Gingerbread Chalet Recipes

GINGERBREAD CHALET

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg, molasses and corn syrup. Combine flour, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; gradually beat into creamed mixture. In a small bowl, combine coffee and baking soda; gradually beat into the dough. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. Trace patterns onto waxed paper and cut out. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Divide dough in half. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough directly onto the baking sheets to 1/8-in. thickness. , Position patterns on dough. Using a sharp knife, cut out according to quantities noted on each pattern piece. Remove patterns. Remove dough scraps; cover and refrigerate dough scraps to re-roll if desired. , Bake until set, 10-12 minutes. Cool on pans for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. , To make icing: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat egg whites until foamy; Gradually add sugar until completely incorporated. Increase speed and continue to beat until stiff, glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved, 8-12 minutes, adding a few drops of warm water as needed. Spoon half the icing into another bowl. To 1 portion stir in additional warm water, a few drops at a time, until icing reaches a thin flood consistency. If necessary, stir in additional confectioners' sugar to the remaining portion of icing to form a stiff icing. Place a damp cloth over bowls and cover tightly between uses. To decorate: Insert #3 round tips into 2 pastry bags; fill 1 with flood consistency icing and the other with stiff consistency icing. Working with 1 piece at a time, pipe a border using stiff icing. Fill area inside border with flood icing; pop any air bubbles with a toothpick. When all pieces have been iced, set aside and allow to dry for several hours or overnight. Icing must be completely dry and hard to the touch. Working with 1 piece at a time, place food safe stencil on surface of dried icing; using an offset spatula, spread a very thin layer of stiff icing over stencil. Carefully remove stencil; wipe off stencil between uses. When all pieces have been decorated with stencil set aside to dry for several hours or overnight. , To assemble: Test cookie pieces to make sure they fit together snugly. If necessary, file edges carefully with a serrated knife to make them fit., Insert #5 round tip into pastry bag; fill two-thirds full with stiff icing. Beginning with the chimney, pipe a wide strip of icing along the longest edge of chimney piece A. Angle and press the longest edge of chimney piece B against it; set aside., Ice along the 2 longer edges of chimney piece C. Press 1 edge against the shortest edge of chimney piece A and 1 edge against the shortest edge of chimney piece B to form a triangle. Gently press all 3 chimney pieces together (see Fig.1). Set aside to dry completely, 3-4 hours., Meanwhile, pipe icing along the 2 longest edges of both the front and back chalet pieces. With longest sides pointing up, position 1 A-frame roof piece, then the other, at about a 45° angle between the front and back house pieces. Press pieces gently together. Prop with canned goods and set chalet aside to dry, 3-4 hours., Referring to photo, center chimney on 1 side of chalet. Ice bottom edge of chimney piece C and press onto peak of chalet so that the chimney rises above it., Ice the back of the door and center it on front of chalet, as indicated on pattern. Press into place. If desired, use reserved dough scraps and icing to create tree and deer cutout cookies. ,

SWEDISH GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out gingerbread dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Chill until firm, about 1 hour. Lightly dust top of dough with flour. Place templates on top and cut out shapes with a paring knife. (Use a small utility knife to cut out the windows.) Transfer shapes to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Make caramel syrup, and assemble house.
• Place royal icing in a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain tip (No. 5 or 6). Pipe to outline windows, doorway, and edges of chimney, including top and base. Outline the four joining points of house, sides, and top of roof. Decorate roof: Starting at the top, pipe a horizontal line of icing in a scallop pattern, making curves in even intervals; pipe another scalloped line so the peaks join the scallops above them in the middle. Pipe icicles around edges. Dust roof with confectioners' sugar.

FAVORITE OLD FASHIONED GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
• In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

SIMPLE GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a large bowl, then stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. If it won't quite come together, add a tiny splash of water.
• Cut out the template (download from the tips below). Put a sheet of baking paper on a work surface and roll about one quarter of the dough to the thickness of two £1 coins. Cut out one of the sections, then slide the gingerbread, still on its baking paper, onto a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two side walls, a front and back wall and two roof panels. Any leftover dough can be cut into Christmas trees, if you like.
• Pick out the most intact flaked almonds and gently poke them into the roof sections, pointy-end first, to look like roof tiles. Bake all the sections for 12 mins or until firm and just a little darker at the edges. Leave to cool for a few minutes to firm up, then trim around the templates again to give clean, sharp edges. Leave to cool completely.
• Put the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon into a piping bag with a medium 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, ideally for a few hours.
• Once dry, remove the supports and fix the roof panels on. The angle is steep so you may need to hold these on firmly for a few mins until the icing starts to dry. Dry completely, ideally overnight. To decorate, pipe a little icing along the length of 20 mini chocolate fingers and stick these lengthways onto the side walls of the house. Use three, upright, for the door.
• Using the icing, stick sweets around the door and on the front of the house. To make the icicles, start with the nozzle at a 90-degree angle to the roof and squeeze out a pea-sized blob of icing. Keeping the pressure on, pull the nozzle down and then off - the icing will pull away, leaving a pointy trail. Repeat all around the front of the house. Cut the chocolate mini roll or dipped Flake on an angle, then fix with icing to make a chimney. Pipe a little icing around the top. If you've made gingerbread trees, decorate these now, too, topping each with a silver ball, if using. Dust the roof with icing sugar for a snowy effect. Lay a winding path of sweets, and fix gingerbread trees around and about using blobs of icing. Your gingerbread house will be edible for about a week.