F (190’C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm.
Royal Icing:
(I made half this portion)
1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract
Simple Syrup:
(I made half this portion)
2 cups (400g) sugar
Thank you Lis and Ivonne for holding this wonderful group of daring baker types of people together! Make sure you head over to other Daring Bakers homes HERE, and knock on their doors this Christmas.
Passionate About Baking has been nominated at ‘The Homies 2009’ in the Home Cooking category at ‘The Kitchen‘. If you like, you can vote HERE!
leave it to you to have the cutest ever gingerbread house!
Sweet and elegant at the same time! Love it, Deeba!!
Absolutely awesome….got the snowflakes plunger set for myself..now i know where to use it!
Beautiful job, Deeba!
I panciked when I saw your post!! I just finished mine but havent done the right up… didnt realise we could post from 23-27!! Phew!
Your House looks just STUNNING!! Mine pales in comparison…
Have a great Christmas and sending much love your way!
Wow…its the cutest house i have ever seen…beautiful! Could you please tell me names of some good stores at Delhi/ Ggn that keep bakery supplies, raw material, molds, et al.
wow awesome now if yu do heena the painting on this would be easy for you!!
love your blog so happy I came across it
Rebecca
Your house is superb! isn't the posting date the 27th?
Cheers,
Rosa
My virtual address should be at ure ginger bread house…. which even has a chimney…. it's so adorable…. love the way it lights up…..
What I love even more is how the household comes together to do stuff… 🙂
Lucky you had an engineer hubby to help You did a fantastic job!
Such a lovely home..Engineers help is appreciated.
Night effect looks Great!
lovely…i like the cracked effect. at first glance I thought it was deliberate…it looks beautiful!
that's gorgeous! especially love the "fence-y" backdrop! Merry xmas Deeba!
Deeba, this looks wonderful! Gingerbread houses are so pretty and I wish I'd signed up to Daring Bakers a month earlier so I could have done this challenge, whoever picked it, it was an inspired choice. I cannot wait to see all the others. I start my DB journey with whatever gets announced on Dec 27.
I must ask Nic where she got her snowflake cutter from, I noticed Mowie had used some in his pink iced cookies last week. I love how you've done a montage of houses in a row, it looks like a little village. Happy Christmas!
Oh, Deeba, it is just beautiful and romantic! I love the piped decorations and the fun gingerbread men. Gorgeous work and thanks for all the tips! I love it! And lucky you for having DH help!
Oh WOW Deeba! How gorgeous – I really love it. Especially the picture in the dark with the candle inside – so nice. Also love that snowflake cookie cutter – perfect!
I'd thought of making a gingerbread house myself this Christmas, but knew that with all the cookies I was going to be baking, it would be an impossible task. Can't wait to see all the other DB's.
Wow Deeba, That's a beautiful house! ! N the snowflake cutter is so cute! I'm sure a lot of hardwork went into all this! Great job!
awesome work deeba…… indeed a daring baker.. nice to hear that the aircraft engineer helped in engineering gingerbread house..Good team work 🙂 Snowflake cutter, wow!!!!! Season's greetings n Enjoy
twinsy
We hope your Christmas is filled with joy, laughter and many kitchen successes in the New Year.Such a fun project, and it turned out beautifully Deeba.
love it deeba! it looks elegant and so fantastic. great job my sweet friend!
That is AMAZING! I am packing my bags and preparing to move in. 🙂
Absolutely stunning Deeba! I really believe less is more when it comes to Gingerbread houses. Great work. Happy Holidays 🙂
deeba, this DB challenge sure IS a challenge and blimey, have you pretty much breezed through it as I can see from the photographs. beautiful! and such a gorgeous piece of work. u're talented! Happy Christmas darling. x
So so cute!!!
I love this house! I especially like the picture where you light the house up. So gorgeous! Let me know when move in date is!
Merry Christmas!
Very cute and elegant! Merry christmas!
Fantastic Deeba! I love the house and everything about it! Your cutouts are just precious =D.
You did a wonderful job on this- your gingerbread house is absolutely gorgeous. I love every single detail!
Cutest Gingerbread house i have ever seen:).Looks wonderful Deeba.I am yet to post mine,it surely was a great challenge.You Have a fantastic blog out here….i loved reading each n every post of urs.You rock!
Gorgeous!! I love it illuminated, and the snowflakes are perfect!
Spectacular photos! I love the series that make it appear as if you have an entire village. Truly wonderful. The design on the roof is lovely, and the heart shapes cut into the gingerbread men so quaint. Lucky you to have some help 🙂 If I'm lucky, I'll get to do this next week when all the hustle bustle is done. Thanks for the inspiration.
O my god Deeba, that is such an amazing looking gingerbread house you made!! I love it! I also love the decorations you made; to be honest that beats my lame candy…lol… I should have know the microwave tip before I started rolling (smashing) down the dough…
wow! that is an awesome house! i love the pic where it is lit from the inside and i am dying for a set of those snowflake cutters – they add such a pretty detail. bravo! happy holidays! x Cat
Its amazing how you keep your wonderful posts coming one after the other! This looks like a wonderful labour of love with a lot of efforts thrown in.
Marvelous! I especially love those cute snowflakes and the fence backdrop – brilliant job! we have the ready to assemble kits here, but even those can be daunting – and you guys did it from scratch! Bravo!
Beatiful! I love the simple color scheme and the snowflakes. It looks so warm and cozy when lit up!
Fantastic assembly and photos….I've never made a gingerbread house in my life. My daughters musn't see this or I will be plagued with when can we…..
Great work! I love your piping and your snowflakes.
Your house is gorgoeus Deeba – the little people are a nice touch.
I also found the dough tough to knead – and almost impossible to roll out after chilling.
Merry Xmas to you and your family.
You have the ability to make everything look the best. Prettiest one.
Happy Holidays & Happy New year to you and your loved ones.
Even your rustic house is elegant! How fun that hubs helped create it!
Awesome house Deeba !! I myself chickened out 🙁
maybe next time..yours is certainly inspiring..
How magical! Very well done Deeba!
Ooooh Deeba,
You did an amazing & fantastic job!! Waw!!
The house looks to lovely to eat,…but it must taste awesomely delicious!!
MMMMMMMMMMM,….all the way!
Wow your gingerbread house is amazingly pretty!! Great job on it!! You should be proud.
Merry Christmas 🙂
Just beautiful Deeba! I knew it would be though, it's impossible for you to not do beautiful work! 😀 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! xxx
My, aren't you crafty…a gingerbread house – compleete with utilities and lighting!
What a wonderful and magnificent creation!! A masterpiece 🙂
Merry Christmas and a Fantastic New Year 2010 for You!!
Cheers,
Gera
Deeba, I would just like to tell you that I had made a cake and decorated it with your famous scroll design and have blogged about it.Ive linked you. Just want to say thank you for sharing your wonderful ideas!
Wow Deeba ginger bread house looks fabulous!! So creative!!
Dear Deeba, amazing gingerbread house look absolutely beauty and delicious!! Dear I want whish you a very happy Christmas with a really lovely New Years, I send you a big hug and kisses!! Love ya. Gloria
deeba its turned out beautiful. a very merry christmas to you. love the snowflake cookie cutter!
Wow, that is so cool. Imagine if i could shrink myself and eat my way out of it. 😀
Happy holidays daaaaaaaahling
*kisses* HH
This is such a beautiful house Deeba. Happy Holidays!
Gorgeous gingerbread house Deeba! I really like how you lit it up! Happy Holidays!
wow, wow, wow! This is one of the most beautiful gingerbread houses I've ever seen! So professionally done. I skipped this month's challenge. It scared me to death:) Happy Holidays, Deeba!
Wow, this has to be one of the prettiest gingerbread houses I have seen so far! Congratulations!
Wow, you have fences. Fences! And your house has 'electricity'. Daaaamn! 🙂 Sorry you had a bit of a struggle with the dough. I think the total weight of flour should've been less, but it didn't occur to me when I tested the recipe, that it might not be right, as I strangely enough had no problems with it at all! x
Happy Holidays to you and the family. I have so enjoyed your outstanding work over the years and look forward to more!
Tight hugs.
Beautiful houses! And I love the smiles on the gingerbread men!
Love the snow flake cutters, too bad I didn't know that you're in London, wecould have met too, well … maybe next time. Happy Holiday to you and your family 🙂
Awwwww, so cute! Happy Holidays!
Deeba, your gingerbread house is just beautiful. I love all the details! One of the prettiest I've ever seen. Merry Christmas!
I can so relate to the scary part of building a gingerbread house, yours came out lovely and elegant!
Have a wonderful Christmas,
That's awesome Deeba! What a lot of patience you have, and the snowflakes look brilliant.
Happy Christmas to you and all the family. Hope you had a wonderful day!
I love all the cute shapes and cut-outs on your house–so festive!! 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Love your gingerbread house Deeba! 🙂 The picture with the candle inside the house is beautiful and I really like the snowflakes, so cute!
Merry Christmas and Happy new Year! Much joy and sweetness to you and your family Deeba!
Stupendous Deeba!.
Now I wonder whether I should post my disastrous gingerbread house.
Definitely the house we daring bakers deserve!!
What a darling gingerbread house! I LOVE it! Happy, happy holidays to you!
What a beautiful gingerbread house! Love that it looks so simple (without tons of candy everywhere), but also looks great!
My My My!!! what a creation you have made! .. You may as well be an architect Deeba!
Simply gorgeous and I love the house with the lights on. It is so romantic.
Fabulous job on your house! I love your white icing work.
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
I think you did an awesome job! Your little cottage is adorable!
Wow! Good for you for taking on this challenge and not giving up. I love all of the detail and the snowflakes are especially pretty!
Hope you had a nice holiday!
Your house is sooo cute Deeba! I really love the cut-outs, and all that pretty icing. I don't know if even a castle would have been more magnificent!
I always enjoy your spirit and talents and your G-House is wonderful! I love those cutter shapes and your designs are really striking. It was my first Gingerbread House and I really enjoyed it, too!
Love, love your house, Deeba. Can see your scrolling's there too. Those snowflakes are so pretty too.
Yes, it was fun wasn't it?
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a very Happy New Year!
Gorgeous Deeba, love all the detail work on your gingerbread house.
I am so glad you were "pushed" into making this month's project because you did an amazing job. Your house is beautiful, I love the simplicity of the decorations, and the snowflakes.
I am going out shortly to get some powder sugar to finish my creation.
Cheers from Venice.
I think you did a fantastic job on the house – and using only royal icing as well! I love the snowflakes as well, makes it even more festive. 🙂
I LOVE your house! It's beautiful, and I love it in the darkness all lit up! So pretty! The snowflakes are such a nice touch!
Gorgeous house! I love all of the detail in the piped frosting and the cut outs are just darling!
Awww… your gingerbread house looks too cute to eat. Way to go on this month's challenge, you owned it! Hope you have more amazing bakes in the New Year!
What a beautiful house, Deeba! It's so pretty all lit up at night. Congratulations on an amazing challenge this month, and best wishes for the New Year!!
Beautiful masterpiece,Deeba 😀
Deeba, your house is ADORABLE!
What a lovely gingerbread house! Happy 2010! 🙂
Deeba, gorgeous house and spectacular piping! I can't pipe a squiggle, much less a straight line without a mess..LOL have a Happy New Year!
Wow, Deeba, this is so beautifully done! Happy New Year!
That's too adorable – I can almost smell the spices! And as always, your attention to detail leaves me speechless…