CHILDREN'S CORNER
LAYLA’S MAGICAL GINGERBREAD HOUSE Skill level: Concentration needed
3
This is something to do togetherwith the children as it is quite a complex process.We have simplified the structure slightly, changing the heart into a circle and removing the door andwindows. You can add these with decorations. Don’t forget that Layla is a professional, but you can use icing and sweets to decorate your gingerbread house however you like!
Template - not to scale
Chimney side (cut two)
2cm
3.8 x 3.8cm Chimney
front/back (cut two) 3.8 x 4cm
Front/back (cut two)
9cm Roof (cut one) 12 x 11.5cm
3.8cm 3.8cm
Base (cut one) 19 x 19cm
Sides (cut two) 10.5 x 10.5cm
800g plain flour 250g unsalted butter 200g dark brown sugar 3tsp ground cinnamon 3tsp ground ginger 1tsp ground cloves 1tsp salt 2 large eggs 260gmolasses
For thewindows Selection of coloured boiled sweets
Freezer bag Hammer or rolling pin
1 Firstmake your gingerbread. In the bowl of an electricmixer fittedwith the paddle attachment,mix butter and brown sugar onmediumspeed until fluffy.
2Mix in spices first, then eggs andmolasses. Reduce speed to low.
64 | THE WEST COUNTRY FOODLOVER
3 Sift together flour and salt and add to bowl;mix until just combined.
4Wrap dough in clingfilm. Let it rest by refrigerating until cold for about an hour.
5 Preheat oven to 180C. Roll out dough between two sheets of baking paper to about the thickness of a £1 coin.
6 Use the template to cut guides out of cardboard and use those to cut shapes out using a pizza cutter. Place themapproximately 2 inches apart on baking sheets linedwith baking paper.
7 Refrigerate until firm, at least 15minutes to an hour.
8 Bake all except the front and back of the house (with the roundwindow) until lightly golden – 12 to 14minutes. Let cool on sheets onwire racks.
9 Bake the front and back of the house for 6 – 7minutes because you are going tomake stained glasswindows (like the heart andwindows in the picture!)
10 Reduce the oven heat to
160C.Meanwhile choose the colour youwould like your boiled sweets to be and place inside a freezer bag. Carefully smash the
11 Put back into the oven for 5 minutes and remove as soon as the sweets aremelted – don’t leave too long or theywill go cloudy, and remember to cool on a rack!
sweets so they are evenly crushed and sprinkle into the holeswhere thewindowwill be on the front and back of the house.
4cm
11cm
7.5cm
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