Haunted Gingerbread House!
Yes, I'm officially mad. I'm sure there are not that many people out there who would consider making a gingerbread house from scratch for halloween but I did- just for the hell of it! I often get wacky baking ideas but I don't always embark on these projects due to lack of time and the cost of ingredients. However, as I have had a week off college for half term, I thought what better way to spend my time than working in the kitchen!
The first step was to make my dough. I chose a slightly different recipe to my usual one as this one contained more flour and I thought that would make a biscuit with a crunchier, tougher texture and so able to keep its structure once assembled!
I made my own templates from cardboard and used these to cut out the dough into the correct shapes. I also made a few tombstones and a pathway so that I could use these to decorate the front of the house.
Once baked, it was time to start on the decorations! I began on the front of the house by adding a door and windows made to look like spooky eyes, and I also added a couple of black bats.
I assembled the house and stuck the sides together with royal icing- a great substance for glueing things. Luckily it dried pretty quickly so I didn't have to hold the walls together for two long! For the roof, I used chocolate buttons for tiles as I thought these would look effective enough and taste good too. To this I added a spiked chimney and lots of extra melted chocolate to fill any gaps.
Each tombstone was covered in grey roll-out icing, and I used my edible pen to write inscriptions on each grave using the names of vampires from Buffy (I thought it might be tempting fate to write names of the living!). I stuck them to the board with melted chocolate, sprinkling this with left over crushed gingerbread, and strawberry laces chopped up to look like little wriggley worms!
Once I had started decorating the house, I found it quite addictive and I couldn't help but keep adding things to it. As you can see from the photos, I made a ghost, black cat, creepy zombie hand and even some little green men. The green men are a bit random but it was my sister's idea and I kinda like them!
Yes, I'm officially mad. I'm sure there are not that many people out there who would consider making a gingerbread house from scratch for halloween but I did- just for the hell of it! I often get wacky baking ideas but I don't always embark on these projects due to lack of time and the cost of ingredients. However, as I have had a week off college for half term, I thought what better way to spend my time than working in the kitchen!
The first step was to make my dough. I chose a slightly different recipe to my usual one as this one contained more flour and I thought that would make a biscuit with a crunchier, tougher texture and so able to keep its structure once assembled!
Once baked, it was time to start on the decorations! I began on the front of the house by adding a door and windows made to look like spooky eyes, and I also added a couple of black bats.
I assembled the house and stuck the sides together with royal icing- a great substance for glueing things. Luckily it dried pretty quickly so I didn't have to hold the walls together for two long! For the roof, I used chocolate buttons for tiles as I thought these would look effective enough and taste good too. To this I added a spiked chimney and lots of extra melted chocolate to fill any gaps.
Each tombstone was covered in grey roll-out icing, and I used my edible pen to write inscriptions on each grave using the names of vampires from Buffy (I thought it might be tempting fate to write names of the living!). I stuck them to the board with melted chocolate, sprinkling this with left over crushed gingerbread, and strawberry laces chopped up to look like little wriggley worms!
It was a long process, but I'm really happy with my finished haunted house. Now that I've made my first gingerbread house, I'll definitely be making one for christmas as it is just so much fun!
My sister did point out that we'll never want to break the house apart to eat but every time I walk past I am so tempted to take a bite! I expect that sooner or later my family will get sick of the site of it and give in to temptation, but for now my house will sit happily on the kitchen side with the little green men :)
