Teeny Tiny Gingerbread Houses

I thought I'd give you a glimpse of how my street was looking this morning,  We've not had snow since Saturday and I live just a stones throw from the Firth of Forth so snow generally doesn't stick around for that long ... except for last winter ... and last week ... in any case, I haven't quite gotten over my fascination with the stuff.  Ice and slush is another story of course!

Now to my latest creation. 

I'm a little embarrassed to share them with you to be honest, they didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped, far more clumsy looking than the originals that inspired them.  I used Rachel Allen's Gingerbread recipe this time, they spread a little bit during cooking but it wasn't so much that the pieces wouldn't go together.  Even though they didn't end up quite as pretty as I had imagined them, they are still kinds cute and add a nice touch to a cuppa!

Rachel's Gingerbread
300g butter
125g caster sugar
125g soft dark brown sugar
225g golden syrup or treacle
725g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter together with the sugars and golden syrup or treacle.  Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl.  Add the melted butter and sugar and mix together.

Knead the mixture for a few seconds until it comes together, adding a teaspoon or so of water if necessary, but without allowing it to get too wet.  Flatten the dough slightly into a round about 2cm thick, wrap with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 mins.

Remove the dough from the fridge, dust the work surface with flour and roll all of the dough out to about 5mm.  Cut out the house shapes, transfer onto the baking trays and cook in the oven for 12 mins, until they are slightly firm, a little darker at the edges and slightly drier on top.  Allow the shapes to firm up for a few mins, then place them on a wire rack to cool. 

When they have cooled, use Royal Icing to glue the pieces together and set aside to dry.  decorate as desired and then serve on the edge of a mug of hot chocolate.

Taken from Rachel Allen's Bake

I halved the above recipe and still got enough out of it to make 6 houses, millions (slight exaggeration!) of small gingerbread men and 9 larger biscuits, both to appear in some upcoming projects maybe.