Gingerpalooza 2012

Ginger Bag End, 2011

Last year we created Ginger Bag End. ---->
It was very simple; we just baked a slab of gingerbread over two glass bowls and attached the front later. Nick created Gandalf and Frodo out of marzipan supported by pretzel rods and "clothed" in colored royal icing.

Nick's first attempt

This year, we settled on Tom Bombadil's house from The Fellowship of the Ring. It was either that or a dalek. We figured we'd be able to bake a slab over a glass bowl with a smaller bowl on top. We planned to add dormers afterward. However, I found two gingerbread recipes in my archives and couldn't remember which one was the architecturally awesome recipe and which was the one that expanded alarmingly and remained soft after baking. I went with the one that didn't call for nine cups of flour and more molasses than I had on hand.

Nick constructs Old Man Willow around a thin vase.

[[Can't... flip... grrr...]] Old Man Willow before the oven.

Unfortunately, I picked the wrong recipe. We give you... GingerBoob. It threatened to envelope everything else on the baking sheet, as you can see by the poor little gingerbread peoples' legs as the GingerBoob ate them.

GingerBoob.

Sooooo, after a new batch of *the correct* dough was whipped up, we revised our design so it could be cooked flat and assembled later. 

Pieces prepared to be assembled.

 Unfortunately, at this point the camera got buried under the decorations so there is no photographic record of assembly. Basically, we connected the four rectangles to the four window sections and the half-parallelogram roof pieces and left them to dry overnight. Nick created Tom and Goldberry out of marzipan and decorated them. This afternoon I assembled the octagonal base and four-dormer'd roof while Nick made the four Hobbits.

Tom's house from the front.

Marzipan hobbits. Frodo is the one with the gold ring near his neck.

At some point while waiting for structures to set so I could continue, I tried to create the base for a new Old Man Willow using chunks from the first attempt at the house. I used some of the icing used for Tom's pants and left it overnight. This morning I realized it looked like a... very scandalous portion of anatomy. No photos, sorry. Needless to say, it did not end up part of the display.

Tom and Goldberry.

"Thatched" roof and such.

We have no idea what we're going to do next year, but we're sure it will be fun!

Gingerbread for Eating, NOT building (gets very puffy; does not hold shapes super well)

1 C butter

1 1/2 C white sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

2 T dark corn syrup

3 C flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves.

1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Mix in orange zest and corn syrup. Separately combine remaining ingredients, mixing thoroughly with wet mixture. Chill at least two hours. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick, cut out cookies. Bake AT LEAST one inch apart for 10-12 minutes until firm and lightly toasted on edges.

Gingerbread for Building (still tasty, but very hard)(we used half this recipe and had the perfect amount for our house) (From Ask.com)

1 1/2 C whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 C brown sugar, packed

2 T baking soda

1 T ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/3 C molasses

9 C flour

Whip the cream and vanilla. Whisk the sugar, soda, ginger, and cinnamon separately, then add to wet mixture with molasses. Add flour gradually while mixing. **This killed my stand mixer last year. Plan to stir the last few (maybe even half) cups by hand. Preheat oven to 275F. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch and cut shapes. Bake 1 and 3/4 hours, removing after 30 minute to refine shapes, as dough will have expanded slightly, then continue baking. 

Royal Icing (from Ask.com)

1 pound confectioner's sugar (about half the larger bag)

3 lg egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar.

Whip egg whites and cream of tartar. Add sugar slowly until icing reaches desired consistency.