A little off topic, but Gingerbread

[Lony]

Hey all, I know it is the dog days of summer but my poor little brain never slows down. I was wondering what you thought of using doll house patterns for gingerbread houses. I was looking at some of the smaller greenleaf houses and thought they would be the perfect size and style to do in gingerbread for christmas. Am I crazy? Everyone here does such beautiful work on their houses I thought it may be fun to have one you can rip apart and eat insted of put together and dust.

I am posting some of my old gingerbread houses on my webshots page and as you can see I am in desperate need of some new ideas.

Let me know what you think about the idea. Should I have my head examined or start buying flour now?

Thanks, and huggles

[CatColorado]

That sounds like a wonderful idea! You would mainly use the outside shape of the walls, so it would/shouldn't be too difficult. However, since I have never built a gingerbread house, I could be completely off base. I've always wanted to try though!

[Lony]

Cat that is exactly what I was thinking. It would be sooooo much easier than trying to figure out all the angles and stuff yourself :lol: Plus with everyones pictures for insperation I am sure they would be beyond awesome!

As for doing a gingerbread house its like doing a doll house but you have to bake all the peices first. Oh yeah and insted of wood glue you use a frosting glue LOL

I highly recommend trying one out at christmas time. This is one project that EVERYONE in the house will be more than happy to help out with.

[fov]

That's a really interesting idea!

My mom makes gingerbread houses from a pattern she has been using for thirty years. It's a very basic design. Would you want to be able to see inside? If not, you would just need to duplicate the wall that's opposite the open side of the house. The one my mom does is similar to the shape of an Arthur (no gable), but turned 90 degrees. So, the front of the gingerbread house is the wall that's on the side of the Arthur. She crushes up Lifesavers with a pestle and makes stained glass windows. :lol:

I will ask her about using dollhouse plans to make a different shaped house. Maybe it's something we could bond over during the holidays.

[CatColorado]

Don't you have to use a specific kind of batter to make your walls? Anyone have a recipe?

*I really like the "rip apart and eat" idea! :lol: yum!

[Lony]

Yeaaaaa so I am not crazy then. I like to put solid backs on mine because I light them and write a little christmas card like message on the back.

Fov I tried the lifesaver thing but I found an old recipe for suckers that I cook and then pour directly into the window "holes".

[Lony]

Grandmas Gingerbread

5 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup unsulphured molasses

2 eggs, beaten

Preheat ovn to 375

Thoroughly mix flour, soda, salt and spices. Melt shortening in large saucepan and cool slightly. Add sugar, molasses and eggs. Add four cups dry ing. and mix well.

Turn mixture onto lightly floured surface. Knead in remaining dry ingredients by hand. Add a little more flour if necessary to make a firm dough. Roll out to 1/4" thinkness and cut house parts.

Bake time will depend on size of parts you are making. Usually 12 to 15 min. Or till browned and firm.

The glue you need

Royal Icing

3 level Tbsp Meringue Powder (avail in the cake dept at most craft stores)

4 cups powdered sugar

6 Tbsp of water.

Beat all ing. on low spead for 7 to 10 mins with a stand mixer or 10 to 12 with a portable hand mixer

[CatColorado]

Awesome! This will be mucho fun :lol:

[Ed_Cal]

Dont forget Necco wafers for the roof shingles, peppermint or other stick candy for window sills and door framesjelly beans for other decorations

Ed

[Lony]

Awesome ideas Ed. Necco wafers are ideal for roofing. I like to use Andes Mints too. And lets not forget shreaded wheat for the thatched look.

LOL, now I am trying to figure out how to run tape wire on the inside instead of using a string of christmas lights.

[glen]

"LOL, now I am trying to figure out how to run tape wire on the inside instead of using a string of christmas lights."

how big is this house going to be? :lol:

How big are these gingerbread houses?

Not an NZ tradition.

[DEE in MA]

Hi Lony-

I like your idea of trying some of the smaller houses and doing them in Gingerbread. I did some last year to sell at Ebay. They were well received. What I think is especially neat is that oyu can leave the back of the buildings off and do the inside.

Also, if you use the "candies" available at Michael's around the holidays (of which I have a million packages) you will not have to worry about the "critters" which could attack your houses if you use edible things to decorate it.

Best of luck. Let us know what you decide. By the way, I believe I have two types of sets for these smaller houses should you be looking to find them.

Let us see how you make out. Your photos are really fun to look at, by the way.

Dee in MA

[LPCullen]

Lony, what a wonderful idea! And y'all are making me hungry too!

Glen, the houses that Lony is referring to are HO scale, or about 3-6 inches long, 3-6 inches high, and about 2 inches wide. Somewhere thereabouts. My HO scale houses are at my other house, so I can't measure them right now ...

[fov]

Oh, I thought she meant basing the gingerbread houses on "smaller" 1" houses like the Buttercup. My mom's gingerbread houses are about 12" tall.

I don't like the taste of Necco wafers. My mom uses nonpareils on the roof, with red-hots in the "holes" (since they're round, there are little empty spots where four touch). It's neat because it looks like brown shingles with snow on them. She also drapes frosting icicles from the eaves. I wish I had a picture to show you guys.

[MiniMadWoman]

Hey, this sounds like fun! I don't know about the building part, but I'd sure help out with the eating part!

[glen]

"Glen, the houses that Lony is referring to are HO scale, or about 3-6 inches long, 3-6 inches high, and about 2 inches wide. Somewhere thereabouts. My HO scale houses are at my other house, so I can't measure them right now ..."

Thank goodness for that! When she spoke of lights and shingles I thought you'd all gone mad and were cooking up 3 foot high Xmas offerings.

Don't get me wrong but you are all "Americans" :lol:

Glen

[LPCullen]

Oh, I thought she meant basing the gingerbread houses on "smaller" 1" houses like the Buttercup.  My mom's gingerbread houses are about 12" tall.

frosting icicles from the eaves.  I wish I had a picture to show you guys.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ah. I think you are right Emily. For some reason I had the HO scale houses on my brain. Must be my most recent idea ...

Sorry Glen! Wrong sizes, unless you wanted to know about the HO scale stuff.

[LPCullen]

Thank goodness for that! When she spoke of lights and shingles I thought you'd all gone mad and were cooking up 3 foot high Xmas offerings.

Don't get me wrong but you are all "Americans" :lol:

Glen

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmm. Hasn't that been done somewhere here?

[Lony]

Well, I hate to dissapoint but the houses are on average about 18" tall. I have done some that are up to three feet. I like to do things BIG.

When I said I was looking at the smaller dollhouses they will actually be the same size. I think the gingerbread house pictures are up on the webshots now.

[CatColorado]

I thought you'd all gone mad and were cooking up 3 foot high Xmas offerings. 

ROFLMAO! oh that's just too funny But as they say in Alice In Wonderland, "We're all mad here" :lol:

[Lony]

Thank goodness for that! When she spoke of lights and shingles I thought you'd all gone mad and were cooking up 3 foot high Xmas offerings.

LOL, Mad they say... Well I think my cheese may have slipped a bit off my cracker but its not on the floor yet!!

[CatColorado]

Lony, I was just looking at your GB album and WOW! How many houses do you make each season? How do you keep the cats from eating the decorations? How long do you display them before you let anyone eat them?

[Lony]

Cat,

Thanks for the nice things you said. There are some years when I don't make any. Like last year when I was going full bore to get my moms doll house done. But the year before I made 10 for christmas gifts. My house smelled like gingerbread for the whole month.

My two little terrorists did not pay much attention to them. It must have been the smell of ginger they didn't like or something. The only time they even came close was the day I had to run out for just a second and I came home to my black cat perched on the edge of the sink with white frosting all over her nose. She just looked at me trying to be all innocent. All I could do was laugh really hard because the evidence was all over her face.

Most people don't want to eat the houses but I strongly suggest they do. Living in California, even with a few dozen coats of shellac they would not last long. You can keep them for a few years in cooler climates with a clear coat and a sealed rubbermaid container.

Its fun, even if I am mad

[glen]

Have to confess that inspite of the comments I was intrigued by the idea of large gingerbread houses and was more than a little dissapointed by the reality of the truth.

Glen

[Lony]

Have to confess that inspite of the comments I was intrigued by the idea of large gingerbread houses and was more than a little dissapointed by the reality of the truth. :lol:

Glen

Aww Glen, Dont be dissapointed. They really are very large houses. I ment that I am going to make gingerbread houses the size of doll houses!! If a person wanted to they could decorate it with 1" scale funiture. The picture on my avaitar is not quite that big but it is about two feet high.

See...I really am mad.