How I did it

I haven't been around for a while because there was Christmas and family and way more fun things than blogging, but now that it's over and they are gone and it's time to return to my regularly scheduled routine (except Paul isn't back to work yet!), I have a little bit of time to share. But before I relate the how-to of this year's gingerbread house, I must mention that I successfully baked my first ever souffles. Chocolate, of course, as dessert for Christmas Eve dinner. They rose, they fell a little, they tasted... divine.

We ate them AFTER taking this picture, putting out cookies for Santa, and sending Little off to dream of sugarplums. (Note that Paul is FINALLY wearing the lovely sweater that I took about two years to knit for him).

As for the house (the gingerbread one), it is starting to decline, so in its memory (I reckon we will destroy it and throw it away soon), we will take a look at how it came to be.

It started as a lowly lump of gingerbread dough, made from a different recipe each year (I have yet to find the perfect recipe and am starting to believe it doesn't exist), rolled out on parchment paper.

Make sure to draw your plans out and cut your shapes before baking. Label each sheet, and don't throw them away in case you mess up and cut the windows out of the roof (like I did). Somewhere I read that it's a good idea to take them out of the oven when they are halfway baked to trim them so they fit together, but we trim the pieces after baking and they look fine.

It's a good idea to have your base ready before you want to start building the structure, so that you don't have to pull out the power tools on the patio late at night.

While the base was being made and the house pieces cooled, we made sugar for casting the windows, mixing sugar, water, corn syrup, and cream of tartar over a low heat until it was almost a hard crack (see a candy thermometer).

Then we poured the sugar. No, it's not colored. We (un)intentionally started to caramelize it when it got late in the night and the darn thermometer was still many degrees away from the desired hard crack, so we cranked up the heat, thus resulting in the amber color. Note the attempts at pulled sugar and piped sugar on the silicone mat. Everyone needs a silicone mat, by the way. And it's a good thing I got a professional pastry-making book for Christmas so that next year, my sugarwork will be slightly less amateur.

Next, we start to build, using royal icing (egg whites, cream of tartar, and lots and lots of confectioners' sugar). Careful to not drip icing onto the clear windows.

We decided to add lights at the last minute, which wasn't the best idea, since the holes for the lights had to be drilled after the house was erected, thus possibly compromising the structure.

We lucked out and it turned out ok.

Improvisation is key to helping the icing set for a stable structure. You're supposed to let it set for a day or so before you start decorating. In fact, you are supposed to let the walls set for a day before putting up the roof, but we are too impatient, so there you go. A glass held up the porch roof just fine.

And the candy patiently waited to be used. Now for the hours of late-night and naptime decorating:

Front: Candy Melts for the roof, Candy cane posts, Gummi LifeSaver wreath, Red Hot doorknob, gumdrop hedges, and assorted candies for windows and window boxes.

Back: Gumdrop trees, Candy Melt roofs, and assorted candies for other decor. Not yet pictured: Marzipan shutters (see below).

Santa side: Marzipan Santa and toy bag, hand modeled and tinted, Smarties for siding.

Sketched Jesus side with edible markers, and the beginning of the mosaic.

Finished Jesus mosaic, using colored sugar, Nerds, Jimmies, and candy coated chocolate sprinkles.

The finished product, on all sides:

(Piped chocolate fence)

Gingerbread family to represent us, made with leftover dough and decorated with leftover icing and sprinkles.

(Santa and toybag close-up)

Snowman made of marzipan dipped in royal icing, decorated with sprinkles. Hat is a gumdrop and marzipan. Scarf is marzipan, and arms are piped chocolate. The Christmas tree in the background is three cookie pieces put together, decorated with royal icing and a star candy on top.

The front, all lit up.

And let us not forget the reason for the season, Jesus!

And when it is done, I get to dance with a diaper on my head, waving a Swiffer duster in the air. Hooray!