Gingerbread Recipe
from Arts Council member and gingerbread enthusiast, Mary Smith
This dough will make sides that look like hard brown stucco. Other recipes make sides that look more like soft gingerbread or chewy gingerbread cookies. Depends upon one'sown tastewhich one prefers.
This is a recipe that has been in my family for generations. It came down on the Kutz side, which makes me think that it is German in origin. The Kutz's were in this country before 1776. I knew the dough, and chose to start from what I knew to make the dough for the houses. When I was making them, there was no internet, etc. to compare recipes or find postings where people reviewed them.
When making cookies, this should be rolled very thin. For houses, I make the sides 1/4" think, at most. I'm the first one who made houses instead of cut-out cookies with it.
Make a paper pattern. Tape it together. Make sure everything fits well. Itis impossible to cut,transfer onto baking sheets,and bake pieces and havethem end up matching the pattern exactly. That is why it is important that the pattern be as perfect as possible, to allow for any variations that occur in the process.
I make a pattern for each corresponding part of the finished house. I do not use the same piece to cut two parts, even if the parts are identical, such as two sides of the roof. I start with all of the pattern pieces on one side of the work space. As I make each one, I move the pattern to the other side. That way, I do not get to the assembly phase and realize that I only have one of something.
Make one extra for each part. One extra roof side, one extra house side, etc. Always good to have extra parts on hand.
Bake at least one week in advance of assembly. Leave baked parts out in the air to dry and get stale (harder).
1 pt Brer Rabbit Yellow label molasses
1/2 lb butter and lard, mixed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. soda dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water
2 TBSP ginger (newly opened). (not sure how important this part is for this purpose, but is smells good).
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 TBSP ground cloves
Stiffen with sufficient flour. **
This is what the recipe says. For this purpose, "sufficient" means enough to make it very, very stiff, more stiff than you think is possible. Be able to roll it out, but "delicate" should not come to mind when youhandle it.
Chill
Roll out to 1/4" thickness at most. Cut with sharp knife or pizza cutter. Carefully transfer to baking sheet. Bake at 350-375 until top springs back when pressed. If there is ANY softnesson the underside when removing from baking sheet, bake a few minutes longer. Allow to cool on sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to counter or cooling rack. If you leave them in the oven until they feelhard on top, the bottoms may burn.
Frosting: Royal Meringue You will need several batches of this, even more depending upon your decorating plan.
3 level TBSP meringue powder (available at Walmart)
1 lb confectioners sugar
slightly less than 1/2 cup warm water
1/2 t cream of tartar
Combine ingredients, beat at high for 7-10 minutes. Keep covered at all times with a damp cloth. To restore texture, simply rebeat.
Can be made with real egg whites:
3eggwhites, at room temp.
1 lb confectioners sugar
1/2 t cream of tartar
Assembly:
Stock up on cans of soup and 1 lb cans of vegetables. They will be braces until frosting has hardened.
Take several tranquilizers before beginning.
Construct the house on the base you will use to transport it.
Put down a line of frosting at a "footer" beneath each side piece. Use a decorating tube or knife. Then run a line of frosting up the inside of each "seam. The sides of the house will be held together as if one had run a bead of caulk up the inside cornerseam. Hold in place until frosting starts to harden. Hair dryers are helpful, if one person holds and another uses the dryer. Once this is hard, there is no getting it apart without breaking the cookies. Stacking cans on the inside to holdthe sides in place until it hardens is also helpful.
Do not add additional pieces until the first ones are firmly in place.Gradually build your creation.
Our roofs could withstand being completely covered with Necco wafers or round starlite mints.
The frosting can be dyed.
These are what worked for me, when I was making them, in a small kitchen, and when I began, three children in diapers.It is very possible that with the passing years, others have discovered better recipes, developed newer ones, and improved the process to make it simpler and easier on the nerves.