Gingerbread

We love to bake gingerbread at Christmas and each year we build and decorate a gingerbread house. There’s nothing like the smell of fresh gingerbread to put you in a festive mood!

I bought my gingerbread house kit from Lakeland in the UK. One year we even made a stable and nativity scene using a kit we borrowed from a friend.

The recipe we use is as follows:

180g butter

125g brown sugar

300g treacle or golden syrup

500g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Extra flour for rolling

 

For the icing:

500g icing sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar

3 egg whites

Food colouring (opyional)

Alternatively you could just using icing sugar and water.

Make the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin. Use the shapes to cut out the roof panels, wall panels and any other decorations such as a tree, gingerbread man, etc.

Use the icing to stick the house together. It can be fiddly! I put the icing into a piping bag which I find easier. Leave the icing to set and then you can use left over icing, sweets, chocolates, etc. to add your decorations.