Ginger Bread Houses – 2013 Edition
We’ve had a great time making ginger bread houses and decorating ginger snaps in the past. Here’s 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007 (2007 longer version), and 2009.
Anna reminded me not so long ago that I’d failed to fulfill my promise to make a ginger bread house last year, so I felt extra inspired to do it this year. And since Emma fell ill, we were kinda forced to have a quiet inside day anyway, and what better way to spend it than in the kitchen? 🙂
We invited Holla and her girls over to lend us a hand… Óli is far far away up in the highlands somewhere on a job, so he missed out on all the fun.
Mindful of the information from 2007, I made two kinds of dough for the ginger snaps, namely Piparkökur 2 and Piparkökur 4 (pipar = pepper, kökur = cakes, aka ginger snaps). We used the #4 dough to make the cookies, and the #2 dough to make the houses. Opinions were split on which one tasted better, #2 was a little softer (stickier?), while #4 was crumblier and more sugary? (14 images total)
Just getting started.
Excellent use of flattened dough!
After working hard for a few hours, we had a good pile of big ginger snaps (the tiny ones got eaten by the kids as the day passed) and all the pieces for our houses. And yes, we designed the houses ourselves.
Emma, feeling much perkier after a rough couple of days, although she preferred hanging out alongside an adult to being left to fend for herself.
Anna was calm. Very calm. I’m told Anna chose that top to look like a ginger snap cookie.
Decorating!
Almost the Icelandic flag. White was busy, so yellow had to suffice. (These are the flag colors of the Aland Islands.)
Anna decorated the roof all by her lonesome self.
My turn to put white stuff on the house. I ended up with a huge sugar high because I kept fixing things with my finger, and then, uh, licking the white stuff (also known as powdered sugar and egg whites).
Decorated cookies!!
Happy kid!
The fronts of the two houses.
The window decorations sort of turned into a bit of a mess. My excuse is that Finnur was hurrying me along because dinner was basically ready and we needed to clear the table. But, mostly I think it was because I didn’t really have a plan, or goal besides “slather white stuff on”. And so, yeah, sigh, next year I’ll try and do a better window decorating job!
Houses, back side view.
One of the recipes reprinted for posterity:
Piparkökur 4
75 g smjör (butter)
1½ dl síróp (syrup)
1½ dl (125g) púðursykur (brown sugar)
1½ dl (125g) sykur (sugar)
1½ dl rjómi (whipping cream)
3 tsk kanill (cinnamon)
2 tsk engifer (ginger powder)
3 tsk negull (muskat)
4 tsk natron (baking soda)
10 dl (600g) hveiti (flour)
Velgið smjör og síróp. Blandið hinum efnunum út í og hnoðið samfellt. Geymið yfir nótt á köldum stað. Fletjið deigið þunnt út og skerið út myndir t.d. stjörnur, hjörtu, dýr ofl. Bakið við 225°C í 4-5 mínótur (Warm the butter and syrup slightly. Mix all the other ingredients in and knead into a dough. Refrigerate overnight.)