Kerrygold Moments

Gingerbread houses: you always see them in movies surrounded by happy families and friends during the festive season.

Apart from them looking absolutely darling, they almost look too tasty to eat – emphasis on the ‘almost’!

If you have always wondered how to build one of these tasty festive pieces or wondered how they taste, then we have got the solution to your predicament.

Let’s learn how to Build a Christmas Gingerbread House today!

Baking your Christmas Gingerbread House

Before you can get to the assembling and decorating phase, you first need to bake your gingerbread and we have a great Kerrygold recipe for you to use:

Ingredients:

• 150ml Golden Syrup
• 250g Sugar
• 200g Kerrygold Salted Butter
• 150ml Cream
• 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
• 700g Plain Flour
• 2 Egg Whites
• 500g Icing Sugar, plus extra to dust
• Generous selection of different sweets
• Foxes Fruit Boiled Sweets

Method:

Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add in the golden syrup, sugar and butter. Wait until the butter has melted and the sugar has completely dissolved.

Now remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cream and spices.

Gradually add the bicarbonate of soda and flour, mixing with a wooden spoon until mixed through. Work the dough together until you have a loose mixture, cover and allow to sit in a cool place overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200°C or gas mark 6.

While the oven is heating, flour a work surface and roll out the dough to the thickness of approximately 2mm. This is so that the gingerbread can rise slightly and be crisp.

Cut out the templates and place a sheet of baking paper on the work surface. Roll about a quarter of the dough to the thickness of 2mm-3mm. Cut out one of the sections, then slide the gingerbread, still on its baking paper, onto the baking sheet.

Repeat this process with the remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two side walls, a front and a back wall as well as two roof panels. Leftover dough can be cut into Christmas trees.

Add a boiled sweet into the corner of the windows and bake all the sections for 10-12 minutes or until firm and brown along the edges. Allow to cool for a few minutes to firm and then trim around the templates to give clean, sharp edges for your gingerbread house.

While the gingerbread cools completely, put the egg whites in a large bowl and sift in icing sugar and stir until you make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon the icing mixture into a piping bag with a medium-sized nozzle.

Pipe generous snakes of icing along the wall edges, one by one, to join the walls together. Use a small bowl to support the walls from the inside, then allow to dry for a couple of hours.

Once the icing has dried, remove the supports and fix the roof panels on. After applying the icing, you will need to hold the roof panels firmly for a few minutes until the icing begins to dry. Once secure, allow the icing to dry overnight.

Using the icing, stick sweets around the door and on the front of the house. Use any remaining icing to decorate the rest of the house. If you have made any gingerbread trees you can decorate these too.

Now dust the roof with some icing sugar for snowy effect!

Gingerbread House Tips and Tricks

Now you know how to bake and decorate this scrumptious festive season treat! Here are some useful tips and tricks to keep in mind when going about your Gingerbread House construction:

• Use plenty of royal icing to keep your gingerbread house from falling over: if you haven’t heard of royal icing or are not sure how to go about making it, follow the link to our article on “How to Ice Christmas Cookies like a Pro”.
• Use gummy bears to reinforce your gingerbread house: if you want to make double-sure that your gingerbread house is structurally sound then melt some gummy bears over a pot of hot water. Once melted, use a paintbrush to brush the edges of your house. If you prefer you can use lighter colours as not to change the colouring of your gingerbread house.
• Use hard caramel to keep your gingerbread house stable: as an alternative to gummy bears, you can also use caramel “glue”. Add 2 cups of sugar to a warm saucepan along with a half a cup of cream or butter. Mix properly and, once melted-through, dip your gingerbread pieces and put them together.

If you would like to eat your gingerbread house, then you should do so within a week before it begins to turn stale. Otherwise, if you would like to admire your creativity and gingerbread house creation skills, you can leave it for longer.

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What Christmas treats do you enjoy baking during the festive season? Share your thoughts with us by commenting on Kerrygold’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages for our followers to see.