The first gingerbread houses appeared in the 19th century - their homeland can be recognized as Germany, where just at that time the fairy tale of the brothers Grimm "Hansel and Gretel" was published. It was about a house made of gingerbread dough, which the children found in the forest. To prepare this unusual delicacy, which has become a symbol of Christmas in Europe and the USA, you will need special stencils - they can be purchased (usually metal forms) or made yourself.
It is necessary
- For the test:
- - 4 cups flour
- - 1 1/2 cups sugar
- - 200 g butter
- - 2 eggs
- - 2 bags of vanilla sugar
- - 4 teaspoons of dried ground ginger
- - 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
- - 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom
- - 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- - 2 tsp baking powder
- For caramel:
- - 125 g sugar
- - 2 tbsp. spoons of water
- - 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- For glaze:
- - 2 cups powdered sugar
- - 2 egg whites
- - 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- For decoration:
- - color dragee
- - chewing marmalade
- - marshmallow
- - cotton candy
Instructions
Step 1
Remove the butter from the refrigerator in advance to bring it to room temperature. Add sugar, chicken eggs, baking powder, and vanilla sugar. Add all the spices. Use a mixer to beat the mixture until fluffy.
Step 2
Sift flour in a heap on the table. Add the butter-spice mixture to the flour and knead a soft plastic dough with your hands. Mold a ball out of it, put it in a deep bowl and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
Step 3
Remove the well-chilled dough and roll it out on a floured table to a thickness of 5-6 mm. Attach stencils on top and cut out blanks for the future house. Cover a baking sheet with oiled parchment paper and carefully place the gingerbread figures on top.
Step 4
Bake at 180 ° C for 12-15 minutes. Make sure that the gingerbread cookies are covered only with a slight blush and do not burn. While the workpieces are hot, use a sharp knife to carefully cut the slits for the door and windows.
Step 5
Prepare the icing: shake 1 protein with a fork, gradually adding powdered sugar (1 cup), achieve the desired icing consistency. At the end, pour in 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. The frosting should be fairly thick. If the mass turned out to be liquid, add more powder, if it is too thick, pour in a little warm water and whisk again.
Step 6
Place the frosting in a piping bag and decorate the details of the house, and then attach the jelly beans and marmalade. Let the glaze dry for a few hours, you can leave it overnight.
Step 7
Prepare caramel: add sugar to a saucepan, pour lemon juice and water. Put the pan on low heat and wait until the sugar is caramelized - shake the pan from time to time, do not stir the contents with a spatula. When the caramel is ready, quickly dip the edges of the blanks into it and glue together to make a house. As a base, you can use a layer of gingerbread dough, a dense waffle cake, or even an ordinary cardboard cut from a box of chocolates.
Step 8
Prepare a second glaze using the remaining icing sugar and protein. Decorate the house by depicting drifts of snow on the roof, you can attach a pipe. A piece of cotton candy can represent "smoke" coming out of it. Leave the gingerbread house to dry completely. This amount of dough will make 2 gingerbread houses.
