Gingerbread House

This year I thought it would be fun to make a gingerbread house. For years now I have wanted to make one, but I have never actually sat down and made one. So this year I wanted to make sure that I finally sat down and make one. I also wanted to make the gingerbread myself instead of buying the kit, even though the kits would have been way easier. Going into this I had no idea how time consuming making a gingerbread house was. It took me so long to roll and cut the gingerbread pieces that I didn't even decorate it until days later. I had fun decorating it but then that was time consuming too and I didn't have time to put a lot of time into decorating it. So for my first gingerbread house I think I did an ok job. Next year I will plan out my time better.

Gingerbread House

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup unsulphred molasses

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup all purpose flour

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add and stir in the sugar and molasses until sugar is dissolved and is no longer gritty. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to lukewarm. In a separate bowl whisk together the 4 1/2 cups flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the lukewarm butter mixture, and beat to blend everything together. Work in the 1/2 cup of flour beating until the dough forms a ball ands pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead 3 or 4 times on the counter until smooth and pliable. Wrap well and refrigerate until dough is cool. After refrigerating roll out and cut out house shaped pieces or gingerbread men pieces. Bake in a 350*F oven for about 12-15 minutes or until color darkens.

Royal Frosting

3 tablespoons Meringue powder

4 cups sifted powder sugar

7 tablespoons lukewarm water

Place meringue powder and powder sugar in a bowl, mix until blended. Add water and mix for 7-10 minutes at low speed until the icing loses its sheen. Place in a piping bag or a ziploc bag with a corner snipped off. Buy various candies and decorate the house however you like.

Gingerbread recipe comes the Joy of Cooking cookbooks and the Royal Frosting recipe comes from Wilton.

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Croquembouche

Monday December 13th was my Dad's and boyfriend Tomas birthday. And for their birthdays Tomas mom made him a cake and my mom made my dad his cake. Therefore when it came to Tomas I wanted to make him something else instead of a cake. Well I was looking at some of my old Food Network magazines and I saw this picture of a Croquembouche and knew that Tomas would love it since he loves cream puffs. So I decided to give it a try. I first started of by trying the recipe in the magazine, but I failed. My dough was too runny and therefore my cream puffs never puffed. So I researched online and I found a recipe at Easy French Food.com that was actually easier so I made a second batch as well. When it came to the filling I didn't want to do the one from the Food Network magazine because it called for to many eggs and vanilla beans and I didn't want to spend too much. So I found this great filling recipe on Allrecipes.com (which I changed a little). The one thing I did do from the magazine was the caramel crunch web that I swirled around the tower of creme puffs. Therefore I took three recipes and combined them to make the Croquembouche for Tomas. For being my first time making this I think I did a fairly good job, even though my tower is a little slanted, but the most important thing is Tomas loved it.
Croquembouche

Cream Filling
2 (3.5 oz ) boxes of vanilla pudding mix
2 cups heavy cream
1 cups milk

Choux Pastry (dough)
1 cup water
6 tablespoons butter
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup flour, sifted after measuring
3 large eggs

Caramel
3 cups sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup water

First make the cream filling by mixing the vanilla pudding mix, heavy cream, and milk together. Cover and refrigerate. Preheat the oven to 400*F. In a saucepan mix the butter, salt and sugar with the water, and heat until the water boils. Remove from the heat and immediately add all of the flour. Beat with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball and detaches form the sides of the pan. The website warns that this next step is a workout and they were right. Add the eggs one at a time , fully incorporating each before adding the next one. To make the cream puffs, works with two tablespoons, one to scoop and one to scrape. Place mounds of dough on nonstick cookie sheets space them apart. Dip finger tips in water to smooth down the rough edges of the dough. Bake for 20 minutes. remove immediately from the oven and prick each puff with a toothpick to help the steam escape. After all the puffs have cooled you can now fill the puffs. Either you can cut off the tops and fill with the prepared filling or you can use a piping bag and tip and pierce a hole in the puff and fill with the filling. Place filled puffs bake in the fridge until ready to use.

To make the caramel crunch mix the sugar, corn syrup,and water in a saucepan, cover and bring to a boil over high heat; don't stir. Uncover and boil; swirling the pan, until the syrup turns a deep amber color, about 20 minutes. Immediately dip the bottom of the saucepan in a large bowl full of ice for a few seconds to slow down the cooking. Transfer the caramel to a liquid measuring cup and slightly cool. Draw about a 7-inch circle on a piece of parchment paper. Partially dip each puff in the caramel mixture and then arrange the puffs around the circle. Keep building the tower up until it comes to a point. Line your working area with parchment paper because things will get messy. Dip the tip of the fork in the caramel and wave it in circles around the tower to create a web of caramel strands. Let set. Cut the parchment paper around the tower and use two spatulas to carefully transfer the Croquembouche to a platter. Serve and enjoy. :)

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Caramel Apples

Today is a really tasty national food holiday because it is national caramel apple day. I didn't want to make just regular caramel apples for this special day, instead I wanted to go crazy and dip them in chocolate and drizzle them with nuts as well. I really never made caramel apples before so this was a first for me. Turns out I did a good job because they didn't last long in my house. I will definitely be making these again because they were so delicious. Well I hope you can enjoy national caramel apple day with a caramel apple of your own, even if you go buy one from the store. :)

Caramel Apples

1 package of caramel squares unwrapped

2 tablespoons of water

5 apples

5 Popsicle or lolly pop sticks

1 package of melting chocolate (milk, dark or white, you decide)

Chopped nuts (optional)

Heavily butter a baking pan and set aside. Place the sticks in the apples and set aside. Melt the caramel squares and water in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir constantly until melted. Dip the apples in the caramel and scrape off excess before transferring to the buttered pan. Repeat until all apples are covered. Chill for a few minutes. Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe dish, making sure to stir constantly making sure it doesn't burn. Dip apples in the chocolate and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle nuts and drizzle chocolate on the apples if you desire. Let cool and enjoy. :)

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