Gingerbread House

Mostly my gingerbread houses fall down or crumble when I try to build them, but this year I had help. I got the recipe from an expert, my friend Joy, who has been refining her technique for years.

Here is her recipe:
Cream 1/2 cup shortening, butter, or margarine together with 1 cup brown sugar (white works too) and 1/3 cup mollasses (I use dark).

In another bowl, sift together
 4 cups flour
 1 tsp each salt, baking soda, and powdered ginger
 1/2 each cinnamon and cloves

Have ready 1/2 cup liquid (Joy uses 1/4 cup rum and 1/4 cup water; I used a mixture of orange juice and water)

Add the powdered ingredients and the liquid to the creamed shortening and sugar in thirds. This  might take a little muscle toward the end. I didn't get it mixed together very well, but that didn't seem to matter. Joy says to chill this over night and roll it out cold, but she is a potter and uses her clay rolling machine to roll it out. The dough was hard as a rock when I took it out of the refrigerator.

Which is where my second expert came it. My strong son rolled out the dough while I cut the patterns for the walls.

Here is the recipe for the frosting/glue:
Beat 2 egg whites with 1/2 half teaspoon of cream of tartar until stiff but not dry
Sift into this 1 pound powdered sugar (1 box)
food coloring

To be honest, we did not beat the egg whites first, and it seemed to work OK.




                                                                              Notice the gingerbread man face down in the snow. My grand daughter tried to put him in through the window, but he didn't fit. I guess he tripped on the way out.


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!