Gingerbread Houses 2011
I have the now-discontinued & "collectible" Pampered Chef Stoneware Gingerbread House Mold:
My cousin gave it to us even before we had kids, and it's become an annual tradition now:
2007 (Will, 3 - Annelise, 1½)
2008 (Will, 4 - Annelise, 2½)
2009 (Will, 5 - Annelise, 3½)
2010 (Will, 6 - Annelise, 4½)
So that brings us to THIS year! We assembled...and disassembled them into our mouths, both in record time! :-D I blame Immaculate Baking, (fabulous company!!! super recommend!!!), whose amazing cookie dough is the *only* pre-made dough that actually tastes as good as homemade to me. I was ecstatic to find their all natural Ginger Spice dough at beloved Costco in NC pre-Thanksgiving, so I bought & brought it home just for these houses. :-) But it was too luscious to resist... Well, you'll see...
Yesterday, I baked four molds-worth of roofs & walls - enough to create our two houses - so they'd be cooled & ready. I was SO PROUD of myself, b/c for the very first time, I didn't crack a single piece - even the chimneys came out of the mold beautifully. [I now realize this is probably due more to the superior Immaculate dough than my personal awesomeness, but I'll take the credit where I can. ;-)] I also went ahead and glued the pieces together today with royal icing (4 cups powdered sugar, 3 tbsp. meringue powder, 6 tbsp. warm water - beat into peaks) before our neighbors came over, so no one would have to wait for it to set up. Kids just want to get right on to the fun decorating part! :-) I sorted through the Halloween candy I pulled for this from the kids' bags last month and added a bunch that they scored at the Christmas Parade yesterday. (Woohoo! Never *buy* candy for a project when your kids are overloaded with enough for FREE! :-D) I set it out in fancy schmancy ramekins - not to look good, but so that I could go ahead and empty a lot of the wrappers & trash them, instead of the kids ripping open the packs & having the candy go all over. :-P
The kids were counting down all afternoon until 4 PM! (I said 4 PM = after the Redskins game, b/c I didn't want to scream at the TV for 3 hours in front of guests - even sweet ones who wouldn't care. ;-)) When Mrs. Marsha, Lacy, & Walker arrived, the house exploded into cheers, and we all dove right in:
It's not a real "homemade gingerbread house day" w/o making mustaches with the extra icing! [I know - I am the anti-food-mess mom, but royal icing is my *singular* vice - it doesn't stain anything & it washes off so easily!] Lacy had the super cute idea to stick the red raspberry on Annelise's nose to make her look like Rudolph!
Sooo, then we started picking at the houses. Just a little bit. And then a little bit more. And then I couldn't stop! Even when the kids went on upstairs to play, Marsha & I stayed in the kitchen to chat...and this is what happened:
Again, I blame you, Immaculate Baking! (Sooo darn good!) If it would have baked up crispier, I wouldn't have been so excited to deconstruct...
My cousin gave it to us even before we had kids, and it's become an annual tradition now:
2007 (Will, 3 - Annelise, 1½)
2008 (Will, 4 - Annelise, 2½)
2009 (Will, 5 - Annelise, 3½)
[This wasn't using our mold - it was at our Australian friend's house when we lived outside Chicago; they inspired us to make it a play date with neighbors!]
2010 (Will, 6 - Annelise, 4½)
So that brings us to THIS year! We assembled...and disassembled them into our mouths, both in record time! :-D I blame Immaculate Baking, (fabulous company!!! super recommend!!!), whose amazing cookie dough is the *only* pre-made dough that actually tastes as good as homemade to me. I was ecstatic to find their all natural Ginger Spice dough at beloved Costco in NC pre-Thanksgiving, so I bought & brought it home just for these houses. :-) But it was too luscious to resist... Well, you'll see...
Yesterday, I baked four molds-worth of roofs & walls - enough to create our two houses - so they'd be cooled & ready. I was SO PROUD of myself, b/c for the very first time, I didn't crack a single piece - even the chimneys came out of the mold beautifully. [I now realize this is probably due more to the superior Immaculate dough than my personal awesomeness, but I'll take the credit where I can. ;-)] I also went ahead and glued the pieces together today with royal icing (4 cups powdered sugar, 3 tbsp. meringue powder, 6 tbsp. warm water - beat into peaks) before our neighbors came over, so no one would have to wait for it to set up. Kids just want to get right on to the fun decorating part! :-) I sorted through the Halloween candy I pulled for this from the kids' bags last month and added a bunch that they scored at the Christmas Parade yesterday. (Woohoo! Never *buy* candy for a project when your kids are overloaded with enough for FREE! :-D) I set it out in fancy schmancy ramekins - not to look good, but so that I could go ahead and empty a lot of the wrappers & trash them, instead of the kids ripping open the packs & having the candy go all over. :-P
The kids were counting down all afternoon until 4 PM! (I said 4 PM = after the Redskins game, b/c I didn't want to scream at the TV for 3 hours in front of guests - even sweet ones who wouldn't care. ;-)) When Mrs. Marsha, Lacy, & Walker arrived, the house exploded into cheers, and we all dove right in:
It's not a real "homemade gingerbread house day" w/o making mustaches with the extra icing! [I know - I am the anti-food-mess mom, but royal icing is my *singular* vice - it doesn't stain anything & it washes off so easily!] Lacy had the super cute idea to stick the red raspberry on Annelise's nose to make her look like Rudolph!
Sooo, then we started picking at the houses. Just a little bit. And then a little bit more. And then I couldn't stop! Even when the kids went on upstairs to play, Marsha & I stayed in the kitchen to chat...and this is what happened:
Oh that looks like so much fun! I wish we had a mold like that!!! H
ReplyDeleteIt was a great gift! I just googled "gingerbread house mold", and most standard pans seem to be ~$20. I do love it!!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like so much fun! We always do one with Mom in town...however, I use the pre-assembled ones from Wal-Mart! I may have to try baking a real one sometime.
ReplyDeleteYou would LOOOOVE baking a real one! It is so right up your alley! :-)
ReplyDeleteI just bought one and I don't know how to use it you bake in the mold, or did you just use it to form the cookie?
ReplyDeleteYes, you do bake it in the mold. :-) I can't remember for how long (we haven't done ours, yet, this year ;-)) but make sure the cookie pieces are crispy. I hate crispy cookies (mmmm, chewy!) so I made the mistake of pulling mine early one year, so they'd be my preferred chewy texture...but the wall pieces weren't strong/sturdy enough to hold up the roof & it collapsed. :-D
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