Gingerbread house

Christmas is about spending time with family. Making a gingerbread house is a perfect reason to bring the family together!! 

                                                                                                                                                                                                         Courtesy: kuechengoetter

This is time when Christmas markets are full of tiny shops selling homemade gingerbreads.. Leckerli is a swiss style ginger bread while Lebkuchen or Pfefferkuchen is German or Scandinavian style gingerbread ..They just melt in your mouth..not too sweet.. a perfect blend of sugar and spices.. Heavenly!!! These gingerbreads form the basis for creations like holiday house/ Swiss chalet/country barns/ castles !!

                                                                                                        Courtesy: Nevipiecakes on flickr
This pretty ginger bread house with detailed small print painted on it is made by very talented Natasha !! Her flickr stream is full of yummy and dazzling cake creations and all things sweet. Natasha has a beautiful blog and Facebook page with her inspiring cake creations!! And if you hurry then you might have chance to win to her giveaway!! I found her via this awesome blog - Kireeï!

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Courtesy: Nevipiecakes on flickr
I love this themed ginger bread house!! Natasha has made this Eco-chic ginger bread house is very creative with such cute details..It has a organic garden, tiny solar panels, wind tribune.. Santa is traveling by bike this year.. Don't miss the cat getting inside the house!! You can see more beautiful pictures of the Eco-friendly house here!!

                                                                                                                              Courtesy: Haus & Hem
Do you want a more modern looking ginger house.. How about using own house as a template for creating the gingerbread house this year..This Pepparkakshus  has grills for the windows as well.. I love the candy roof!!! Cute isn't it!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Courtesy: Cecilia on flickr

Very pretty Chalets made with Lebkuchen...Beautiful details !!  The flaked almond roof looks absolutely gorgeous!!  This is Cecilia's daughter Melissa's creation ..Do visit Cecilia's fabulous flickr stream here!!

                                                                                            Courtesy: BBC good food
Inspired to make one for yourselves this year!! Looking for template for the gingerbread house?  Click here for a easy gingerbread house template in pdf!!


Now that you have the template, I will share with you a easy German gingerbread recipe which I had noted from a German magazine!


Recipe for ginger bread:
400 g Honey
200 g Sugar
100 g Unsalted butter
4 Eggs 
1000 g Wheat Flour 
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Baking powder
3 Egg white
750 g Powdered sugar
3 tablespoonsLemon juice 


Melt honey and sugar in a pan. Let it cool. Beat eggs and butter together until it is light and fluffy. Mix the cooled honey mixture in it. Knead the mixture with wheat flour with cinnamon and baking powder. The dough should not be very tight or too soft. Roll it out. Using the templates, cut the parts of the ginger bread house. Bake it on 200C in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
Once it is baked , let it cool entirely on the wire rack.


For the frosting to stick the parts together:
Whisk 1 egg white and 250g of icing sugar together. Add 1 tbsp lemon juice. Beat it till it has stiff peaks. 


Assembly: 
Assembly is very critical and has to be done very carefully. Much detailed instructions for assembly are here. Let it dry totally.

                                                                                            Courtesy: Simply recipes
For frosting to stick the candies and decoration to the house:
Whisk 2-3 egg whites and the remining 500 g of icing sugar  together . Add  2 tablespoons lemon juice. Beat till it has stiff peaks. Pipe it and stick the candies and sweets to it.

                                                                                                              Courtesy: ChefKoch

Hope you all are inspired to bake and create your own gingerbread house!!