Gingerbread House

A lovely centrepiece on any Christmas table.

Prep: 15 minutes + 3 hours chilling

Cook: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

150g butter (room temp.)

100g dark brown sugar

100g molasses

100g golden syrup

2 eggs

2tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp ginger (ground) - yes tablespoon!

1 tbsp cinnamon (ground) - yes tablespoon!

½ tsp all spice (ground)

½ tsp cloves (ground)

½ tsp salt

600g flour

Boiled sweets (a colour of your choice)

Royal Icing

480g powdered sugar (sifted)

3 tbsp meringue powder

6-10tbsp water (room temp.)

Preparation:

With a stand mixer beat the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the molasses, golden syrup, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, all spice, cloves and the salt. Mix it well. Add the flour and mix until well combined. Spoon it onto some cling film, form a disc, wrap it and place it into the fridge for 3 hours or over night.

Preheat the oven to 175°C (fan oven). Line a sheet pan with non-stick baking paper.

Roll out the dough (about 1/3inch thick) , cut out shapes with a template and a knife. If you want to put lights in it cut out the back to be able to turn the lights on and off. If you want windows, in a pestle & mortar crush up some boiled sweets to a sand texture. Bake the gingerbread for 7-8 minutes, then fill in the windows with the crushed boiled sweets and bake for another 3-4 minutes (or until the sweets melted). Trim around the edges (so you have sharp edges) and let it cool completely. Decorate and assemble with royal icing (optional).

For the royal icing sift together the sugar and the meringue powder. Add 6 tbsp of water and mix with a hand mixer until smooth (about 2 minutes). Play around with the water to find the consistency you like. (More water - thinner icing, less water – thicker icing.) I like the consistency best when you let the icing drizzle down from a spoon back to the rest of the icing and the surface will smooth out completely within 10-15 seconds. Use gel based food colouring to have different coloured icing if you want to. The royal icing will dry completely in about 2h but I usually let it dry over night to be safe.

Enjoy!