Chocolate Gingerbread House Recipes

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-1/2-in. gingerbread boy cookie cutter; place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough; chill and reroll scraps., Bake 6-8 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove to wire racks to cool. Ice and decorate as desired.

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD HOUSE PETITS FOURS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Line bottom with parchment, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, and tap out excess.
• Stir together boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl, and set aside. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, spices, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
• Beat butter and brown sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add molasses and eggs, and beat until creamy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the baking soda mixture, and beat until combined. Raise speed to medium-high, and beat for 15 seconds.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (To prevent cake from falling too soon, do not open oven for the first 35 minutes of baking.) Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cake to loosen, and invert onto rack. Remove parchment, turn cake right side up, and let cool completely. (Cake can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
• Using a serrated knife, trim edges of cake so they are straight. Cut cake into 1-inch cubes. Cut 25 cubes on the diagonal into triangles. Spread frosting on long sides of triangles, and place one triangle on top of each cube, frosting side down, to create roofs. Insert a piece of licorice in top of each roof for the chimney. Dust roofs with confectioners' sugar. Petits fours are best the day you assemble them.

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to Gas 4 180C/160C fan. Grease a 30 x 20cm traybake or roasting tin then line with baking parchment.
• Place butter, sugar, syrup, treacle & spices in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate and stir until melted. stir in the milk and dissolved bicarbonate of soda.
• Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Slowly pour the melted chocolate onto the flour stirring constantly to create a smooth batter. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 35 mins.
• The gingerbread should feel springy when touched and a skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Let the gingerbread cool slightly in tin then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
• To make the icing put the chocolate and cream in a glass bowl then set over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does NOT touch the water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted. Pour the icing onto the gingerbread and smooth with a spatula. Don't cut the gingerbread until the icing has cooled completely