Monday, February 28, 2011
Find a Great Gingerbread Apron
A gingerbread themed apron is fun all year long, a pleasant reminder of family tradition and memories.
I pull my gingerbread apron out for any and all baking projects...the only time I can't wear my gingerbread apron is when one of my teen daughters is involved in the baking. However, regardless of who wears the apron, everyone enjoys the opportunity to daydream of our next gingerbread house decorating event. Every kid in the house looks at every candy in the checkout lane of the grocery store, with thoughts of how they could use it on their gingerbread creation.
Find your gingerbread apron well in advance, so you, too, can daydream of the fun you will have, come gingerbread season!
Gingerbread House Making for 12
Most years, I make a dozen gingerbread houses, enough for the kids, their friends, and myself to have fun decorating. I can tell you, from years of experience, that it is a lot of work, lots of time on my feet, and a little tiring, but totally worth it. However, I am a stay at home mom who has time for this (or makes time) during the Christmas season, and realize that this is not a realistic pursuit for many households. Still, the fun of a gingerbread house party for the kids and their friends can be done, with pre-baked gingerbread house kits. The one featured below comes with royal icing mix, gingerbread house panels, and an assortment of candies. You will want to allow time to review the candies, and purchase others, if some of your favorites are missing. However, this is a wonderful way to create the decorating experience on a large scale, with much less time and effort.
Pre-Planning to Make Your Gingerbread House
If you have dreams of making a gingerbread house, or a dozen, from scratch this year, then you need to realize that there is a bit of work involved in the process. A single house, certainly, can be done in a day, but the various elements of making your creation from scratch will take up a good amount of time, during that day. If you wish to make several gingerbread houses, you may want to follow my approach, and separate the major steps into a three-day process.
Day 1: Make your gingerbread panels for your houses.
You will need to be organized, more so as the quantity of houses increases. It doesn't hurt to make a chart, indicating the number of each piece needed, and to tally the finished pieces, as they are done. I find that my baking sheets accomodate all pieces for a single house, with a little extra space for other pieces. After a few sets of pieces, I can easily lose track of how many panels have been made.
Another helpful approach is to simply match up the pieces in small stacks, once they have cooled. I use a 3 piece set of gingerbread house cookie cutters, and each house requires 2 of each piece. When the panels cool, I stack them together, so that I can easily verify visually what parts are needed to complete a set.
If your panels are not cooled completely, they may stick together. Cooling is essential. Also, you should try to make an entire house from the pieces rolled and baked together, especially if you cut the pieces in the pan, before or after baking. Use the excess pieces from each batch to create other houses. That way, most of your houses will maintain uniformity among the parts.
When your panels are baked, cooled, and matched, it's time to store them. If you will be moving on to the assembly of your gingerbread designs in the next day or two, a big roasting pan or cardboard box will serve for storage...stacked panels fit nicely. Just cover with plastic wrap, to keep dust out. If you are preparing the panels further in advance, then ziploc bags work well for storage of your pieces.
(Gingerbread Baking Day Article at HubPages)
Day 2: Put your Gingerbread House Together
Putting houses together involves a bit of work, though no oven work is required. Your bases should be assembled, first, which can be as simple as a cutout piece of cardboard, covered in foil, or as elaborate as a fancy cake pedestal.
After your bases are ready, make your royal icing. Spread a layer of royal frosting on the base, to give the appearance of snow, and to provide an adhesive for the bottom of your gingerbread house pieces. If you want really neat gingerbread houses, use a piping bag to apply the royal icing to each side of your pieces. If you don't mind the "snow covered" look, a spatula is a great time saver, or you can dip your panel edges into the bowl of royal icing.
Assemble the 4 walls, first, and allow time for your confectionary concrete to set up. Vigilance is essential, as pieces can slip. If you need a bit of a prop, try using a couple of sugar cubes on the inside of the walls.
Allow 20 to 30 minutes for the icing on the walls to set, then attach roof pieces. Again, vigilance is important, as slipping is common. I use a spatula to coat the back of the roof pieces, and to adhere a little more icing to the top wall edges. Another 20 to 30 minutes for each roof to set, and I pipe royal icing down the middle, where the 2 pieces meet.
If you allow sufficient time for pieces to set, then you can move into the decoration phase. However, when I am doing a dozen gingerbread houses with kids and friends, I save decorating for a separate day.
(Gingerbread House Assembly Day Article at HubPages)
Day 3: Decorating
Whether this is a separate day, or the same, you will want a fresh batch of royal icing. For kids, I make individual piping bags from quart sized freezer ziplocs, filling each about half way with icing, closing, and squeezing the icing into a corner. I cut a very small hole at that corner, for piping. Use bowls or plates to rest these piping bags.
Separate candies, and arrange in the center of the table so all decorators can easily see and reach. With a bunch of gingerbread houses, I split the candies as evenly as possible, amongst two tables, so that there is plenty of room for everyone to work.
Small children will need some supervision, and assistance. Big kids will take quickly to the project. Expect very young kids to do minimal decorating, while older kids may take a couple of hours to get their houses just right. Allow time for the houses to set, before guests leave!
(Decorating Day Article at HubPages)
Day 1: Make your gingerbread panels for your houses.
You will need to be organized, more so as the quantity of houses increases. It doesn't hurt to make a chart, indicating the number of each piece needed, and to tally the finished pieces, as they are done. I find that my baking sheets accomodate all pieces for a single house, with a little extra space for other pieces. After a few sets of pieces, I can easily lose track of how many panels have been made.
Another helpful approach is to simply match up the pieces in small stacks, once they have cooled. I use a 3 piece set of gingerbread house cookie cutters, and each house requires 2 of each piece. When the panels cool, I stack them together, so that I can easily verify visually what parts are needed to complete a set.
If your panels are not cooled completely, they may stick together. Cooling is essential. Also, you should try to make an entire house from the pieces rolled and baked together, especially if you cut the pieces in the pan, before or after baking. Use the excess pieces from each batch to create other houses. That way, most of your houses will maintain uniformity among the parts.
When your panels are baked, cooled, and matched, it's time to store them. If you will be moving on to the assembly of your gingerbread designs in the next day or two, a big roasting pan or cardboard box will serve for storage...stacked panels fit nicely. Just cover with plastic wrap, to keep dust out. If you are preparing the panels further in advance, then ziploc bags work well for storage of your pieces.
(Gingerbread Baking Day Article at HubPages)
Day 2: Put your Gingerbread House Together
Putting houses together involves a bit of work, though no oven work is required. Your bases should be assembled, first, which can be as simple as a cutout piece of cardboard, covered in foil, or as elaborate as a fancy cake pedestal.
After your bases are ready, make your royal icing. Spread a layer of royal frosting on the base, to give the appearance of snow, and to provide an adhesive for the bottom of your gingerbread house pieces. If you want really neat gingerbread houses, use a piping bag to apply the royal icing to each side of your pieces. If you don't mind the "snow covered" look, a spatula is a great time saver, or you can dip your panel edges into the bowl of royal icing.
Assemble the 4 walls, first, and allow time for your confectionary concrete to set up. Vigilance is essential, as pieces can slip. If you need a bit of a prop, try using a couple of sugar cubes on the inside of the walls.
Allow 20 to 30 minutes for the icing on the walls to set, then attach roof pieces. Again, vigilance is important, as slipping is common. I use a spatula to coat the back of the roof pieces, and to adhere a little more icing to the top wall edges. Another 20 to 30 minutes for each roof to set, and I pipe royal icing down the middle, where the 2 pieces meet.
If you allow sufficient time for pieces to set, then you can move into the decoration phase. However, when I am doing a dozen gingerbread houses with kids and friends, I save decorating for a separate day.
(Gingerbread House Assembly Day Article at HubPages)
Day 3: Decorating
Whether this is a separate day, or the same, you will want a fresh batch of royal icing. For kids, I make individual piping bags from quart sized freezer ziplocs, filling each about half way with icing, closing, and squeezing the icing into a corner. I cut a very small hole at that corner, for piping. Use bowls or plates to rest these piping bags.
Separate candies, and arrange in the center of the table so all decorators can easily see and reach. With a bunch of gingerbread houses, I split the candies as evenly as possible, amongst two tables, so that there is plenty of room for everyone to work.
Small children will need some supervision, and assistance. Big kids will take quickly to the project. Expect very young kids to do minimal decorating, while older kids may take a couple of hours to get their houses just right. Allow time for the houses to set, before guests leave!
(Decorating Day Article at HubPages)
Gingerbread House Cutting Techniques
Whether you are using cookie cutter gingerbread house sets, or gingerbread house templates, you have a few options when it comes to how you cut out your panels.
1. Roll dough, cut out panels, and use a spatula to lift, and transfer to the baking sheet.
Advantages to this method are primarily those of dough conservation. When I use this method, in conjunction with the cookie cutter set I've used for 18 years, I can make 5 sets of gingerbread house pieces from the gingerbread recipe which I use. Note that I roll my dough very thin. The one drawback to this method is that my gingerbread house panels distort, when lifted from the rolling surface. To alleviate this issue, try rolling out your dough on parchment paper, removing scraps after pressing the cookie cutters into the dough. Transfer pieces from parchment paper, to baking sheet.
Even better, and our latest discovery, you can cut your parchment paper to fit the baking sheet, remove the scraps after cutting your panels into the rolled dough, and transfer the parchment paper to the baking sheet. This saves a LOT of time and work in the baking process. There may still be mild distortion in pieces, as the dough spreads a little bit in the baking process, but for the household gingerbread artist, this is not serious.
2. Bake a sheet of gingerbread cookie dough, and cut your pieces out of the finished cookie sheet.
The advantage of this method is that the shape will not distort, because the dough is already baked. The challenge is that you must do your cutting immediately. If you allow the gingerbread cookie sheet to cool too much, it will harden, and be susceptible to breakage. As you cut the pieces, you will have some waste...tasty scraps, but potentially not workable for any other decorating purposes. Also, the edges of your panel pieces will be a little crumby. If you are interested in a precise gingerbread structure, however, this avoids distortion of the panels.
Read more about planning to make a gingerbread house from scratch.
1. Roll dough, cut out panels, and use a spatula to lift, and transfer to the baking sheet.
Advantages to this method are primarily those of dough conservation. When I use this method, in conjunction with the cookie cutter set I've used for 18 years, I can make 5 sets of gingerbread house pieces from the gingerbread recipe which I use. Note that I roll my dough very thin. The one drawback to this method is that my gingerbread house panels distort, when lifted from the rolling surface. To alleviate this issue, try rolling out your dough on parchment paper, removing scraps after pressing the cookie cutters into the dough. Transfer pieces from parchment paper, to baking sheet.
Even better, and our latest discovery, you can cut your parchment paper to fit the baking sheet, remove the scraps after cutting your panels into the rolled dough, and transfer the parchment paper to the baking sheet. This saves a LOT of time and work in the baking process. There may still be mild distortion in pieces, as the dough spreads a little bit in the baking process, but for the household gingerbread artist, this is not serious.
2. Bake a sheet of gingerbread cookie dough, and cut your pieces out of the finished cookie sheet.
The advantage of this method is that the shape will not distort, because the dough is already baked. The challenge is that you must do your cutting immediately. If you allow the gingerbread cookie sheet to cool too much, it will harden, and be susceptible to breakage. As you cut the pieces, you will have some waste...tasty scraps, but potentially not workable for any other decorating purposes. Also, the edges of your panel pieces will be a little crumby. If you are interested in a precise gingerbread structure, however, this avoids distortion of the panels.
Read more about planning to make a gingerbread house from scratch.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Gingerbread Timeline: Planning Ahead to Make Gingerbread Houses
Everybody's gingerbread house decoration schedule will be different, but in general, a bigger project requires a little more planning. A spur of the moment event, done with a pre-baked gingerbread kit, takes minimal time. However, if you want to find a unique pre-baked house, then you will want to check some online sources. A few unique kits are found on this blog, just use the search bar, and "pre-baked", to find relevant posts. Most big box retailers will only have a basic model, but online, you can find some unique items. You can also check the "Gingerbread Essentials" tab above, for my a-store listings.
If you are working from scratch, you will want to decide on a method. For the beginner, I highly suggest a cookie cutter gingerbread house set.
Pick a goal date of decorating, and work backwards from there. You will want your assembly day to coincide, or to precede decorating day by only one or two days. Baking can be as far in advance as needed, if you don't mind freezing your panels. It's best to allow at least a day prior to assembly, though, so pieces can all cool. Same day assembly is possible, just allow plenty of cooling time.
Generally, I make gingerbread a 3 day project, and those days are almost always subsequent. I try to have this activity done about a week before Christmas, so that other last minute preparations for the holiday are not interrupted. However, I've finished the project as close as 3 days before Christmas, some years. We even did our houses a few days after Christmas, once, in order to include cousins in the fun.
A visual aid, a printed calendar page can provide the concrete reference you need. Work backward from your baking day, and assess your dates for purchasing supplies, inviting friends, and getting mentally ready.
If you are working from scratch, you will want to decide on a method. For the beginner, I highly suggest a cookie cutter gingerbread house set.
Pick a goal date of decorating, and work backwards from there. You will want your assembly day to coincide, or to precede decorating day by only one or two days. Baking can be as far in advance as needed, if you don't mind freezing your panels. It's best to allow at least a day prior to assembly, though, so pieces can all cool. Same day assembly is possible, just allow plenty of cooling time.
Generally, I make gingerbread a 3 day project, and those days are almost always subsequent. I try to have this activity done about a week before Christmas, so that other last minute preparations for the holiday are not interrupted. However, I've finished the project as close as 3 days before Christmas, some years. We even did our houses a few days after Christmas, once, in order to include cousins in the fun.
A visual aid, a printed calendar page can provide the concrete reference you need. Work backward from your baking day, and assess your dates for purchasing supplies, inviting friends, and getting mentally ready.
Gingerbread House Wall Mural Stickers
Add to your household's holiday excitement, in anticipation of making gingerbread houses, with this fun set of gingerbread house peel and stick, removable wall stickers, in a gingerbread house theme.
Pre-Baked Gingerbread House Kit, by Wilton
If your aspirations to create a beautiful gingerbread house are tempered by a hectic holiday schedule, let Wilton do the work for you, with this pre-baked kit. All you need to do is assemble to pre-baked gingerbread panels. Royal Icing and candies are included, but you can always pick up some extra candies!
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