Daring Bakers Challenge : Gingerbread House
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
After seeing quite a few amazing DB gingerbread houses recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that mine actually looks rather spare. Lucky I had Steve the Stormtrooper to pimp my house a little. Darth would’ve joined the party too, but he happened to be overseas at the time (true story).
When Anna first told me what she had picked for this month’s challenge, I thought I could approach it in one of two ways – either go the whole hog and decorate it with every single bit of candy possible, or play the minimalist card, and make it plain and simple. Plain and simple won.
This is my second time ever, attempting a gingerbread house. The first was a good many years ago when royal icing was not my friend, and a collapsed house led me to swear off ever making them again. (Hence the beauty of being a member of the DB group, where challenges can often take you outside of your comfort zone.)
As stated in the forums, I chose to use a Scandinavian recipe from a book I love by Beatrice Ojakangas. Although her recipe for the dough isn’t very sweet and lacks the moisture of typical gingerbread recipes, I believe it’s a good recipe for this sort of thing where sturdiness is important, and less sweetness means you don’t overdose on sugar once you consume the gingerbread combined with the royal icing and candy decorations. I did however confuse quite a few people with my conversions for the flour content of the recipe, and for that I truly apologise!
Still I hope everyone managed to have as much fun as possible while attempting this challenge, and thank you again Anna, for allowing me to be your co-host. 🙂
Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year everyone!
Tags: cinnamon, Daring Bakers, gingerbread
Christy said,
December 27, 2009 @ 11:20 pm
Woohoo! We’re up! I wished I had stuck to the simpler version as well, and just made a house using the given template. But no, just had to be stubborn.
Love how your house turned out, and Steve the Stormtrooper looked at very much at home next to the gingerbread house. Pity Darth couldn’t come too.
isabelle said,
December 27, 2009 @ 11:24 pm
thanks for the challenge ! Big job but it’s fun 🙂
Esther said,
December 28, 2009 @ 12:03 am
Love the house and steve 🙂
Jenna @ Newlyweds said,
December 28, 2009 @ 1:15 am
Love your star wars gingerbread house. Thanks for hosting this challenge it was lots of fun!
Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten Free said,
December 28, 2009 @ 1:30 am
Your house is so quaint and cozy…I can just imagine a fire going on the inside and people drinking hot cocoa. Thanks so much for hosting this month – it was a very fun challenge, and one that we’re still enjoying today. It’s been so much fun to look at my house – it’s now a table centerpiece.
clumbsycookie said,
December 28, 2009 @ 6:04 am
Thanks for hosting this month! I’va actually always wanted to do a gingerbread house, I just wish I had more time to play arround. Still I had fun! Yours is quite cute !!!
Erin said,
December 28, 2009 @ 8:25 am
I love your gingerbread house. It is perfect, especially with Steve 🙂
Michelle said,
December 28, 2009 @ 8:25 am
Thank you for such a fun challenge!
Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction said,
December 28, 2009 @ 8:56 am
Beautiful! Thanks so much for hosting… Loved this challenge. It was so much fun to build a gingerbread house!
Alpineberry Mary said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:16 am
thanks for a fun challenge. have a very happy new year!
Julia @ Mélanger said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:22 am
Y – thanks for picking this challenge. It was amazing to do something I can’t imagine ever tackling. Even though I had a few hiccups (falling apart), I really wanted to do this one because it just screams Christmas and is so fun.
I love your little version. Glad to hear you once had issue with your royal icing and a collapsed house, too. Well, just the once at least! 😉
Hope you had a lovely holiday!
Dharm said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:36 am
Thanks for an amazing challenge Y! I would never ever have attempted a gingerbread house if not for this challenge. Love your stormtrooper house too!
Merry Xmas and a Blessed New Year to you and yours!
Sue said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:41 am
Your house looks great-cute, cozy, nice and neat! I want to THANK YOU so much for such a perfect December challenge!!! It was a lot of fun!
Carolyn said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:43 am
Thanks for hosting the challenge this month. It was a fun lighthearted challenge- a lot of work too. Love your sweet little house- made perfect with the addition of the stormtrooper!
JennyBakes said,
December 28, 2009 @ 11:19 am
I think this might be my favorite challenge so far. I just wish I could have spent more time on it. I love your little cozy Star Wars house.
annmartina said,
December 28, 2009 @ 11:21 am
What a fun challenge. I’m so glad you invited the Steve the Storm Trooper to the party.
kristen said,
December 28, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
gorgeous gingerbread house! thanks for hosting such a fun challenge. hope that you and steve had a lovely christmas. 🙂
Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said,
December 28, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
Your gingerbread house is very sweet, Y! What a great challenge that makes me long even more for February when I hope to have enough free time to join DB. Happy New Year!
Natalie said,
December 28, 2009 @ 8:38 pm
so cute 🙂 love the tiled roof.. ..
Angela @ A Spoonful of Sugar said,
December 28, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
Y, your gingerbread house is gorgeous! Thank-you for such a wonderful challenge—I had great fun and didn’t have any problems with the dough recipe that you chose. I love Beatrice’s recipes too!
bake in paris said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:23 pm
Thank you so much for this wonderful challenge! This contruction-related project is all that I need to put my patience in test!
Sawadee from Bangkok,
Kris
Meeta said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:38 pm
Y – thanks for a fun challenge! it brought out the creativity in all of us! hugs!
Angelica said,
December 28, 2009 @ 10:56 pm
Thansks for the challenger..It was fantastic =)
katie said,
December 28, 2009 @ 11:07 pm
Your house looks wonderful and very festive. thanks for choosing such a fun challange!
kat said,
December 29, 2009 @ 3:12 am
Thanks for hosting this month, my husband & I had such fun with it!
Christi said,
December 29, 2009 @ 5:46 am
I’m with you, plain and simple. I think your house is gorgeous. Thanks for the challenge!
Suz said,
December 29, 2009 @ 9:06 am
Thank you so much for coming up with such a fun challenge! I’ve always wanted to make a gingerbread house and this was the perfect excuse to make a real mess of the kitchen. Fantastic! 🙂
Your house is adorable. I love the little roof tiles and the heart shapes in the walls. Oh, and the Stormtrooper of course. I don’t think a gingerbread house is ever quite complete without a storm trooper.
Thanks again. Hope you’re having happy holidays and all the best for 2010.
MandyM said,
December 29, 2009 @ 10:57 am
Thanks so much for this challenge, I was hoping that we’d be making gingerbread houses so it was just what I wanted to do this month. I had a fantastic time putting it together and I’m feeling a bit sad that it’ll be demolished soon.
All the best for 2010!
Caitlin said,
December 29, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
As you know, I had so much fun with this challenge – love the minimalist route you took too! Although poor Steve looks rather lonely 🙁
And the scraps? I assembled those directly into my tummy as well – perfect!
Evelyne@CheapEthnicEatz said,
December 29, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
Y, thank for the challenge. I opted for you recipe too for sturdiness. great job on your house…simple yet elegant!
cookemila said,
December 29, 2009 @ 6:19 pm
El detalle Stars Wars es un encanto…soy fan…:)) estupendo…todo.Feliz Navidad Merry Christmas y happy new year
Wolf said,
December 30, 2009 @ 3:10 pm
It was a fun Challenge, obstacles aside}:P
I love your Stormtrooper! Hee!
Lisa said,
December 30, 2009 @ 11:18 pm
Y, first off, your gingerbread house and photos are marvelous! Such a traditional and perfect take on it. Secondly..thank you so much for a truly daring challenge, as I never would have done a gingerbread house on my own. Now that I’ve tackled one, I feel almost ‘lighter’. culinarily speaking LOL Have a wonderful New Year!
Debbie said,
December 31, 2009 @ 11:17 am
Thanks so very much for hosting such a totally fun challenge. My son had so much fun we will have to do this every year now:) Wonderful choice!
linda said,
January 4, 2010 @ 9:47 pm
Love your minimalistic approach, thanks for this challenge!
Jaime said,
January 6, 2010 @ 2:42 pm
thanks for a fun pick! i’m just sad i didn’t have more time to have fun w/it. still, it’s great to say i’ve made my first gingerbread house from scratch! 🙂
betty said,
January 11, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
your gb house is so cute i love the little hearts you cut out 🙂
Lisa said,
January 14, 2010 @ 8:24 am
Love the gingerbread house and especially the storm trooper coming home for the holidays! Fabulous!