Winter Wonderland Gingerbread Cottage Recipes

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS COTTAGE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine shortening and water. Add brown sugar and molasses; mix well. Combine flour, salt, baking soda and spices; beat into molasses mixture until blended. Divide into three portions; chill overnight., Trace the full patterns onto waxed paper; cut out. Trace the remaining (halved) patterns onto waxed paper as directed on the patterns; cut out. , With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll one portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness directly onto a lightly greased and floured baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut out two front/back house pieces. On one piece, score window and door. , Roll out second portion of dough. Cut out two 8-1/2-in. x 6-in. rectangles for roof. , Roll out third portion of dough. Position house side pattern on dough; cut out two pieces. On each piece, score two window outlines. Cut out one 2-3/8-in. x 1-3/8-in. rectangle for left side of chimney and a 1-3/8-in. x 7/8-in. rectangle for right side of chimney. Roll out scraps to cut out patterns for sides of chimney; sides and roof of porch; and front, sides and roofs of dormers. Score dormer window outlines., Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes; place patterns over baked dough and trim. Cut out door and windows completely. (Set aside door cutout; discard window cutouts.) Cool on wire racks., To make icing: Prepare only one batch of icing at a time. For each batch, in a large bowl, combine 4 cups confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder, 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar and 6 tablespoons water. Beat on low speed for 5-10 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Place a damp cloth over bowl and cover tightly between uses., To assemble frame of house: Place front and sides of house and fronts of dormers on a waxed paper-lined flat surface. Cut a small hole in a corner of a pastry bag; insert star tip #16. Fill two-thirds full with icing. Pipe curtains in the house and dormer windows. Outline frames of windows and doorway with round tip #3. , For shutters, roll out 10 red gumdrops to 1/16-in. thickness; cut each into a 1-1/8-in. x 3/8-in. rectangle. Roll out four red gumdrops for dormer shutters; cut each into a 7/8-in. x 1/4-in. rectangle. Attach house and dormer shutters with a dab of icing on each side of windows. , Using tip #16, pipe decorative trim on the front and back rooflines and peaks of the house, taking care to avoid the edges. Let dry completely., Pipe icing along base and one side of front wall and the adjoining side wall. Place at right angles to each other on foam core board and position with front of house 6-1/4-in. from one narrow side of board; prop with small cans. Pipe icing along inside and outside edges for added stability. Repeat with second side section and back. Let dry completely. , Cut 3-1/2-in. pieces from the straight end of four large candy canes (set aside curved ends for another use). Pipe icing along each outside corner of house with star tip #20; press straight candy cane pieces into each corner. Let dry completely, about 4 hours. , For dormers: Insert tip #16 into pastry bag; fill two-thirds full with icing. Pipe icing along one side of front of dormer and one adjoining side wall. Position at right angles to each other and place on waxed paper; pipe icing along inside edge for added stability. Hold in place until secure. Repeat with second side. Repeat for second dormer. Let dry completely with front side up., To assemble roof: Generously pipe icing along top edges of house. Position roof pieces so there is a 5/8-in. overhang in front and back. Pipe icing along the joining edges. Prop bottom of roof pieces with cans until roof is completely dry. , On right roof piece, position one dormer 1-1/2 in. from left side, 1-1/2 in. up from the bottom and above the lower window, aligning so dormer front is perpendicular to board. Pipe dots of icing to mark the position of bottom dormer corners. Pipe icing onto back edges of dormer; attach to roof. Hold in place until secure, about 1 minute. Repeat with second dormer. Let dry completely. , Attach dormer roofs with icing so there is a 1/4-in. overhang in front. Cut two 2-in. straight pieces from candy canes. Pipe icing along top edge of dormer roofs; press straight candy cane pieces into each. Let dry completely. , For chimney and door: Spread chimney pieces and door with icing; dip into multicolored nonpareils. With tip #3, pipe a dot of icing on door and attach red-hot for the handle. Let dry. Pipe icing along left edge and bottom of door; position door so it is ajar. , Using tip #16 and icing, attach chimney pieces to plain side of roof, positioning the back chimney piece 1-1/2 in. from back edge of roof and working clockwise with remaining pieces. Pipe icing around top of chimney and along chimney seams. Cut one 5-in. piece and one 1-1/4-in. piece from the straight ends of two candy canes. Pipe icing along top edge between roof pieces; press straight pieces into icing., For porch: Place porch roof smooth side down on a work surface. To attach sides, pipe icing along the long side of each triangle and position against porch roof. Invert to dry. , For porch support posts, cut two 2-3/4-in. straight pieces from candy canes. Insert each into a leaf-shaped spearmint gumdrop; position 1 in. from house and 3 in. apart on each side of doorway. Secure gumdrops with icing. Let dry. Attach porch roof to posts and house with icing; prop with small cans and let dry., To decorate roof: With tip #20, pipe two rows of icing along bottom of chimney side of roof. Press five different colored halved gumdrops into icing in a row; repeat until one horizontal row is finished. Begin the second row with the second color from row one. Repeat nine times, slightly overlapping each row until one roof piece is covered with a diagonally patterned design., On dormer side of roof and starting at bottom edge, repeat procedure for gumdrop shingles. Attach gumdrops to the dormer and porch roofs in the same pattern as roof of house. Pipe icing onto sides of porch roof. Let dry., For finishing touches: Using round tip #7, pipe icing icicles. Sprinkle with edible glitter. , To make trees, use a serrated knife to carefully score and cut ice cream cones to desired heights. Tint a portion of icing with green food coloring. Using leaf tip #67 and beginning at bottom of ice cream cones, pipe icing in rows; sprinkle with edible glitter. Place on waxed paper to harden. Using tip #7, pipe snow on the trees and sprinkle with edible glitter. Set aside., For curved path, using tip #20 and beginning at the door, pipe icing in a zigzag pattern. Press chocolate rock candies 1/8 in. apart onto pathway. Position candy corn, point side up, along both sides of path. Working in small sections, frost base with icing for snow and sprinkle with edible glitter. , For each corner fence, use tip #7 and white icing to attach two miniature candy canes to board. Arrange trees on base along with green gumdrops, rock candy suckers and remaining leaf-shaped gumdrops for bushes; secure with icing. For smoke, pull and stretch the cotton ball; attach with icing to inside of chimney.

HOMEMADE GINGERBREAD COTTAGE

Steps:

• MAKE THE DOUGH : Put about half the flour in a food processor with the butter. Whizz until you can't see any lumps of butter remaining (if you don't have a food processor, rub the butter into all of the flour with your fingertips, until it resembles fine crumbs). Tip the buttery flour into your largest mixing bowl and mix in the remaining flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda with a pinch of salt. Stir in the sugar.
• Whisk the eggs with the golden syrup and stir into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon. Using your hands, knead together into a smooth dough. Use straight away, or chill or freeze until ready to bake.
• CUT OUT ALL THE SHAPES: Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll out a quarter of the dough at a time on a sheet of baking parchment, to the thickness of 2 x £1 coins. Use a small, sharp knife to cut around the cottage templates (see the 'try' section below to print off the template) - remember that each time you'll need 2 x ROOF, 2 x END and 2 x SIDE for one cottage. Remove the trimmings and lift the gingerbread, on its parchment, onto baking trays. Re-roll trimmings to cut out all the shapes you need.
• BAKE YOUR GINGERBREAD: Bake the gingerbread one tray at a time (so it cooks evenly), on a high shelf in the oven for 8-12 mins, until rich brown and firm to the touch. Give each tray 3-5 mins to cool, then carefully sit the templates back onto the relevant shapes and trim any edges to neaten (step 1, above). Keep these trimmings for nibbles. Use a small knife, or heart-shaped cutters, to cut out any doors and windows you want to have. If you want to fill your cottage with lights, use the end of one of the SIDE templates to cut out a little door in the back END of the cottage.
• For a roof like ours, roll out remaining gingerbread to about half the thickness of the walls. Use a 3-4cm cutter to stamp out rounds - to fully cover the roofs, you will need about 75 round biscuit tiles. Bake as above, but for 6-9 mins - as they are thinner, they will bake quicker. Let all the biscuits cool completely.
• DECORATE YOUR GINGERBREAD: Sift 250g of the icing sugar into a bowl, dribble in water, stirring in until you have a thick-ish icing. Tip the preserving sugar or pearl sugar into a shallow bowl and get a couple of cooling racks ready. Dip the round roof tile biscuits into the icing, one by one - covering about a quarter of the biscuit in icing (step 2). It looks nice if they're all a bit higgledy-piggledy. Dip into the preserving sugar to stick, then sit on the cooling racks and leave to dry.
• Put the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the remaining 500g of icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon a little into a piping bag with a very small nozzle. Spoon half of the rest into a piping bag that has a slightly larger nozzle (or spoon into large food bags and, when ready to ice, snip off the corner to turn into a piping bag). Keep the rest covered in the bowl. Use the small piping bag to pipe any icing decorations you want onto the END that is going to be the front of your cottage. Leave to dry.
• START BUILDING: Arrange the wall biscuits as you are going to assemble them. Swap to the big bag of icing with a medium nozzle to pipe generous snakes of icing along the SIDE edges (3) and stick the walls together. Pipe extra icing where the walls join each other on the inside of the cottage, and support the sides using your icing balls (4).
• To decorate the roof, scrape any excess icing and sugar from the underside of the roof tiles with a small knife, so they can lie flat. Start at the bottom of one and work along in a row, using the icing in the bowl, spread good-sized blobs of icing on the underside of the top of each tile biscuit to stick (5). Let the bottom row overhang the edge of the ROOF. Continue working up, sticking a row at a time, sitting the row above in the gaps of the row below, so the tiles sit in a diamond pattern rather than straight lines down the ROOF (6). You'll need to cut some of the tiles on the edges to fit - just use a big sharp knife and be brave (you should have a few spares available in case you have any accidents). Repeat to cover the second ROOF, then leave the completed ROOFS with the half-built cottage for a few hrs at least, or preferably overnight, until set.
• When ready, remove the supports from the cottage and stick on the ROOFS (7). This bit can be fiddly, so you may need an extra pair of hands. Shape your icing balls to support the bottoms of the ROOFS. Hold the biscuits on firmly for a few mins until the icing starts to set (8 & 9). Set again for a few hrs, or overnight.
• FINISHING TOUCHES: To finish decorating like ours, roll marble-sized balls of the ready-to-roll icing and stick them along the ROOF top - this is perfect for hiding the join. 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 cottage, covering the gap between the ROOF and roof tiles too, if you like.