Gingerbread House - Santa's Home

My Cutter Set - years old but perfect.

A few years back I bought a cutter set for a gingerbread house as I always wanted to make my own little creation. Everytime I saw one at one of the many Christmas markets I went to in my life, I thought, I want to make that (it's a curse as I think that about a lot of things). Anyway, there I was with my set and no idea how to start. Gingerbread has a long tradition in Germany, especially at Christmas time where stalls at Christmas markets are bursting with hearts decorated beautifully with coloured icing and adored by beautiful sayings (most of the times, the hearts would have been made months beforehand and didn't taste that nice anymore but it was delicious if you got a fresh-ish one).

Adding the roof tiles carefully

My wise mum stated the obvious 'have you ever made gingerbread before?' - so I went off and tried all recipes out there until I found the one that not only tasted nice but also stood up to the task of becoming a house covered in icing. The recipe below has been tested over years and I have made many houses and have given classes in making your own gingerbread house and it worked everytime.

It is great to make with children (although you might not get a standing house) as they have fun putting all the sprinkles on (so much that you will still find them around Easter in your kitchen) and it's a great way of getting kids involved in baking and cake decoration. And if you are not confident to start with a house, try your hands on a gingerbread heart instead. 

Gingerbread 

250g unsalted butter

200g dark muscovado sugar

7 tbsp golden syrup

600g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tsp ground ginger

Hardboil sweets (coloured) (optional) 
Sparkles, sugar decorations, mini marshmallows etc. 

Royal Icing

3 egg whites

450g icing sugar

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Cake board to fit the house on (use a larger size to create a garden etc)

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a large bowl, then stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. If it won’t quite come together, add a tiny splash of water.

Cut out a template (or buy cutters). Put a sheet of baking paper on your work surface and roll about one quarter of the dough to the thickness of about 0.5cm. Cut out one of the sections, and then slide the gingerbread, still on its baking paper, onto a baking sheet. You can cut out doors & windows. To create a 'glass window' crush some of the coloured (make sure they are the clear type sweets) and place it in the cutout of the window. It will melt during the baking process and creates a beautiful glass effect. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two sidewalls, a front and back wall and two roof panels. Any leftover dough can be cut into Christmas trees, if you like.

Bake all the sections for 12 mins or until firm and just a little darker at the edges. Leave to cool for a few mins to firm up, then trim around the templates again to give clean, sharp edges. Leave to cool completely.

I normally leave the gingerbread to dry overnight before I am starting to use it for building the house. 

When ready to start, prepare the royal icing. Beat all ingredients on high speed for 10 minutes. The icing will be thick and glossy. This icing hardens quickly, so leave the bowl covered with a damp cloth while working.

It is easier to decorate the  pieces before assembling the house, making sure that the roof tiles are not overloaded. Let your imagination run wild. 

Start with one wall piece and set it on icing

When the icing has dried on the gingerbread pieces, it is ready to be assembled. Start by spreading some of the icing on the cake board and gently press the first wall piece in it to stand up. Don't press too hard. Now, add the side wall to the first wall, again, pressing into the icing gently. Now, still while holding gently, pipe icing in the gap of the joining pieces. It should now stand on its own. Pressing it won't help, so let it be. If you think it is falling, pop something on the inside to hold it up. 

Continue with the other pieces until you have the foundation ready. Now comes the most frightening part, attaching the roof. Pipe a good measure of icing on the rim of the walls and attach the first roof tile, gently pressing it down. It should hold on its own - please don't press as you will move the tiles (trust me on this one). Wait until the icing sets before adding the last piece. 

In case you have used the hardboiled sweets and your door is wide enough, why not light a tea light and put it inside. The light from within will shine through the 'glass' windows. 

Please send me your photos if you are making your own gingerbread house - love to hear from you 

Creation at a class I gave in late November

Creation at a class I gave in late November

Pieces needed for a house with stained window effect

Have everything ready to go

Using an adapter helps if you like to use different nozzles for piping

Add the second wall

Pipe icing into the cap to join the 2 pieces

Adding finishing touches

Use different sprinkles and decorations

Mincemeat Flapjacks

Hampers are a great gift for foodies - you get all the wonderful goodies (at least if someone took care creating the hamper) that you wouldn't normally buy. And since it is Christmas, a jar of mincemeat surely will be part of the hamper. If you are like me, you will be tired of mince pies by mid December, so here is a lovely alternative to mince pies for using a jar of mincemeat (it is also worth making your own, so much better than the shop bought unless you get an artisan one). Flapjacks last about 2 weeks in an airtight container and are therefore wonderful gifts to either add to (you might have guessed it) a hamper or simply a little token when you are invited for a dinner party. By the way, if you are still looking for an awesome hamper, check out Flemings Restaurant, Longueville House, Nash 19 and Bradley's Off License as well as Urru in Bandon.

I am using here my own mincemeat that I make every year and I think it is awesome (obviously) and I haven't bought a jar (the last one I bought was simply yuk). If your mincemeat seems a bit chunky, mince it down more, maybe adding a tbsp of Cointreau (or orange juice if children will eat it) - very tasty and it will go further.  It took Mr T only 2 days to finish the whole batch of flapjacks - yes, they are that good.

Mincemeat Flapjacks

• 400g porridge oats (I use normal ones, but try a mix of jumbo and normal oats)
• 100g almond slivers
• 150g butter
• 3 tbsp honey (or golden syrup)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 400g mincemeat

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Grease and line a 20 x 20cm square tin.

Mix the oats and almonds together in a bowl. Melt the butter, honey (or golden syrup) and oil in a pan over a medium heat. Pour onto the oats mix and stir until well combined.

Press half the mix into the tin,  using the back of a spoon to press it down firmly. Spread the mincemeat over the mix and top with the rest of the oat mix, again pressing down firmly with the back of the spoon. Bake in the oven for about 20 mins until golden brown.

Using a knife, mark squares and leave to cool for about 30 mins before cutting it into the marked squares.

You could also add shredded coconut, sesame seeds and other dried fruit like blueberries to the oat mix.

Enjoy xx

Mini Banana Cakes

The other day, my friend Sally asked me to bake some cakes for her cake sale at a local church. Of course I obliged. She was quite persuasive as she got loads of cakes, biscuits and cookies to sell for her pop up stall. One creation I liked were mini banana cakes by her Italian friend. They were topped with lovely caramel. We were busy so I couldn't ask her for the recipe of these small delights. 

So today, I saw the sorry look of my bananas in the fruit bowl and thought I give it a try - so here is my version of mini banana cakes, just that I iced them with simple white icing rather than making a caramel (call me lazy if you like). These little cakes are perfect for an afternoon tea (it's so in at the moment - check out The Pastry Fork for private tea parties) or for in between when you fancy something sweet. They are easy to make and last about 3 days (since we are using fresh banana, they won't last very long). The ginger gives the cakes a bit of a lift and warmth, perfect for the time of year. You will need a mini bundt tin/mold for these cakes. If you don't have one, you can use normal muffin tins (you should get 12 out of the mix).

Makes about 16 mini cakes

Mini Banana Cakes

• 300g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 115g soft light brown sugar
• 60g butter
• 2 tbsp honey
• 125ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 medium bananas, mashed

• oil/butter for greasing the cake tins

• 150g icing sugar
• warm water

Pre-heat the oven to 180C and brush the tin with melted butter or vegetable oil. 

Sieve the flour with the baking powder, brown sugar and ground ginger into a bowl. In a pan melt the butter and honey. Measure the milk into a jug and mix with the eggs. Combine everything with a wooden spoon, adding the mashed bananas, making sure that all flour is combined but not overworked.

Spoon the mixture in the prepared tin, not overfilling the cavities (just below the rim). Bake for about 20 mins (check with a needle, if it comes out clean it is done, otherwise return to oven for a further few minutes). 

Cool on a wired rack until cool. In the meantime, put the icing sugar into a bowl and add enough warm water to make the icing smooth and pourable (careful here as too much water will result in a skinny icing, so add little by little). Spoon over the cooled cakes and enjoy x

 

Rumons - Rum & Lemon Cookies

People don't believe me that I love baking but don't have a sweet tooth. So whenever I think up a recipe or simply bake away, I have to make sure it is something that I can give away as a present or have as a standby for visitors. The other day I looked in my fruit basket (not my brain my dear) and saw that I had a lemon that needed to be used soon. A rumble through the pantry resulted in an open rum bottle. Two ideas were created in my head. One was of course a cocktail but since it was 10am, I opted for the second idea - Rum & Lemon cookies. The result was a nice light biscuit with a lemon drizzle. But what to call it??? Didn't want to call it Rum & Lemon Cookies..... but thanks to Facebook and Tracey who voted to call these little beauties 'Rumons' - so here they are.... my rumons....

The recipe below makes between 30 and 40 cookies, depending on size.

Rumons

• 125g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 125g plain flour
• 125g cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp white rum
• 100g icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
• zest of one lemon

Preheat your oven to 180C

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy, add the eggs and continue to whisk until well combined. Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into the butter mix with the rum and stir with a wooden spoon until it comes together. Using your hands, knead until combined. 

Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking sheet and using your hands take small, walnut size pieces of the dough and roll them into a small ball. You will need to flour your hands for this. Place on the baking sheet and press down a bit. Not too much - you still want a heap on the dough. Continue with the remainder of the dough. 

Place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven and bake for about 12-18 mins until just turning golden. You don't want them overbaked as they are nice and fluffy when just done. 

Place on a wired rack to cool down. In the meantime, combined the sieved icing sugar with 1 tbsp lemon juice and a bit of hot water to create a smooth but thick icing (you might need to add more lemon juice. The hot water gives the icing the shine but don't use too much, you want the lemon flavour rather than the watery one). Drizzle over the cooled cookies and let stand until the icing has set. 

Goes very nicely with a nice cuppa tea and the afternoon paper :-) 

Bon Appetit

Grapefruit Slices

This is a great standby recipe when you have some grapefruit (also lemons & oranges) laying around that need using up. It is also a wonderful treat for a Sunday afternoon (in my house they won't lat much longer anyway). The recipe is divided into 2 with the base bakes first and then a second time with the topping. Sounds more complicated than it actually is. You might need to add more sugar if using lemons but grapefruit and oranges should be sweet enough for the amounts given below. As always, please let me know if you tried it and what you thought. 

Grapefruit Slices

• 225g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar
• 175g butter
• 
  
• 4 eggs (medium)
• 400g caster sugar
• 25g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• zest of 1 large grapefruit (more if you like more citrus flavour)
• 50ml fresh grapefruit juice
• Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 160c (fan)/180c/gas4

Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. This step is very important to ensure a good base for the slices. If you leave large knobs of butter in the mix, you will end up with a crumbly base. Stir in 1tsp water and mix well with a fork or knife. Form a ball. Press the mixture evenly into a 33x23cm baking tin (I used baking paper on the base of the tin). 

Bake for 15-20 mins until lightly browned (you want a pale golden colour). Remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

In the meantime, make the grapefruit mix by beating together eggs, caster sugar, flour, baking powder, juice and rind in a bowl until well combined. Make sure that the zest is evenly distributed through the mix. Pour the mix over the baked base. Return to the oven and bake for about 25 mins until set. 

Place the baking tin on a wired rack and leave to cool. Once cooled, remove from the tin and cut into square and dust with icing sugar. 

Bon Appetit

Cheese Bread - Make it - Eat it - Love it

I think it is no secret anymore that I love bread - not the gooey stuff you buy in the supermarket but the real bread. We are lucky in Cork that we have some amazing breadmakers - Arbutus Bread in Cork City & The Firehouse Bakery on Heir Island. For years, these 2 amazing bakeries have spread the word of real bread and Patrick of Firehouse Bakery has even started the Real Bread Revolution. Declan Ryan of Arbutus Bread has brought his love for bread to Cork after studying the craft in France & US. There is nothing this man doesn't know about bread. So, let's join the bread movement and start to make our own bread. The bread here is so easy, it's almost embarrassing how good it tastes. You just bung everything together and pop it in the oven. No kneading - no proofing and your bread is ready in 40 mins. 

If you still don't want to make your own bread (and it would be a pity if you don't), you can buy Arbutus Bread in Bradley's in North Main Street and On The Pigs Back in the English Market. The Firehouse Bakery bread is available from the Island and parts of West Cork. They are running wonderful breadmaking classes throughout the year - give Patrick or Laura a call on  085 1561984

Happy Baking and welcome to the Real Bread Revolution.... 

Cheesy bread

• 200g whole meal flour
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tsp bread soda
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 25 g melted butter
• 300ml warm milk
• 150-175g cheddar, grated
• 4tbsp mix of pumpkin & sunflower seeds

Heat oven to 170C

Sift the flours, soda and cream of tartar into a large bowl. Add the salt & sugar. Mix well. Add the melted butter to the milk (milk has to be warmed otherwise the butter will solidify again) and pour into the flour mix. Using a wooden spoon, stir until well combined. Add most of the grated cheddar and most of the seeds and combine well.

Line a loaf tin with baking paper and pour the dough in, smoothing the top. Tap the tin on a flat surface to remove any hollows. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese and seeds on top and bake in the oven for 40 mins and until golden brown and baked through.

Apple & Rhubarb Muffins

Apples & rhubarb go together like sunshine and laughter, just perfect. We had some rhubarb in the garden the other day. What to make of it - I wasn't in the mood for another crumble. Searching through the pantry, I found some apples and of course apple & rhubarb crumble came to mind, I still wasn't not in the mood for crumble tho. I started to peel apples and rhubarb, threw all in a saucepan, added brown sugar and started to heat it up. Since I threw all together, the rhubarb started to fall apart and acted as a binder for the apple cubes, similar to the texture you have when buying a cherry pie in the states. The flavour was amazing so I wanted to use it. That's when I thought of muffins and this recipe was born. I may add that Mr T ate 4 in the first sitting :-)

Apple & Rhubarb Muffins (makes 12)

• 200g self raising flour, 
• 150g Unsalted butter, 
• 100g caster sugar, 
• 2 eggs, 
• 100ml milk, 
• 2 tsp vanilla essence, 
• 4 apples, 
• 4 large sticks of rhubarb, 
• 2 tbsp brown sugar,
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Peel and chop the apples and rhubarb. Place the fruit together with the sugar in a saucepan, and cook over a medium heat until the rhubarb starts falling apart. Add the cinnamon. Keep simmering until the apples have softened.

Pre-heat oven to 160c. In the meantime, melt the butter and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally go prevent the sugar from sticking to the bottom. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl. Combine the milk and eggs and add together with the melted butter to the flour. With a wooden spoon stir until combined but don't overbeat.

Place some muffin paper cases into a 12 hole muffin tin. Spoon one tbsp of batter into each case.  Top with a tsp or 2  of the apple and rhubarb mixture followed by another tbsp of batter mix. Bake  for about 15-20 mins or until slightly browned and baked through.

Cookie of the Week

Cookies are always a great standby for dark evenings to have with your cup of tea. Every tea (and coffee) tastes so much better with a cookie or 2.

I love eating them warm, fresh from the oven - but cookies keep very well in an airtight tin (this is where the selection boxes come in handy). This cookie is soft in the middle and the chocolate chips give a nice bite.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 125g softened unsalted butter
• 90g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• few drops of vanilla essence
• 175g selfraising flour
• 100ml milk
• 100g chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 160C. 

Cream together the butter and sugar. Make sure that the mixture is fluffy and pale in colour. 

Add the egg, yolk, vanilla, flour, milk and half amount of chocolate chips. Mix it all very well together. Using a spoon place drops of the dough on a baking sheet, divide the remaining chips between the cookies and bake until lightly golden and baked. 

Enjoy

Carrot Cake - Counts as 1 out of 5

I haven't had carrot cake in a long time and after Mr T finished the last of the fruit cake, I thought a more healthy option (if that is possible) was in order to satisfy his sweet tooth. I used to make this cake when I lived in Germany and I never told people what it was and it went down a treat. The carrots give the cake its juiciness while the walnuts add a great texture to it. You can leave the topping off, I think it is also nice with just a dusting of icing sugar..... If you want to take this cake a bit further, you could add the zest of an orange to cake and icing as orange and carrot are perfect partners.

Carrot cake

• 185g unsalted butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 50g chopped walnuts
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1tsp cinnamon

• 100g cream cheese
• 50g softened unsalted butter
• 200g icing sugar

Pre-heat oven to 160c. Cream the butter & sugar together (make sure it is really creamy). Add the eggs, one by one, mixing well between each egg. This is best done with an electric mixer. Add the sieved flour, cinnamon & baking powder and using a wooden spoon, stir into the mixture. Now add the carrots & walnuts. Mix well with the wooden spoon.

Fill the mix into a well buttered or lined baking dish (traditionally a loaf tin is used but here I used a 18cm round tin) and bake for about an hour.

When baked, remove cake from the tin and leave to cool on a wired rack.

Mix together all ingredients for the topping and spread over the cooled cake.

For decoration colour marzipan orange and form little carrots and arrange on topping.