Gingerbread Birdhouse Ornaments Food

GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSE

Steps:

• For the gingerbread birdhouse: Melt the shortening and butter together in a medium saucepan. Let cool. Sift the flour, granulated sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Mix the melted butter into the flour mixture with an electric mixer until sandy. Add the corn syrup and vanilla, and mix until evenly incorporated, but still crumbly in texture. Press the dough together by hand and divide into 8 equal parts. Press into rough squares about 1-inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Place the dough on top of a flour-dusted sheet of parchment. Roll a square of dough about 1/4-inch thick and into an 8- by 11-inch rectangle. Repeat with all the remaining squares. Stack them up and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, click here to e-mail a link of the template to your desktop or laptop computer for printing. Print the file at 100-percent on letter-size paper and cut out the pieces. Remove the top sheet of parchment from the dough. Lay the templates on the rolled dough slabs and cut out all the pieces with a long, sharp knife or pizza cutter. (You will have a total of 8 cut panels plus 3 extra sheets for cookies. Cut out the remaining dough with cookie cutters of your choice.) Use a 1 1/2-inch circle cookie cutter to cut the hole for the door opening into one of the tall walls. Stack panels on a cookie sheet and chill 45 minutes to set.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position the oven racks so they are evenly spaced.
• Bake the gingerbread shapes until they are a rich tawny brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack. With a fine kitchen rasp, file the panels to make all the edges straight.
• Thicken about 2 cups of the Royal Icing with either cornstarch and a couple of drops of vinegar, or confectioners' sugar, to get the consistency of caulk. Fit a pastry bag with a medium round tip and fill it with the thickened icing. Pipe a generous amount of Royal Icing along the bottom and the sides of a short wall. Center the wall of the base 3/4 inch from one edge. Use a box or can to help support the walls while they dry. Pipe Royal Icing along the bottom of a tall wall, and stick it to the base with an edge pressed against the icing on the first wall. Repeat with the remaining two walls in the same manner until the four walls are up, making an open box with a 3/4-inch border all around the base. (The two tall walls will face each other.) Allow the icing to dry completely, about 24 hours, before attaching the roof.
• Ice the sloped edges on one side of the house and attach the big roof piece. (Line up the top of the roof with the peaks of the tall walls.) Use a box or can to prop up the overhang of the roof while it dries in place. Attach the smaller roof piece on the other side of the slope (prop it up with a box or can) leaving the same amount of overhang. Leave the top open for now. The last roof panel is the lid and will go there when all is dry. Pipe Royal Icing neatly on the outside of the seams to secure them, and allow the house to dry for 24 hours.
• Fit tips into piping bags. Divide the remaining Royal Icing into batches and color as desired. Fill bags with the icing and decorate the house and roof with icing and candies if using. Allow to dry. Fill the house with cookies. Rest the remaining roof slab on the house to make a lid. Enjoy.
• Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl. Mix slowly with an electric mixer until stiff enough to form peaks; the icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly. If the frosting is over beaten, it will get aerated which makes it harder to work with. If this happens, let the frosting sit to settle, and then use a rubber spatula to vigorously beat and smooth out the frosting.
• Add up to 1 tablespoon food coloring and mix with a rubber spatula until the color is uniform. Gels are best with royal icing. You don't want to thin them with liquid colors. Be careful of adding too much color, which reduces the sheen of the frosting and can break down the consistency of the frosting over a couple of days. Store the icing at room temperature, covered, with plastic wrap on the surface.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE AND ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• For Honey Dough:
• In a large saucepan, bring the honey to a boil over medium heat. Immediately remove the pan from the heat. Pour the honey into the large bowl of a stand mixer and slowly add the bread flour, using a bread hook. Continue mixing until dough is smooth, about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Allow the dough to cool, then wrap with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature. This dough needs to set up overnight at least, but can rest up to 2 months.
• For Spice Dough:
• Dissolve the baker's ammonia in the water in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Add the eggs and corn syrup and mix until combined.
• Sift the flour and spices in a separate large mixing bowl and gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture using a bread hook on the electric mixer. The dough will become very stiff; do not overmix, simply incorporate the flour.
• Cut the honey dough into 3 portions and add it into the spice dough, 1 portion at a time. You need to make sure that the honey dough and spice dough's are completely combined. To make sure that they are, you must knead the dough by hand in a fold-and-press motion on a lightly floured work surface. This will take a long time, but is totally necessary.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Divide dough into 4 equal portions. Lightly flour your work surface and work with 1 portion at a time. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out until it's about 1/4-inch thick. While rolling, flour the work surface and rolling pin, as needed.
• Using your gingerbread house template, cut out desired shapes with a floured butter knife. Transfer the shapes to a greased cookie sheet or sheets, using a large floured spatula, placing them 1-inch apart. Reroll the scraps to make the additional cookies or decorations used for the gingerbread house.
• Lightly brush dough with milk and bake until firm to the touch in the center and the edges begin to darken, 10 to 14 minutes. If the dough begins to bubble at all, pierce it with a toothpick to remove the air, and then carefully smooth out the surface. Remove the house pieces from the oven and allow to completely cool on the cookie sheet.
• For Royal Icing:
• Do not begin to make the icing until the gingerbread house pieces are completely cooled and you are prepared to assemble the house.
• Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes, in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed.
• Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and cream of tartar; beat until combined.
• Add the lemon juice and beat on high until the mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks, at least 5 to 7 minutes.
• When finished, cover the icing with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap touches the icing completely.
• For Gingerbread House:
• Cut out a large cardboard base that is large enough for your gingerbread house and strong enough to hold the weight. Cover it with aluminum foil or wrapping paper.
• Spoon some of the royal icing into a pastry bag fitted with 1/4 to 3/8-inch diameter tip. Keep the remaining icing covered so it does not dry out.
• Assemble the walls of the house, piping thick lines of the icing onto the sides of the walls that meet. Use cans of food to support the walls when drying. If the edges of the pieces are not straight, you will need to cut them. If they are not smooth, you can run a nutmeg grater over the edge to smooth it out. Allow the icing to dry completely before attaching the roof pieces.
• Once the roof is secured and the icing is dry, you may decorate the house with the remaining icing, cookies and candies as desired.
• Cook's Notes:
• You will need to set aside a few days to make the house. The honey dough needs to rest overnight. Once the gingerbread pieces are baked, we suggest you allow them to cool for at least 4 hours. Once they are cooled completely, you can assemble the house. Allow the icing to totally dry and harden, then decorate the house as desired.
• Baker's ammonia is also known as ammonium carbonate, and can be found at drugstores. It must be finely ground. You may notice an odor of ammonia while baking, but this will quickly dissipate and will not have an odor or taste when completed.
• When preparing the royal icing, you MUST make sure that the bowl and all utensils used are free from any traces of grease. The smallest trace of grease will not allow the icing to firm up.
• When you are deciding on a gingerbread house template, please keep in mind that it cannot be larger than the cookie sheet you are using to bake the pieces.
• When combining the honey dough and spice dough, it is very important that you combine them completely. Otherwise, the house pieces will cook uneven and the flavor will not be consistent. This process will require a lot of "elbow grease" when combining. Because the dough is so thick, you will need to do it by hand.

GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSE

Steps:

• Make the basic gingerbread house cookie dough
• Melt the shortening and butter together in a medium saucepan. Let cool.
• Sift the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Mix the melted butter into the flour mixture with an electric mixer until sandy. Add the corn syrup and vanilla, and mix until evenly incorporated, but still crumbly in texture. Press the dough together by hand and divide into 8 equal parts. Press into rough squares about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Place the dough on top of a flour-dusted sheet of parchment. Roll a square of dough about 1/4-inch thick and into an 8- by 11-inch rectangle. Repeat with all the remaining squares. Stack them up and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Cut the pieces:
• Meanwhile, click here to e-mail a link of the template to your desktop or laptop computer for printing. Print the file at 100% on letter size paper and cut out the pieces. Remove the top sheet of parchment from the dough. Lay the templates on the rolled dough slabs and cut out all the pieces with a long, sharp knife or pizza cutter. (You will have a total of 8 cut panels plus 3 extra sheets for cookies. Cut out the remaining dough with cookie cutters of your choice.) Use a 1 1/2-inch circle cookie cutter to cut the hole for the door opening into one of the tall walls. Stack panels on a cookie sheet and chill 45 minutes to set. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position the oven racks evenly. Bake the gingerbread shapes until they are a rich tawny brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack. With a fine kitchen rasp, file the panels to make all the edges straight.
• Thicken some royal icing:
• Thicken about 2 cups of the Royal Icing with either cornstarch and a couple of drops of vinegar, or extra confectioners' sugar, to get the consistency of caulk. Fit a pastry bag with a medium round tip and fill it with the thickened icing.
• Put up a wall:
• Pipe a generous amount of royal icing along the bottom and the sides of a short wall. Center the wall 3/4 inch from one edge, directly onto the base. Use a box or can to help support the walls while they dry.
• Put up other walls:
• Pipe royal icing along the bottom of a tall wall, and stick it to the base with an edge pressed against the icing on the first wall. Repeat with the remaining two walls in the same manner until the four walls are up, making an open box with a 3/4-inch border all around the base. (The two tall walls will face each other.) Allow the icing to dry completely, about 24 hours, before attaching the roof.
• Attach the roof:
• Ice the sloped edges on one side of the house and attach the big roof piece. (Line up the top of the roof with the peaks of the tall walls.) Use a box or can to prop up the overhang of the roof while it dries in place. Attach the smaller roof piece on the other side of the slope (prop it up with a box or can) leaving the same amount of overhang. Leave the top open for now. The last roof panel is the lid and will go there when all is dry. Pipe royal icing neatly on the outside of the seams to secure them, and allow the house to dry for 24 hours.
• Decorate:
• Fit tips into piping bags. Divide the remaining royal icing into batches and color as desired. Fill bags with frosting and decorate the house and roof with icing and candies if using. Allow to dry. Fill the house with cookies. Rest the remaining roof slab on the house to make a lid. Enjoy.

GINGERBREAD BIRDHOUSE ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix brown sugar, shortening, molasses and cold water until well blended. Stir in flour, baking soda, ginger, salt, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet. On lightly floured surface, roll dough 1/2 inch thick. Using knife or 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters, cut dough into squares or circles for bases of birdhouses, and into hearts for roofs.
• Place heart shape upside down on top of square or circle, just overlapping. Using end of drinking straw, make hole in center of birdhouse base for door and at top of roof for hanging. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
• Bake about 15 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched. While warm, insert pretzel stick just below door hole for perch. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely.
• In medium bowl, mix 4 cups powdered sugar, the vanilla and enough half-and-half for desired spreading consistency. Tint with food color as desired. Frost tops of cookies (roofs) with frosting; sprinkle with powdered sugar. Decorate with decorating icing and sprinkles. Thread pieces of gold string through holes in tops of birdhouses; tie in knots to make hangers.