Gingerbread House

20 minutes to prepare | 9-10 minutes to cook  | Overnight to crisp up | Whatever time you like to decorate

Ingredients:

• 175 grams butter
• 175 grams of soft dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 700g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• zest and juice of 1 orange (about 50ml)
• 2 medium free-range eggs
• Lollies and candy canes to decorate your house

Royal Icing For the decoration (Alternatively, you can buy a packet of ready-made) 

• 1 egg white
• 250 grams of icing sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice.

Instructions for the Gingerbread:

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 180 fan bake.
2. Melt the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a pan over a very low heat, mixing together until all the butter and sugar have melted, then set aside to cool.
3. In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients together – flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, mixed spice and cinnamon, then dd the orange zest to the dry mix (not the juice yet!)  and mix to combine.
4. Crack the eggs into another bowl and gently beat together.
5. Add the cooled butter/sugar mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the eggs and orange juice. Mix together well and bring everything together in a ball using your hands.
6. Sprinkle a little flour over a clean work surface to knead the dough for a few minutes until it’s nice and smooth.
7. Divide the dough into 3 pieces (weighing about 400 grams each) and cut three pieces of baking paper to roll the equally divided dough onto, until it is the even thickness of a gold coin.
8. Cut out your house shapes. You may need to re-roll the trimmings to get all the pieces you need for your unique design. Lift up your baking paper with your designs onto a baking tray and transfer to the oven to cook. Check after 9 minutes. You may need another minute or two.
9. Once cooked, carefully move the cooked house pieces still on their baking paper to a cooling rack. If the shapes have spread while cooking, trim to your desired shape and size while still warm before cooling completely.
10. Once cooled, place your house pieces into an airtight container overnight to harden. Don’t miss this step! If you try decorating your house too early, it may be too soft, and your house may collapse.

Instruction for the Royal Icing – make the next day:

1. Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg white until it’s light and frothy. Gradually add the icing sugar and lemon juice to the egg white. Beat at high speed until fluffy, thick and shiny. Put in a piping bag, and you are ready to decorate your house. This takes 5 minutes to set, so take your time and make sure you add lots to the edges of your house to create a nice, stable structure.  Then add all your windows, doors, designs and flourishes and create your own Xmas Gingerbread House your way, adding all your decorative lolly elements.

RECIPE FROM AGA AND FALCON.