Gingerbread!

Last year my husband and I decided to start a little tradition of making/decorating gingerbread houses. So far we have had a lot of fun doing it and the best part about it is that is makes your house smell like christmas! You can't get that from the kits in the grocery store. I got the recipe from Martha Stewarts website. The dough is a little difficult to work with, so make sure its chilled well. Also, when you roll it out, make sure you have plenty of flour! It will stick otherwise. The recipe also says to bake on an ungreased cookie sheet. This is unwise advice. I tried it had to scrape gingerbread off the cookie sheet. A sheet of parchment paper works great.

Here is the recipe! Try it! Its a fun family activity and you can eat it on Christmas with a warm cup of cocoa if you want to! Also, if you click on the link at the end of the post you can see the site and download a template. I just made one up, which you can do too!

Also, I am not going to include the recipe for Royal Icing that I used this year. It was terrible. I believe my mother has one that I used last year that was much better.

Makes enough for 5 small house kits (NOTE: The photo above is a little larger house, I made three medium sized houses with this recipe)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark-brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses
• 6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt. Beat in eggs and molasses.
3. Add flour mixture; mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, or using template instructions, if desired. Place dough shapes on ungreased baking sheets; chill until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake 15 minutes, or until gingerbread is firm in the center, but not dark around the edges.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Gingerbread for Gingerbread House Kit - Martha Stewart Recipes