Friday 25 December 2009

Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House

December 2009 Daring Bakers 2

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I’m beginning to think that my Daring Bakers motto should be “best laid plans” because this was another month of shenanigans. I was very excited when I saw the challenge and started planning a very Aussie Christmas Gingerbread House i.e. backyard cricket, dry grass, tin roof. There were plans and engineering meetings and decoration conferences in the confectionery aisle of the supermarket.

And then . . .

I chose Y’s dough because I had all the ingredients in my cupboard and I liked the spices that were involved but I had a few issues with the dough - it came together easily enough but after chilling overnight, it did not roll, it crumbled. So, I stood there smushing it back together to try and get a flat enough thin to cut my wall out of. Finally, I had all my pieces and they had a cooled and it was time for the simple syrup.

Let's consider this for a moment. Me + molten sugar + pretty decorationing + tiredness = me burning myself with said molten sugar. And then Esther burning herself on the syrup. So I thought "oh well, I won't decorate it as nicely as I wanted to. I mainly just want to put it together!"

So I did. And, holy mackerel, it was ugly. SO UGLY! SO UGLY THERE AREN'T ANY PICTURES!

There's another reason why there aren't any pictures.

I smashed it. With my rolling pin. A lot.

I snapped and had had enough of this ugly gingerbread house - all the time and energy that had gone into the construction for an UGLY outcome was too much for me - it was smashing time.
At first, it wasn't very carthatic but then I hit my smashing stride and I felt a lot better.

The problem, of course, was that now there was no gingerbread house for the challenge at all. Esther to the rescue! We cut some slices off the (ample) excess dough and made some tiny gingerbread houses.

December 2009 Daring Bakers 6

And, if i say so myself, they are about 10000 times cuter than I could have ever imagined. And so adorably cute! They are living on our coffee table and it is pretty funny watching our cats walk next to them as they look like huge panthers attacking the tiny village.

So, all in all, a less than successful challenge but I got to work some anger out. The challenge was certainly there and I'm glad that I had a go! Thanks, Anna and Y!

December 2009 Daring Bakers 7


8 comments:

nixwilliams said...

you are as adorable as those houses. MORE ADORABLE.

Sheltie Girl said...

Very cute houses! I love your little kitty cookie.

Natalie @ Gluten a Go Go

Johanna GGG said...

I am glad to see I am not the only one to hate rolling out dough - I am glad you got to vent your frustrations with the rolling pin - and still got some cute houses - that decoration is great (another skill that I am lacking)

silverrock said...

Awww... those miniature gingerbread houses are uber-cute! Way to go on this month's challenge. Keep up the amazing bakes :)

kristenly said...

sorry that your first house didn't turn out but these are so incredibly cute. love the snow and the dove. hope that you had a wonderful aussie chrissy. i lived in newcastle for a while and miss it terribly.

s-j said...

@nixwilliams - your face is adorable! (honestly.)

@Natalie - Thanks! The kitty is actually a badge that one of our awesome friends made of our cat for us last year. It is eerily like him.

@Johanna - Most of the decoration credit has to go to Esther because my piping hand is not that steady.

@Silverrock - Thanks!

@kristenly - Thank you! It was a nice mild Christmas in Melbourne this year which was lovely. I don't mind the heat but on a day with driving and eating and shenanigans - no thanks!

s-j said...

@nixwilliams - your face is adorable! (honestly.)

@Natalie - Thanks! The kitty is actually a badge that one of our awesome friends made of our cat for us last year. It is eerily like him.

@Johanna - Most of the decoration credit has to go to Esther because my piping hand is not that steady.

@Silverrock - Thanks!

@kristenly - Thank you! It was a nice mild Christmas in Melbourne this year which was lovely. I don't mind the heat but on a day with driving and eating and shenanigans - no thanks!

Kris Ngoei said...

Cute little houses you got there! I love their simplicity and elegance! Happy New Year!

Sawadee from Bangkok,
Kris