After a really hectic week we were all desperate for Sunday when it finally came around yesterday. We had arrived back late on Wednesday evening after a fabulous trip to Lapland (post coming on this I promise!), I had gone straight back into the shop which is now getting super busy and the kids are getting more hyped up about Christmas by the hour.
So yesterday we were all desperate for some much needed time at home just pottering really.
Every year I make a gingerbread house the week before Christmas and it has become a bit of a tradition that the kids are allowed to smash it up and tuck into it after Christmas dinner. This year with everything being so busy I am a little behind schedule and so Sunday seemed like the perfect opportunity to don our aprons and make some gingerbread!
People are always aghast when I say that I make my house from scratch without a kit but honestly it is easier than you think. I always follow this recipe, the gingerbread itself is so simple and the template and house always works really well. We play about a bit with the decoration and anything goes really. Be generous with the icing - it sticks it all together and is great for hiding any wonky walls and roof lines! A sprinkling of icing sugar (snow!) is always the perfect finishing touch - everything looks better when sprinkled with icing sugar! Don't be too precious, the home made, not -too-perfect look is what you are looking for.
This year I took it one step further and made these super cute mini gingerbread house to put on the edge of a mug of hot chocolate for a mid afternoon refresher. I used the left over gingerbread from the main house but used the template from here. You can all sorts of decorations to them and I just think they are super cute. We didn't get around to decorating them much... we couldn't wait to eat them!
So yesterday we were all desperate for some much needed time at home just pottering really.
Every year I make a gingerbread house the week before Christmas and it has become a bit of a tradition that the kids are allowed to smash it up and tuck into it after Christmas dinner. This year with everything being so busy I am a little behind schedule and so Sunday seemed like the perfect opportunity to don our aprons and make some gingerbread!
People are always aghast when I say that I make my house from scratch without a kit but honestly it is easier than you think. I always follow this recipe, the gingerbread itself is so simple and the template and house always works really well. We play about a bit with the decoration and anything goes really. Be generous with the icing - it sticks it all together and is great for hiding any wonky walls and roof lines! A sprinkling of icing sugar (snow!) is always the perfect finishing touch - everything looks better when sprinkled with icing sugar! Don't be too precious, the home made, not -too-perfect look is what you are looking for.
This year I took it one step further and made these super cute mini gingerbread house to put on the edge of a mug of hot chocolate for a mid afternoon refresher. I used the left over gingerbread from the main house but used the template from here. You can all sorts of decorations to them and I just think they are super cute. We didn't get around to decorating them much... we couldn't wait to eat them!