Samuels Gingerbread Birdhouse Recipes

GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• For the cookies: In a small mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and allspice. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugar with a hand mixer. Add the cream cheese and the mix until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs 1 at a time and blend until fluffy. Slowly add the flour and mix until dough is combined. Turn out onto floured board and knead until dough is smooth. Divide dough into thirds and roll out to 1/4-inch thick pieces. Cut out shapes with sharp knife or dough cutter and transfer to a greased parchment lined cookie sheet. Crush candies in a baggy and spoon into cutouts. Bake in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until edges are slightly browned and candies are thoroughly melted. Let cool on cookie sheet. Decorate with Royal Icing.
• For the icing: In a large mixing bowl, combine the meringue powder and sugar. Gradually whisk in 1 tablespoon of water at a time until icing has a creamy texture. Use the icing as a glue to assemble the houses, as desired.

GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSE

Steps:

• Make the basic gingerbread house cookie dough
• Melt the shortening and butter together in a medium saucepan. Let cool.
• Sift the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Mix the melted butter into the flour mixture with an electric mixer until sandy. Add the corn syrup and vanilla, and mix until evenly incorporated, but still crumbly in texture. Press the dough together by hand and divide into 8 equal parts. Press into rough squares about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Place the dough on top of a flour-dusted sheet of parchment. Roll a square of dough about 1/4-inch thick and into an 8- by 11-inch rectangle. Repeat with all the remaining squares. Stack them up and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Cut the pieces:
• Meanwhile, click here to e-mail a link of the template to your desktop or laptop computer for printing. Print the file at 100% on letter size paper and cut out the pieces. Remove the top sheet of parchment from the dough. Lay the templates on the rolled dough slabs and cut out all the pieces with a long, sharp knife or pizza cutter. (You will have a total of 8 cut panels plus 3 extra sheets for cookies. Cut out the remaining dough with cookie cutters of your choice.) Use a 1 1/2-inch circle cookie cutter to cut the hole for the door opening into one of the tall walls. Stack panels on a cookie sheet and chill 45 minutes to set. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position the oven racks evenly. Bake the gingerbread shapes until they are a rich tawny brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack. With a fine kitchen rasp, file the panels to make all the edges straight.
• Thicken some royal icing:
• Thicken about 2 cups of the Royal Icing with either cornstarch and a couple of drops of vinegar, or extra confectioners' sugar, to get the consistency of caulk. Fit a pastry bag with a medium round tip and fill it with the thickened icing.
• Put up a wall:
• Pipe a generous amount of royal icing along the bottom and the sides of a short wall. Center the wall 3/4 inch from one edge, directly onto the base. Use a box or can to help support the walls while they dry.
• Put up other walls:
• Pipe royal icing along the bottom of a tall wall, and stick it to the base with an edge pressed against the icing on the first wall. Repeat with the remaining two walls in the same manner until the four walls are up, making an open box with a 3/4-inch border all around the base. (The two tall walls will face each other.) Allow the icing to dry completely, about 24 hours, before attaching the roof.
• Attach the roof:
• Ice the sloped edges on one side of the house and attach the big roof piece. (Line up the top of the roof with the peaks of the tall walls.) Use a box or can to prop up the overhang of the roof while it dries in place. Attach the smaller roof piece on the other side of the slope (prop it up with a box or can) leaving the same amount of overhang. Leave the top open for now. The last roof panel is the lid and will go there when all is dry. Pipe royal icing neatly on the outside of the seams to secure them, and allow the house to dry for 24 hours.
• Decorate:
• Fit tips into piping bags. Divide the remaining royal icing into batches and color as desired. Fill bags with frosting and decorate the house and roof with icing and candies if using. Allow to dry. Fill the house with cookies. Rest the remaining roof slab on the house to make a lid. Enjoy.

SAMUEL'S GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. For the gingerbread, melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat. Combine the flour, bicarb and ginger in a large bowl, then stir in the wet ingredients to make a stiff dough. If it's dry, add a drop of water.
• Roll out the dough on a sheet of baking parchment to the thickness of two £1 coins. Cut out sections of the house, so you have two side walls, a front and back wall, two roof panels, a base and chimney pieces. Find our template here.
• Bake for 15-18 mins, or until firm. To ensure the pieces fit together, remove from the oven three-quarters of the way through baking, then use the templates again to trim the excess. Return to the oven to finish baking, then leave to cool completely.
• For the decorations, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave in short bursts. Spread some over the front and back panels using a palette knife, starting from the bottom and working up. Attach the biscuit sticks to the chocolate, snapping them to fit, for a log cabin effect. Leave to set for at least 1 hr. For the perch, snap the candy cane into a 3cm piece at the hooked end, then stick to the front panel with more chocolate. For extra support, cut a chocolate finger to fit and stick upright beneath the candy cane to look like a wooden post. Leave to set overnight, propped against a can.
• For the royal icing, beat the sugar, egg whites and lemon juice together in the bowl of a stand mixer or using an electric whisk until stiff and smooth. Add a little water to loosen, but don't make it runny. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel so it doesn't dry out.
• Next, decorate the two side walls. Colour 2 tbsp of the royal icing yellow using food colouring, then loosen with a drop of water. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle. Loosen another 2 tbsp royal icing with a drop of water and spoon into a second piping bag, then snip off the end. Pipe three half-loops across the tops of the side panels using the plain icing to create a string, then stick on sugar-coated chocolate balls for lights, alternating the colours. Pipe windows and panes using the yellow icing, then pipe a line beneath the windows and stick on a piece of biscuit stick for a ledge. Leave to dry for 30 mins.
• Spoon another 100g royal icing into a piping bag and snip off a large 5mm hole. Put the base panel on a cake stand or plate. Pipe a line 2.5cm in from the back edge and attach the back panel. Repeat with the other wall panels. Gently push 25g white fondant icing into each corner at the base for extra support, then pipe more royal icing along the inside joins from top to bottom. Place mugs around the house so the handles press into each wall for support. Leave to set for 1-2 hrs.
• Make a robin using brown, red and yellow fondant, rolling small balls of white fondant for the eyes and drawing on pupils using the pen. Make Santa's legs with red and black fondant, and a snowman using some white fondant (attach biscuit stick arms, then decorate with small pieces of black and red fondant for mittens), presents in various colours and white fondant snowballs. Spoon another 2 tbsp royal icing into a small piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle. Use to pipe a hat brim and pom-pom on the robin, then pipe trim on the hem of Santa's trousers. For the wreath, roll out 100g green fondant and stamp out a 6cm circle using a biscuit cutter, then stamp a 2cm circle from the middle. Snip around the edge using scissors for a pine needle effect, then roll small red fondant balls and stick to the wreath.
• Once the house is dry, attach the roof panels with more royal icing. The angle is steep, so you may need to hold these in place for a few minutes while they set. Leave to dry completely, ideally overnight.
• Stick the four chimney pieces together with royal icing in the same way you made the walls. Leave to set for 1 hr. Re-melt the chocolate and paint some onto the chimney. Attach some biscuit sticks, breaking to fit until the chimney is covered, then attach the chimney to the house using more royal icing. Leave to set for 30 mins. Roll out 200g green fondant and cut out 100 small circles using a piping nozzle. Brush edible glue over the roof and attach the green circles. Use more glue to attach the chocolate buttons on top.
• Fill a piping bag with more royal icing, snip off a 5mm hole and pipe 'snow' over the roof and window ledges, pulling away along the roof edge and chimney to create icicles. Affix the wreath, robin, snowman, Santa's legs, presents and snowballs using royal icing. Leave to set for 1 hr. Will keep on display for up to two weeks.

GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSE

Steps:

• Each year my children and I make gingerbread houses to display in our kitchen during the holidays. I always hated tossing them away after Christmas, so one year, on a cold January day, I decided we could easily recycle them into bird and squirrel feeders. It was so much fun and the kids made all the neighborhood wildlife very happy. My daughter said the best part of all the fun was that she made two gingerbread houses in one year. It's so easy...remove any hard candies and candy canes from the gingerbread house. Generously spread peanut butter over the house as if you were icing the house to decorate it. Decorate the house with lots of wildlife-friendly food..a door made of crackers, corner posts of pretzel sticks, a roof covered in shredded wheat cereal, raisin and bird seed-covered walls. Your family will really enjoy seeing the birds and squirrels that come to visit, but place the house off the ground. The neighbor's dog ate our first gingerbread birdhouse, so now we place it in an area he can't reach!

CHILDREN'S GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Steps:

• First cut out in thin cardboard: a side wall, 4 1/2 x 8 inches; an end wall, 4 1/2x5 inches; a triangular gable, 4 1/2x3x3 inches; and a roof rectangle, 4 1/2x9 inches. Tape the rectangular end wall piece to the triangular gable piece: match the long side of the triangle, 4 1/2 inches, to one of the 4 1/2 inch sides of the end wall.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and molasses. Gradually beat in 2 eggs. Sift the flour, baking powder, and spices together; stir into creamed mixture. Wrap dough in parchment paper, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 6 portions, 2 slightly larger than the others. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the 4 smaller pieces to approximately the size of the side wall and the end wall with gable templates; cut out two of each. Roll out remaining dough, and cut into two rectangular roof pieces. Transfer gingerbread onto greased baking trays.
• In a preheated 375 degree F (190 degrees C) oven, bake gingerbread for 10 minutes, or until crisp. When removing from the oven, leave the gingerbread on the baking trays for a few minutes to set, then transfer to wire racks. Leave out overnight to harden.
• In a large bowl, lightly whisk 2 egg whites. Gradually beat in approximately 5 cups confectioners' sugar. The icing should be smooth and stand in firm peaks. Spread or pipe a 9 inch line of icing onto a cake board, and press in one of the side walls so that it sticks firmly and stands upright. If necessary, spread or pipe a little extra icing along either side to help support it. Take an end wall and ice both the side edges. Spread or pipe a line of icing on the board at a right angle to the first wall, and press the end wall into position. Repeat this process with the other two walls until they are all in position. Leave the walls to harden together for at least two hours before putting on the roof. Spread or pipe a thick layer of icing on top of all the walls, and fix the roof pieces in position; the roof should overlap the walls to make the eaves. Pipe or spread a little icing along the crest of the roof to hold the two pieces firmly together. Leave overnight to set firmly.
• When ready to decorate, make the remaining icing. In a large bowl, lightly whisk 4 egg whites, and mix in remaining confectioners' sugar as before. Use this to make snow on the roof, and to stick various candies for decoration. Finish with a fine dusting of sifted confectioners' sugar.

GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSE ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix brown sugar, shortening, molasses and cold water until well blended. Stir in flour, baking soda, ginger, salt, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet. On lightly floured surface, roll dough 1/2 inch thick. Using knife or 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters, cut dough into squares or circles for bases of birdhouses, and into hearts for roofs.
• Place heart shape upside down on top of square or circle, just overlapping. Using end of drinking straw, make hole in center of birdhouse base for door and at top of roof for hanging. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
• Bake about 15 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched. While warm, insert pretzel stick just below door hole for perch. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely.
• In medium bowl, mix 4 cups powdered sugar, the vanilla and enough half-and-half for desired spreading consistency. Tint with food color as desired. Frost tops of cookies (roofs) with frosting; sprinkle with powdered sugar. Decorate with decorating icing and sprinkles. Thread pieces of gold string through holes in tops of birdhouses; tie in knots to make hangers.