Gingerbread Christmas House

 Gingerbread Christmas House Recipe from Dr.Oetker

Time to complete: Over 2 days, 3 hours total (includes cooling, cooking and setting overnight) Makes: 1 house Day 1:

• Firstly, make the gingerbread. Place the water, dark brown sugar, treacle, golden syrup, ground ginger and cinnamon in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring continuously.
• Once boiling, remove the pan from the heat and using a wooden spoon carefully stir in the butter until melted.
• Add the flour and Bicarbonate of Soda and stir until combined; the mixture will be quite runny.
• Double wrap the gingerbread dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until firm.
• Whilst the gingerbread dough is in the fridge make the Regal-Ice decorations for the house. Use the red and green Coloured Regal-Ice to make decorations. Cut out small heart shapes using the red icing. To make the candy canes roll red and green Coloured Regal Icing (on a surface lightly covered in icing sugar) to form a snake shape about 0.5cm thick. Twist the colours around each other and roll on the surface. Cut into 4cm long pieces and shape into candy canes. Leave decorations to dry and firm up overnight.
• Once the gingerbread dough is firm, separate into 4 equal pieces and knead each piece on a clean surface dusted with plenty of flour.
• Preheat the oven to 180^oC (160^oC fan oven, 350^oF, gas 4). Grease and line three baking trays.
• Roll each piece using a rolling pin dusted with flour until around 3/4 cm in thickness.
• Cut out the gingerbread house template from the Dr. Oetker recipe website and use these to cut out the gingerbread using a small sharp knife.
• Once all the templates are cut out there should be 2x template 1, 2x template 2, 2x template 3 and 1x template 4.
• With the remaining dough cut out different size stars starting at about 10cm and getting smaller so the stars can be stacked up to make a tree, you will need about 10 stars.
• Bake the gingerbread for 15-18 minutes until the biscuit is firm to touch. While still hot, trim the edges of the house using the templates to get straight sharp edges. Leave to cool.
• Prepare the marzipan. Knead the marzipan until soft and pliable on a surface dusted with plenty of icing sugar. Roll out the marzipan to a thickness approx. 0.5cm.
• Place template 1 (front of the house) onto the marzipan and cut the marzipan with a small sharp knife to the size of the template. Repeat this for template 4 (the door).
• Once the gingerbread is cool, brush the front of the gingerbread house and door with honey. Place the marzipan onto the gingerbread and smooth into place with the palm of your hand.
• Knead the Regal Ice White and roll out onto a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Cut two pieces of the roof shape (template 2) and stick onto the gingerbread using honey.
• Leave the gingerbread to firm overnight in an airtight container.
• Brush the cake board with honey. Unroll the Ready Rolled Regal-Ice and place on the cake board to cover it. Smooth the icing onto the cake board using the palm of your hand, so the icing covers the whole board. Leave overnight to firm up.

Day 2:

• For the royal icing, make up the egg white powder following instructions on the pack. Add the icing sugar to the egg white one tablespoon at a time and mix well. Repeat until all the icing sugar has been added and the icing is thick, smooth and white.
• Place the royal icing in a piping bag and cut a small hole (0.5cm) in the end of piping bag.
• Once the gingerbread has firmed overnight stick the sides to the front of the house using a thick line of royal icing and hold together in place for about 30 seconds to support.
• Add the back of the house using more royal icing and hold in place for 30 seconds.
• Add another line of royal icing around the base of the house and place on the cake board.
• Leave the house to set for about an hour. Then add the roof using the royal icing, hold in place for about 30 seconds.
• Whilst the house is setting, make the gingerbread trees. Knead the Regal-Ice White until it is soft and pliable, roll out onto a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Cut star shapes out of the Regal-Ice White to fit the tops of the gingerbread stars. Brush the gingerbread stars with honey and place the Regal-Ice stars on top.
• Now stack up the stars starting with the largest at the base and smallest at the top - using a small blob of royal icing to stick together. Offset the points of the stars to create a tree effect and secure the smallest star on top so that it stands upright.
• Add final finishing touches to the gingerbread house by adding Marzipan steps and stones; roll small balls of Marzipan and flatten slightly using your thumb.
• Stick the Marzipan steps to the Regal-Ice covered board with a small blob of royal icing.
• Stick the candy canes and hearts to the gingerbread house using royal icing.
• Arrange the trees around the house and secure in place with royal icing.
• Dot some royal icing on the cake board covered in Regal-Ice and using a palette knife swirl the royal icing to create a snow effect.
• Neaten the finish of the windows and roof by piping dots of royal icing around the edge.

Tip: The gingerbread roof can be dusted with icing sugar to create a snow effect instead of covering with Regal-Ice.