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Gingerbread houses and frosting cookies

4 years ago

OK, so I like to do things that make a mess, and when you have grandkids, well, you can blame them.

Madi and Maci came to spend the night with me a few weeks ago, and they made a gingerbread house. We only made one, so Madi got to decorate one side, Maci got the other. Yeah, I should have covered the tablecloth. and I noticed this was before Madi got her red hair for Christmas, so now you know what her hair REALLY looks like...

This side was Madi's, she just turned 10:

This is Maci's. She's 8, but has much less "focus" and a lot of energy....

While they worked diligently with frosting, I made Diane/CraftyRN's cucciadati, (which is a very adult fig newton, and one of Elery's favorites), some cherry shortbread and a batch of peanut butter kisses with the flourless dough, so Amanda could have some cookies too.

Then we rolled, cut and baked. Let the sprinkles begin!

Please overlook the Minion there on the left, Madi just had to use that tube of decorating gel that The Princess brought. Nasty stuff and it never sets up, so of course we had to use it, LOL.

And then we ate cookies, drank hot chocolate and watched The Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell as a car stealing, rock and rolling Santa...

Annie

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Comments (8)

lisaam
4 years ago
I love the 2 different sides of the house. You 3 were very productive. And that pretty red hair makes me wanna go there too—- what a fun times and beautiful memories you are making Annie.
Rho Dodendron
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
That is a great photo of two very cute girlies. May you enjoy all the messes made with them.
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The important thing with royal icing is to make sure the bowl, utensils, decorating bags/tips, anything that touches the icing, is clean as a whistle - no fats. I reserve a set of tips specifically for royal icing (even though I *do* clean them after using buttercream LOL). If royal icing gets fat on it, it will break down into a watery mess. For accents use it stiff, but not so stiff that it's hard to squeeze out of the bag and curls when you try to leave a line. I don't know if you want to totally cover gingerbread with icing ("flood"), but this technique works well on sugar cookies. I used to make sugar cookies in a flower-shaped pan (actually for lollipops but my cookie pops always fall off the stick), flood them with a baby/sky blue icing, then take white icing (stiff) and draw lines like snowflakes. They were a big hit at DS's Xmas bazaar at his old school! Here is a link that might be useful: Flooding cookies with royal icing
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Hello Gabi - I have wanted to reply, but hadn't had a moment to get the picture uploaded! My son and I attend a Community Ed "class" which sponsors gingergbread house making! This is his third year. His houses have lasted many months...of course we don't eat them, but he loves to look at them. They have the houses already put together for us, individual bowls of icing, and then a buffet line of candies and each child goes through the line and chooses what they want to use to decorate their house and "property"! They can go back for seconds too! Each child also has a tube of NECCO wafers. I think the key is to have everything all lined out ahead of time. We did buy a kit of cookie cutters for each piece of a house that also work well and have done our own, but going to the class is a lot easier and not as expensive (i.e. left over candy that we all don't need to eat!). My son's house this year...not quite as fancy as yours, but fun still the same! [Merry Christmas! Wendy
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I love gingerbread cookies, but I loathe decorating them. For some reason, I always feel obligated to make them all look different which is a decorating nightmare. I think I have the problem solved for this year though - I'm taking what I like to think of as the "Jackson Pollock" approach. Instead of boys and girls, I just cut out rounds and my plan is splatter them randomly with icing. Could get a bit messy, but should be quick!
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I've had this saved for quite a while, it came from a friend who is a mad crafter. She swears it is the sturdiest recipe she has ever used. Good Luck! Alexa Gingerbread Construction Dough (aka Oven Plywood) 12 cups pastry flour 2 tbsp ground ginger 2 tbsp ground cinnamon 2 tbs ground cloves 2 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp salt 2/3 cups lemon juice 2 eggs beaten 2 egg yolks beaten 1/2 cup butter 1 1/3 cups honey 3 1/3 sugar If using a small kitchenaid mixer you will want to divide this recipe up. It will be too big for the mixer. Sift flours together to blend, set aside Combine spices, set aside Combine lemon juice and eggs in another bowl, set aside. Melt butter, honey and sugar over medium heat. Stir until butter and honey are melted and then add sugar. Continue to combine- the sugar does not need to dissolve. Remove from heat. While butter/honey mixture is still warm, place in mixer bowl, add lemon juice and egg mixture. Mix until well blended using paddle attachment. Slowly add the flour and spice mixtures. Dough will be sticky at first, and then becomes very stiff as you continue adding the flours. Knead the dough until it makes a smooth ball. Keep the finished dough at room temperature, cover with plastic wrap. The dough is very difficult to roll if it becomes too cool/cold. If the dough cools down, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and microwave for 15-20 seconds at a time. This re-heats the honey slightly and makes it easier to handle. Dust the rolling surface and rolling pin, roll to desired thickness. Cut pieces and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes for 1/4Ã¢ÂÂ thick, 20-25 minutes for 3/8Ã¢ÂÂ thick. Check pieces- different sizes may need different settings.
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plllog
4 years ago
Ah, the other shoe drops. I knew it would be worth the wait! Fabulous house and cookies! I love the wild abandon of childhood. :)
annie1992
Original Author
4 years ago
Wild abandon of childhood? Oh, wait, you were talking about the helpers. Yeah...

Lisa, that hair is crazy, isn't it? It suits her, though, and I like the shorter cut.

Rho, that's what we do best, we make delicious, crazy, big, sweet messes! Unfortunately, their idea of helping clean up is eating as much of it as possible, LOL.

Annie
plllog
4 years ago
I especially love the one with the multiplicatous googly eyes. Is that the stay-wet minion? And also Maci's dada-esque interpretation of snow on the housetop.

I kept looking for excuses to play with frosting over the holidays, but with sequestering, and requests for pie, I had no excuses. I don't really like eating it, so needed your kind of helpers, especially in the cleaning department.
Jasdip
4 years ago
Wild abandon. I love it!!!

You are such a kid at heart yourself, anything goes when it comes to your grandkids. Hey it's only a mess right? Easy to clean up, nothing to get all worked up over. No one hurt, nothing broken and a whole lot of laughter. You are a true grandma.

PS I watched that movie earlier this year. I loved it. Part 2 wasn't nearly as good.
lizbeth-gardener
4 years ago
I love the shared gingerbread house and their different takes on decorating! And those cookies look like so much fun. I can see that you're a grandma that lets them do it their way and isn't hung up on perfection. Such a gift to them!
HU-864896825
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I love the common gingerbread house imarku their various takes on adorning! Furthermore, those treats look like such a lot of tomfoolery. I can see that you're a grandmother that allows them to do it as they would prefer and isn't hung up on flawlessness. Such a gift to them!

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