#all the traditional christmas foods like gingerbread and spiced stuff make NO sense when it’s 40°C outside | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sonichico-blog · 5 years

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Letters and Bracelets - A Bungo Stray Dogs Fanfic

Author - Circie888

Pairing - Chuuya Nakahara/Atsushi Nakajima

Osamu snorted, whined and rolled eyes, while sincerely refusing to believe that his subordinate has such a bad taste in people - well, including the fact Atsushi was pretty close to him, there was no doubt. "Sorry, Dazai-san, - Nakajima awkwardly smiled and scratched back of his head. - I... Fell in love". There was nothing left for Osamu to do but courageously be silent, ignoring the presence of the ginger shorty in the Agency, and break loose on Kunikida, annoying him three times more often than usual, but including the fact how tense the work got just before the New Year, Doppo wasn't just unsatisfied - he was in rage. That's why Dazai was beaten up three times more often. But even this was better for him, than Atsushi's and Chuuya's little world - sugary-vanilla, with milk rivers and gingerbread shores.

When Nakahara got his deserved vacation, he started visiting a lot more often, than usual. Sometimes he got drinks for all of the detective company, except for Dazai, of course; sometimes he visited just to to drag Nakajima off behind the folding screen, to whisper about stuff on couches in solitude; or he took Atsushi to the cafe on the first floor for lunch break, but always paid for both of them, not letting Nakajima even look at the cheque. Shortly speaking, Chuuya tried to get every single piece of his beloved one's free time, and even though sometimes was distracting, Atsushi was... Happy.

Quite often Nakahara arrived in the end of the working day, and two of them went away under Dazai's displeased look, which Chuuya tried to not notice very hardly, and got away to the town, walking through snow-covered alleys, along narrow cozy streets with colorful garlands and round lanterns hanging over their heads. Nakahara had this weird will to always buy something for Nakajima, doesn't matter what - for example, a key chain, a plushie or some clothes - in any case the tiger-boy had an awkward feeling, but refusing these gifts would be impolite. When he confessed about this, Chuuya just thought about how cute he was and said, that he does not mind the money for him at all, but Atsushi made him promise he'll calm down a bit.

- How would you like to celebrate the New Year? - Nakahara asked, pulling up his scarf, and looking into Nakajima's face - red cheeks and red nose, shiny eyes, filled with the light of life. Yes. That's what he was in love with.

- I... Don't even know, - Atsushi babbled with an unsure smile and wiped the snow off his shoulder, snuggling up closer to Chuuya. - People in the Agency were talking about a corporate party, but I don't think they'll be holding it on the New Year's night. I am sure, somebody would want to celebrate it with their family - like Kenji, for example...

Nakahara bit his lip, hesitating to ask, but he wanted, he wanted to offer it so much, so he couldn't hold himself and blurted out:

- Then... How about spending it with me?

Chuuya hid his glowing look so that Nakajima doesn't see how exciting it was for him to talk about it, but he didn't care and smiled happily, going for a hug, but immediately pulling away - after all, this was so... confusing.

- Why not? - Atsushi responded, putting his head on his shoulders, but starting panically waving hands: - N-no, not like that, I'd want it! Really want it!! - Nakajima promptly muttered, and Nakahara laughed kindly, soothingly patting him on the shoulder.

- Heh... Personally, I think it would be great to book a room at the hotel, or maybe a house on the outskirts of the city?..- Chuuya thoughtfully said, starting a new wave of confusion inside Nakajima, who mumbled:

- Uhm... Chuuya, isn't it gonna be a bit expensive?

Yes, that's true.

But such things never stopped Chuuya.

Despite all of the talks and common sense, which seemed so only for Atsushi, in the end Nakahara rented them a two-floored villa and took the boy there as soon as his vacation started - two days before New Year. The place was amazing, beaming with holiday-like coziness: along the perimeter of the house there were garlands, beaming with gold, twinkling stars and snowflakes, there was a spruce wreath, and just above the threshold - omela, and Chuuya didn't miss the opportunity to kiss Nakajima's cheeks, tightly holding his hands.Inside was no less beautiful - nice warm colors, high ceilings, a fireplace with red socks, tinsel and glass balls, but the most prominent was the Christmas tree, gleaming with hundreds of lights. The place was great. Chuuya was great.

But at the same time Atsushi had a feeling that he doesn't deserve this.

He couldn't give anything in exchange, he was sure, that Chuuya would get him a gift which can't compare to his - moreover, Nakajima didn't have enough time to even think about it, to buy something - even more so; that's why he felt guilty. Firstly Chuuya didn't notice his depressed mood, but when he noticed, understood it is so because of him, and so he fell into the sadness pit too. He just wanted to please Atsushi. He just wanted Atsushi to be happy with him, here, at the place he had never been to, experiencing feelings that he never experienced. Nakajima bit his lips in confusion, listening to his beloved one's honest excuses, and then he told about his worries. Nakahara made them disappear one by one. Then they hugged, laughing happily, and after that, when Chuuya made them some mulled wine, they sat together in front of the fireplace. Swaying in a hug to quiet music, drinking spiced hot drink, rub noses, gently smiling - if somebody told him he's going to spend his holidays like this a year back, he probably wouldn't believe them. But despite this... right now he was happy.

Only a half of the day was left until the New Year. And even if Nakajima couldn't buy anything, he could make it him himself - so that's why he locked himself up in a room, sometimes coming out just to grab some food or tea.

Atsushi was thinking a lot, keeping his eyes on the blank sheets for a long time, he wrote, tore, and started again several times - the correct thoughts just didn't want to come to his head, but he needed to...to tell how important Nakahara became for him. Atsushi was a bit nervous, as he didn't have a pretty envelope for this letter, was nervous if the white sheet of paper would look soulless, and his writing would look too bad - since the orphanage times he still hasn't made it better... He was ashamed and felt awkward, but he finished and neatly folded it, and drew black hats and little tigers on the other side, repeating to himself how childish it looked.

But Nakajima was satisfied with his work. A bit nervous, but satisfied.

Their New Year - great tasty food, made by Chuuya, sparkling champagne, warm hugs and fireworks, which Nakahara launched with unstoppable fun and loud shouting, thank God nobody could hear them. Without the loud bells, without going to the church and without the traditional games, actually, they didn't need that - their hearts were filled with happiness, bright fire was burning in the quivering souls, and lazy stretching under the kotatsu* wasn't worse in any way.

- Oh, Atsushi-kun... The gift, - Nakahara awkwardly smiled, getting something out of his back pocket.

- Please don't say it's something expensive, I'll die of embarrassment! - Atsushi squeezed his head in his shoulders holding his hands between the knees, and Chuuya, hiding something that he got out, laughed warmly.

- Firstly, we talked about it already, - he said, taking Atsushi's hand into his. - And secondly - no, it's not expensive - and he put a braided cord, clasped it, making sure he picked the correct size. - I... made it myself, - Nakahara lowered his head and smiled. - I was thinking about the gift for a long time... Starting with great alcohol, ending with a flat next to mine. But you'd not be interested in the first, and the second would make you sad, because, you know, too expensive.

- C-chuuya... - Atsushi held his fists closely to chest, nervously looking at the bracelet he got.

- I was thinking about a hat, about a coat, about a smoking... Even about a ring, - Nakahara smirked, looking up at Nakajima. - But all those things are not... sincere enough. That's why I started making this kumihimo** and made a gift for you by myself. Sounds... So childish, - and Chuuya started laughing, covering his face, but Atsushi took his hand into his and gently kissed the knuckles.

- Thank you. The bracelet is great, - "Just like you", - a thought flew through in his mind, but he didn't have enough courage to say it outloud. - And it... Is important. Right here. - Nakajima placed Chuuya's hand on his chest, where his tender heart beat fiercely, and Nakahara hugged his darling, dragging him back under the kotatsu. - Ah, yes, I have a gift for you too! - remembered Atsushi. - Wait a second.

He jumped out of his warm spot and ran away to the second floor, to the bedroom, where he had left his letter. When he returned, he sat next to Nakahara and and stretched out the paper rectangle with his trembling hands. Chuuya smiled inappropriately wide, and Nakajima blushed, biting his lips.

- Looks like you even overdone it with the "childishness", - Chuuya smirked, looking at the cute drawings, but when he felt it could offend Atsushi, he hurried up to apologize - I'm not intending to shame you. It just looks really cute.

- W-wait, are you going to read it now? - Nakajima asked, when Nakahara started to unfold the letter and caught a puzzled look on himself.

- Why not?

- It's just... Whatever. If you want to, go on then.

Chuuya could understand him - maybe, it's very confusing, when somebody reads the thoughts you put on a piece of paper right in front of you, but the man was too curious, that's why he carefully unfolded it and started looking through the neat lines of handwritten kanji.

"My beloved Nakahara Chuuya,

I am very happy to spend my time with you. Every day, which I spend with you, every minute, every second fills my heart with the most sincere joy, which you can feel only by being with the closest person.

We don't know each other for so long, and we have been dating even less, but you became the most important person for me. Your attention, your care, your love make me feel the happiest human on this planet - and even though we work in the organizations, which still haven't destroyed each other only because of the fragile truce, it does not prevent us from loving each other no matter what.

It's a bit awkward to write about such stuff. When you're unsure, a bit scared, confused... it's very scary to say something wrong and trip, but I know, you will catch me, so that's why I'm ready to entrust yourself to your hands. You filled my life with light and eclipsed the horrors of my past. I never knew love nor tenderness, but you taught me, and I am thankful to you, and I will try so hard to not lose you.

I love you with my soul and body. And I hope you'll love me the same.

Sincerely yours

and nobody else's

N. A."

Nakahara covered his mouth with his palm, and, it seemed like his temperature raised because of what he felt while reading this letter. Atsushi was just keeping quiet, dying of embarrassment, and Chuuya, finally looked up.

- Atsushi-kun... - he breathed out, letting go of the letter and tightly hugging the boy. - Atsushi, I love you so much! And I will! I promise I will!

Nakajima blushed again and hugged him too.

Intending never to let go.

________

Kotatsu* - a low, wooden table frame covered by a futon, or heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits.

Kumihimo** - a Japanese form of braid-making. Cords and ribbons are made by interlacing strands. Kumi himo is Japanese for "gathered threads".

All credit to @circie888

Your humble translator @sonichico

#bsd #bsd chuuya #fanfic #bsd atsushi

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kidsviral-blog · 6 years

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You Eat These 15 Foods Every Holiday Season, But Do You Know Where They Came From?

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/you-eat-these-15-foods-every-holiday-season-but-do-you-know-where-they-came-from/

You Eat These 15 Foods Every Holiday Season, But Do You Know Where They Came From?

We all have our favorite holiday dishes. Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah, we indulge in tasty treats that send us on nostalgic trips back in time to when we were kids and didn’t have to decide between paying rent and giving awesome gifts every year.

But how much do you really know about pumpkin pies, candy canes, and latkes? Where did they come from, and why do we eat them during the holidays? Let’s find out.

1. Fruitcake

Flickr / Jeremy Keith

Nothing says “I can’t cook or bake, and I had no idea what else to bring to Christmas dinner” quite like a nice, heavy fruitcake. This cake, which is full of dried fruit, spices, and nuts, has become something of a Christmas mockery. Back in the Middle Ages, however, dried fruit and nuts were super expensive, so they saved the preparation of this little indulgence for holiday festivities.

2. Cranberry Sauce

Flickr / Didriks

This polarizing Thanksgiving treat came to be in 1912 when a guy named Marcus L. Urann wanted to extend the short shelf life of cranberries. Some prefer to make more elegant versions at home when Thanksgiving rolls around, but as for me, I want this delicious nonsense to be a sliceable, can-shaped, gelatinous blob.

3. Candy Canes

Flickr / liz west

Candy canes were developed about 350 years ago, but they looked nothing like the striped, hook-shaped sweets that we know and love today. They eventually took on their most familiar form when a choirmaster curved them to represent a shepherd’s staff, and the red stripes were added in the 19th century when there were more vibrant dyes available.

4. Eggnog

Flickr / Isaac Wedin

If you ever want me to avoid speaking to you until the end of time, offer me a glass of eggnog. While I find the stuff contemptible, plenty of people adore this holiday drink — and they have for centuries. Back in the day, members of the British aristocracy mixed warm milk, eggs, sweet spices, and various liquors to create the original version of this holiday staple. Because the ingredients were so expensive, it quickly became a symbol of wealth. It eventually fell out of fashion with the Brits, but Americans brought it back. We added our own spin by using rum instead of sherry.

5. Apple Cider

Flickr / Eliza Adam

This is one of few holiday beverages that sticks around throughout autumn and winter, which is probably because it’s awesome. Originally an exclusively alcoholic drink, cider was created by the Brits back in 55 B.C., and it has been well loved ever since. With the advent of refrigeration technology in the 20th century, people were able to start drinking unfiltered apple juice, which meant that alcohol was no longer necessary in the process. While Americans refer to non-alcoholic, unfiltered apple juice as cider, the rest of the English-speaking world still associates the term with the alcoholic version.

6. Latkes

Flickr / slgkgc

These Hanukkah favorites are absolutely amazing, and your opinion is invalid if you think otherwise. Latkes were originally just cheese pancakes (which are also too delicious for this Earth), but the addition of potatoes became popular in the 18th century. Because they pay homage to Judith — a Jewish heroine — latkes hold far more significance in the Jewish tradition. That being said, they’ve been known to show up on Christmas tables as well.

7. Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

Flickr / Mr.TinDC

While this dish strikes fear into the hearts of many, tons of people love indulging in this sweet casserole. Cooking with marshmallows was trendy at the turn of the 20th century, and this particular recipe stuck after being featured in a popular cookbook by Angelus Marshmallow Company, which was printed in 1917.

8. Pumpkin Pie

Flickr / jeffreyw

Pumpkin pie is the perfect Thanksgiving dessert. Everyone knows that. It’s science. The beloved pumpkin has been linked to seeds that grew about 9,000 years ago in Mexico, and it was eventually adopted by Native Americans. Boiling pumpkin and mixing it with honey and spices was a great way to preserve it back then, and some even suspect that the Pilgrims made a dish similar to pumpkin pie. They just didn’t use a crust.

9. Pecan Pie

Flickr / cyclonebill

If you ask me, this amazing Southern staple beamed down from Heaven many years ago. If you ask people who actually know things about pecan pie, however, this dessert was first made in 19th-century Texas. Back then, the filling was a standard custard that was topped with pecans. The pecan pie that we know (and love way too much) today actually came to be in the 1930s when the wife of a Karo Syrup executive came up with a new way to use corn syrup…and we are all eternally grateful to that woman.

10. Gingerbread

Flickr / Michael Bentley

We might feel bad about decapitating these sweet, spicy cuties for a second, but once that epic flavor hits, all cookie carnage is forgotten. The recipe originated in Greece in 2400 B.C., and it eventually made its way to the U.K., where Queen Elizabeth I was credited with the tradition of decorating gingerbread cookies during the holidays.

var OX_ads = OX_ads || []; OX_ads.push( slot_id: “537251604_565e8a14e63ae”, auid: “537251604” );

11. Corned Beef and Cabbage

Flickr / LearningLark

We have the Irish to thank for this one. This salt-cured dish was served on Christmas in Ireland for years, and it only makes sense that Americans eventually adopted the tradition. We do have a pretty serious amount of Irish-Americans floating around out there, after all.

12. Stuffing

Flickr / Maggie

People have been stuffing food into animal carcasses for their own enjoyment for centuries now. One Roman by the name of Apicius even dedicated a recipe book to the many methods of making stuffing. Today, we prefer stuffing of the non-meat variety, which explains why we love putting bread inside of our Thanksgiving turkeys and serving it as a side dish.

13. Green Bean Casserole

Campbell’s

I eat so much green bean casserole on Thanksgiving that I’m pretty sure it runs through my veins for weeks after the fact. Americans have been eating creamed vegetables since the 19th century, and the traditional white sauce used in doing so was eventually replaced by cream of mushroom soup. In its current form, green bean casserole was popularized by Campbell’s in an effort to advertise their cream of mushroom soup. The deliciousness really caught on, and it’s said that Campbell’s makes about $20 million off of that variety alone on Thanksgiving each year.

14. Peppermint Bark

Flickr / femme run

While no one knows exactly when people started sprinkling broken candy canes on chocolate, many agree that it was sometime between the ’60s and ’80s. Popular treat company Williams-Sonoma first sold peppermint bark in 1988, and they’ve been doing it ever since. They estimate that they’ve sold five million one-pound packages of the treat in the last decade alone.

15. Figgy Pudding

Flickr / Meal Makeover Moms

This originated in the U.K. in the 17th century. English Puritans banned the consumption of figgy pudding because of its high alcohol content, but those who knew how to get down loved it. Medieval lore dictated that this dessert could only be made on the 25th Sunday after Trinity Sunday. It originally included 13 ingredients, which represented Christ and the 12 Apostles. Today, figgy pudding isn’t seen on tables that often, but it remains popular in holiday songs.

(via mental_floss)

Knowing where these dishes come from probably won’t change your opinion on any of them, but it’s still cool to think about the fact that many before you have gorged on pumpkin pie until they were about to explode.

Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/holiday-food-origins/

#Christmas #culture #dessert #desserts #food-history #holiday #holiday-food #holiday-party #madeline-distasio #pie #thanksgiving #vintage-thanksgiving

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andrewmawby · 7 years

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Gingerbread Houses: Tips & Tricks

You all loved Jenny’s kitchen and well, her whole house! when she shared a while back. She’ll be sharing her beautiful style here regularly (hooray!) and today she has some amazing inspiration, tips, tricks, and recipes for your annual gingerbread house tradition!

Gingerbread houses don’t have to be fancy (think graham crackers on empty cardboard milk cartons), but if you want them to, they can be elegant, frilly, or even gaudy. You simply can’t go wrong. They’re an expression of your creativity and your mood—an incarnation of what the season means to you.

For nearly thirty years, I’ve been making gingerbread houses at Christmas time. Small ones. Big ones. Red and green ones. Pink and blue ones. Ones covered only in frosting and ones dripping in candy canes and gum drops.

You don’t have to be an expert to make a gingerbread house! Don’t be intimidated by the elaborate gingerbread houses you see on magazine covers. Gingerbread houses—both baking and decorating them—should be fun! No keeping up with the Joneses here. Just do your thing! Here are some tips and tricks to help you on your way . . .

This post may contain affiliate links. See our full disclosure here.

Gingerbread houses take time! Even if you’re buying a ready-made kit from your local grocery store, the icing takes hours to set up, just as it does when you’re building from scratch. If you’re baking the gingerbread, you want to give it anywhere from a full day to even 2 weeks to dry out completely before you start building with it. And once construction is under way, the icing takes several hours to dry, requiring that you work in steps over a number of days.

To make a gingerbread house from scratch, this is what you’ll need:

A sturdy base (such as heavy-duty cardboard or plywood, depending on the projected size and weight of your gingerbread house). If you plan on having landscaping surrounding your house, the base should be several inches larger than the footprint of your house.

A pattern or template for your house or church or train or whatever it is that you’re making from gingerbread. Search the Internet! There are a ton of free, as well as for-a-fee, options out there. You can also design your own. I’ve even used the pieces from a dollhouse kit as a template for a gingerbread house.

A reliable gingerbread dough recipe (I share a great one later in this post) and all the necessary ingredients.

Cookie or baking sheets that are not warped, but that lie flat so that your gingerbread does not end up misshapen as it bakes. You’ll need a rolling pin, too, and if you’ve got a stand mixer, use it!

The ingredients for the “glue” needed to assemble your house. I prefer to use royal icing (I buy Wilton Meringue Powder and add water and powdered sugar according to the recipe on the can). But some people use a hot sugar syrup, which works, too. (I’ve even heard of people who don’t plan on eating the house who use a glue gun and hot glue sticks to get the job done—nobody can see the glue under all the frosting and candy and apparently it does a great job of holding your house together).If you want to tint your icing different colors, you’ll also need food coloring.

Candy and sprinkles and edible delights of all colors, shapes, and sizes! I have made 2 or 3 gingerbread houses over the years decorated entirely with frosting, which can be beautiful, but more traditional houses incorporate candy in to the design.

Inspiration is everywhere! In store windows, in magazines, on the Internet. And I’m not talking just gingerbread houses here, but anything that attracts your eye that could be translated in to gingerbread. For example, the first time I drove by the house featured below, I just knew I had to make it into a gingerbread house. And so I did.

This red-and-white house below was inspired by some wrapping paper I saw that had a white background with red snowflakes all over it. I loved it so much that I wanted it to be a gingerbread house! It’s one of my favorite houses of all time and yet it’s not terribly traditional. Think outside the box! Make your house what you want it to be!

I’ve been making gingerbread houses long enough that I have a sixth sense for gingerbread inspiration that stays with me 365 days/year. For example, when walking down the Halloween clearance aisles at Wal-Mart, I spotted black decorating sugar for $0.40/bottle. I knew as soon as I saw it that it would add great texture and shimmer to a candy-shingle roof on a gingerbread house. I used the sugar on the Victorian-style house I built this year. (The picture below shows a section of roof covered in watered-down royal icing that I colored black with food coloring gel. The picture below that shows the shingle-like texture I achieved by sprinkling black sanding sugar all over it while the icing was still wet).

Now it’s time for my very favorite construction gingerbread recipe. It’s remarkable stuff. It works in humid climates or dry ones. If dried out properly after baking, it can withstand a significant amount of weight in icing and candy. It rolls out smoothly and bakes evenly. It smells heavenly. It’s heavy-duty and sturdy. It can be used for 2- and 3-story houses. My family and I have collectively made what may amount to hundreds of batches of the stuff over the years and it’s never failed us. Not once. Oh, and the spices make it smell incredible!

This is a picture of me and my two sisters posing in front of 2 gingerbread houses we made together with our Mom for Christmas 1993. We used the wonderful recipe you’ll find below!

My family got the recipe from Mary Comstock and her daughters Karen, Lauren, and Katie (I have featured some of Mary’s and Lauren’s beautiful gingerbread houses towards the end of this post). They in turn got it from a high school German teacher, Frau Em, who told them it is an authentic German recipe. The recipe has been in the Comstock family for over 40 years. And they make one or more gingerbread houses with it each Christmas (and sometimes for other holidays, like Halloween).

Even if you have your own gingerbread construction recipe, I recommend reading through this one, as I’ve included tips that would apply no matter what recipe you use.

And, yes, that really is the name of the recipe.

Das Pfefferkuchenhauschen or, The Never-Fail Gingerbread Recipe

(click here for a printable version of the recipe)

Each recipe makes about 1 baking sheet of dough.

Ingredients

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup molasses

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

5 cups pre-sifted white all-purpose flour

Cream shortening and sugar in a stand mixer. Add egg and molasses.

Add vinegar, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add flour gradually. (You may need to knead in the last cups of flour by hand.)

Pour 1/4 cup or so of vegetable oil on a large, heavy baking sheet with sides (a half-sheet pan — about 18″x 13″ by 1″ high — is perfect). Roll out dough with rolling pin until it fills the baking sheet on all sides and meets the corners. (A standard size rolling pin will fit perfectly across the width of the baking sheet.) You should keep adding vegetable oil to the top of the dough as necessary to help it roll out slick and smooth. Remove any excess dough that does not disappear beneath the rolling pin and mesh flatly into the pan. Use that dough in another pan of gingerbread.

Place your pattern pieces on top of the gingerbread and cut gingerbread house pieces in gingerbread using the tip of a knife (wipe the knife clean in between cuts, if necessary) and leave them in the pan. Cut your pieces to maximize the available space just like you would if you were using cookie cutters to cut sugar cookie dough. Pieces can share sides without space in between. You don’t need to separate the pieces out from the surrounding scraps at this time (in fact, it’s better to leave them in to keep the gingerbread from spreading). Just be sure to cut all the way through to the pan as cleanly and precisely as possible.

Bake at 350 degrees F until very well done (remember, this is for building, not for eating, and you want it dry). Depending on your oven and other factors, this can take as little as 20 minutes or as much as 35 minutes or more.

When you pull the pans out of the oven, re-trace your design cuts in the gingerbread (if you don’t, you won’t be able to separate your house pieces from the surrounding scraps when the gingerbread has dried).

Let gingerbread cool in the baking sheets until it’s no longer too hot to handle. Carefully remove the house pieces and set on cooling racks to cool completely. Ensure the pieces do not touch each other as you want the air to be able to circulate freely to dry everything out. Now is the time to pop out the ‘scraps,’ before they become hard. ‘Scraps’ are the insides of windows or the spaces between fence rails, etc. Remove the door, but don’t throw it away because you can include it later when you assemble your house — a front door can be a fun part of your house to decorate!

Leave the gingerbread out to try. (Leaving it on cooling racks is ideal so that the air can circulate on all sides.) Gingerbread used for building should “season” about 2 weeks before being used to build with so it can dry out. Dry gingerbread is stronger and will support more weight. If you’re pressed for time, or if you’re building a small house, you can get away with letting it dry overnight, just be sure to limit exposure to moisture and humidity by carefully choosing where you leave the pieces to dry.

Once you have your dried pieces, it’s time to build!

Take a hard look at your base (heavy cardboard or plywood). Will you be adding landscaping around your house? A pretzel fence perhaps? Or maybe some sugar cone pine trees? A candy rock walkway? Calculate roughly where your house needs to be on the board in relation to what you plan to put around it.

Inspect your gingerbread pieces. Are your edges straight? If you need to do a little trimming, I prefer a bread knife and a light hand. Be very careful as you trim, though, as you don’t want the gingerbread to crack or crumble. You may want to label your pieces as you prepare to proceed so that you don’t accidentally use a roof piece as a side wall, for example. You can just write on a small piece of paper and set it on top of the pieces.

If you’re making a multi-story gingerbread house, I strongly recommend cutting pieces of heavy-duty cardboard to support the interior walls and roof(s). Just ‘glue’ it with icing inside your gingerbread house like you ‘glue’ the gingerbread together . . . run a bead of icing on all sides of the cardboard and position it in place, straight up and down, in the interior of your gingerbread house so that it comes in to direct contact with at least 2 of the inside walls and the roof.

Prepare a batch of royal icing. Cover the bowl tightly with Saran wrap or throw a damp towel over the bowl to keep the icing from drying out until you’re ready to use it. (Once you start using the icing, be sure to keep what you’re not using covered).

Grab a couple of cans of food or sturdy cups or something else that can be used as supports for your gingerbread walls.

Fit a pastry bag with a medium to large circle tip. Fill the bag with a cup or two of icing. (You don’t want to fill it too full or it will be difficult to hold and squeeze). If you don’t have a pastry or piping bag, use a heavy-duty Ziploc bag (just cut a hole in one of the corners to fit your piping tip through).

If you’re going to be doing intricate piping work or decorating on your walls, it’s much easier to do it before you assemble the house while your gingerbread pieces are flat. Keep that in mind so you can decide whether you want to decorate before or after assembly. The pictures below show decorating I did prior to assembly.

Also, if you’ll be doing a royal icing wash (like I did both on the red-and-white gingerbread house pieces above, as well as on the large black-and-white Victorian house featured at the top of this post), you’ll want to do that to the individual gingerbread pieces before you assemble them.

To make a royal icing ‘wash,’ prepare a batch of royal icing. Slowly add a little warm water at a time to thin the icing until it runs freely. You don’t want it too runny or it won’t provide sufficient coverage. When it’s ready, use a silicone pastry brush to brush it on to your walls. It takes hours and hours to dry, even longer than royal icing of regular consistency. Plan accordingly. Sometimes, after the frosting has dried, you may want to add a second coat for really thorough coverage—just be certain the first coast has dried completely before you do. Up to you.

Start with a side wall (generally longer than a front or back wall). Run a bead of icing on your base board the length of your wall. Put your gingerbread wall on top of the icing. Put a can on the outside of the wall to support it so that it remains upright and perpendicular to the base board. Run an additional bead of icing on the inside bottom of the wall for reinforcement.

Grab a front or back wall piece. These pieces will go inside of the side walls (this will make the gingerbread house stronger and more stable). Run a bead of icing on the board the length of your front or back piece. Put the piece on top of the icing. Put a can on the outside of the wall to support it so that it remains upright and perpendicular to the base board. Run an additional bead of icing on the inside bottom of the wall for reinforcement.

Add the second side wall as you did the first and finish with the final wall (either the front or back piece depending on what piece you already placed). Make sure you’ve got your supports in place and allow the icing to dry completely (overnight) before attaching the roof.

Royal icing can take forever to dry. An electric hair dryer can be used to speed up the process, but nothing works better than good old fashioned time. Usually waiting overnight will do the trick, but drying time depends on the humidity in the air, how wet your icing is, and how much icing you’ve used.

If you have leftover icing after this first stage of assembly, the icing can be put in an airtight container and refrigerated. You can leave a filled piping bag overnight as long as you cover your piping tip with a wet paper towel to keep the icing from drying out.

When the icing securing the bottom section of your house has completely dried (preferably overnight), it’s time to add the roof. I like to keep my supports in place against the side walls and have additional supports ready to go to hold my roof up while the icing dries.

Using your piping bag of royal icing, run a bead of icing around the top sides of the front, back, and side wall pieces. Put one roof piece in place on top and immediately prop it with supports (canned food works well). Place your second roof piece, aligning it carefully and immediately pipe another large bead of icing where there two roof pieces meet in the center. Prop with supports. Allow to dry overnight.

As you can see in the picture below, I used straws and canned food to rig a support system for my gingerbread pieces as they dried (I attached the gingerbread pieces using royal icing, which takes time to set up).

The sky’s the limit here. So many possibilities. Use royal icing as your glue to secure candy pieces, sprinkles, and whatever else your heart desires.

To make stained glass windows, crush hard sugar candies (like LifeSavers) and arrange them in clusters (sized a little bigger than your window openings) on a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees F for six to eight minutes or until they run together. Allow them to cool, remove from the baking sheet and use royal icing to attach on the back/interior side of your window openings in the gingerbread. Alternatively, melt the stained glass windows directly in your gingerbread house window openings by following the same steps as above, but instead of melting the candy by itself, put the crushed candy in the window openings in your gingerbread house walls and put everything directly in to the oven. The candy will melt to fill the openings and as it cools and solidifies, will self-attach to your gingerbread walls.

Photo credit: Lauren Comstock

Layered Necco wafer candies (as seen below) make for a great tile-like roof. You can cover them with frosting to make them all one color or add sprinkles for dimension and texture or additional candy pieces for depth. Other great roof options include crushed or whole Oreos (especially the mini size), shredded wheat or Life cereal (for the look of a thatched roof), squares of chocolate, round candies like peppermints or Lifesavers, gumdrops, sticks of gum, pretzels, M&Ms, marshmallows, and on and on.

Royal icing works great for not only for ‘gluing’ your gingerbread house together, but for making custom decorations, as well. Below, I used royal icing that I had watered down to about the consistency of Elmer’s White School Glue to make accents for the roof line of my gingerbread house. I piped the designs out on parchment paper using a small, round piping tip and let them set-up over night. Once dry, I carefully peeled back the parchment paper and peeled off the design, which I attached to my gingerbread house using more royal icing.

Don’t forget that while you’re decorating, sometimes you need a little extra help (i.e. support) to hold candy or gingerbread in place while the royal icing sets up. In the picture below, you can see that I cut a plastic drinking straw into pieces to use as supports for the awning above my window. When the icing set, I removed the straw supports.

The easiest pine trees in the world are those made out of upside down sugar cones. Cover in frosting, candy, and sprinkles. You can use different piping tips to achieve a wide variety of styles and effects.

Decorated gingerbread houses can make great gifts! Just wrap in cellophane and put a bow on it. I’ve also made homemade gingerbread kits before as gifts, too. I stack the gingerbread house pieces on a base board along with bags of candy and tie everything up together in cellophane. Kids love it!

Don’t forget the kids! When I was growing up, my mom and sisters and I would make two large gingerbread churches each Christmas. We’d work on decorating them together a little each day after school over a couple of weeks. With my own kids, I let them each have and decorate their own gingerbread house anyway they like. We have a tradition of decorating our individual gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving. We display them as a gingerbread village table centerpiece.

There’s even more inspiration and eye candy to come! All of the houses below are the work of the very talented Mary Comstock and her daughter, Lauren Comstock Bishop. These ladies know how to decorate a gingerbread house! A great big “thank you” to both of them for permitting me to feature their lovely work in this post!

This article was originally published on Nov 25, 2015. Updated Nov 12, 2017.

The post Gingerbread Houses: Tips & Tricks appeared first on Remodelaholic.

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sherlocklexa · 7 years

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Gingerbread Houses: Tips & Tricks

You all loved Jenny's kitchen and well, her whole house! when she shared a while back. She'll be sharing her beautiful style here regularly (hooray!) and today she has some amazing inspiration, tips, tricks, and recipes for your annual gingerbread house tradition!

Gingerbread houses don't have to be fancy (think graham crackers on empty cardboard milk cartons), but if you want them to, they can be elegant, frilly, or even gaudy. You simply can't go wrong. They're an expression of your creativity and your mood—an incarnation of what the season means to you.

For nearly thirty years, I've been making gingerbread houses at Christmas time. Small ones. Big ones. Red and green ones. Pink and blue ones. Ones covered only in frosting and ones dripping in candy canes and gum drops.

You don't have to be an expert to make a gingerbread house! Don't be intimidated by the elaborate gingerbread houses you see on magazine covers. Gingerbread houses—both baking and decorating them—should be fun! No keeping up with the Joneses here. Just do your thing! Here are some tips and tricks to help you on your way . . .

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Gingerbread houses take time! Even if you're buying a ready-made kit from your local grocery store, the icing takes hours to set up, just as it does when you're building from scratch. If you're baking the gingerbread, you want to give it anywhere from a full day to even 2 weeks to dry out completely before you start building with it. And once construction is under way, the icing takes several hours to dry, requiring that you work in steps over a number of days.

To make a gingerbread house from scratch, this is what you'll need:

A pattern or template for your house or church or train or whatever it is that you're making from gingerbread. Search the Internet! There are a ton of free, as well as for-a-fee, options out there. You can also design your own. I've even used the pieces from a dollhouse kit as a template for a gingerbread house.

A reliable gingerbread dough recipe (I share a great one later in this post) and all the necessary ingredients.

Cookie or baking sheets that are not warped, but that lie flat so that your gingerbread does not end up misshapen as it bakes. You'll need a rolling pin, too, and if you've got a stand mixer, use it!

The ingredients for the “glue” needed to assemble your house. I prefer to use royal icing (I buy Wilton Meringue Powder and add water and powdered sugar according to the recipe on the can). But some people use a hot sugar syrup, which works, too. (I've even heard of people who don't plan on eating the house who use a glue gun and hot glue sticks to get the job done—nobody can see the glue under all the frosting and candy and apparently it does a great job of holding your house together).If you want to tint your icing different colors, you'll also need food coloring.

Inspiration is everywhere! In store windows, in magazines, on the Internet. And I'm not talking just gingerbread houses here, but anything that attracts your eye that could be translated in to gingerbread. For example, the first time I drove by the house featured below, I just knew I had to make it into a gingerbread house. And so I did.

This red-and-white house below was inspired by some wrapping paper I saw that had a white background with red snowflakes all over it. I loved it so much that I wanted it to be a gingerbread house! It's one of my favorite houses of all time and yet it's not terribly traditional. Think outside the box! Make your house what you want it to be!

I've been making gingerbread houses long enough that I have a sixth sense for gingerbread inspiration that stays with me 365 days/year. For example, when walking down the Halloween clearance aisles at Wal-Mart, I spotted black decorating sugar for $0.40/bottle. I knew as soon as I saw it that it would add great texture and shimmer to a candy-shingle roof on a gingerbread house. I used the sugar on the Victorian-style house I built this year. (The picture below shows a section of roof covered in watered-down royal icing that I colored black with food coloring gel. The picture below that shows the shingle-like texture I achieved by sprinkling black sanding sugar all over it while the icing was still wet).

Now it's time for my very favorite construction gingerbread recipe. It's remarkable stuff. It works in humid climates or dry ones. If dried out properly after baking, it can withstand a significant amount of weight in icing and candy. It rolls out smoothly and bakes evenly. It smells heavenly. It's heavy-duty and sturdy. It can be used for 2- and 3-story houses. My family and I have collectively made what may amount to hundreds of batches of the stuff over the years and it's never failed us. Not once. Oh, and the spices make it smell incredible!

This is a picture of me and my two sisters posing in front of 2 gingerbread houses we made together with our Mom for Christmas 1993. We used the wonderful recipe you'll find below!

My family got the recipe from Mary Comstock and her daughters Karen, Lauren, and Katie (I have featured some of Mary's and Lauren's beautiful gingerbread houses towards the end of this post). They in turn got it from a high school German teacher, Frau Em, who told them it is an authentic German recipe. The recipe has been in the Comstock family for over 40 years. And they make one or more gingerbread houses with it each Christmas (and sometimes for other holidays, like Halloween).

Even if you have your own gingerbread construction recipe, I recommend reading through this one, as I've included tips that would apply no matter what recipe you use.

And, yes, that really is the name of the recipe.

Das Pfefferkuchenhauschen or, The Never-Fail Gingerbread Recipe

(click here for a printable version of the recipe)

Each recipe makes about 1 baking sheet of dough.

Ingredients

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup molasses

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

5 cups pre-sifted white all-purpose flour

Cream shortening and sugar in a stand mixer. Add egg and molasses.

Add vinegar, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add flour gradually. (You may need to knead in the last cups of flour by hand.)

Place your pattern pieces on top of the gingerbread and cut gingerbread house pieces in gingerbread using the tip of a knife (wipe the knife clean in between cuts, if necessary) and leave them in the pan. Cut your pieces to maximize the available space just like you would if you were using cookie cutters to cut sugar cookie dough. Pieces can share sides without space in between. You don't need to separate the pieces out from the surrounding scraps at this time (in fact, it's better to leave them in to keep the gingerbread from spreading). Just be sure to cut all the way through to the pan as cleanly and precisely as possible.

When you pull the pans out of the oven, re-trace your design cuts in the gingerbread (if you don't, you won't be able to separate your house pieces from the surrounding scraps when the gingerbread has dried).

Let gingerbread cool in the baking sheets until it's no longer too hot to handle. Carefully remove the house pieces and set on cooling racks to cool completely. Ensure the pieces do not touch each other as you want the air to be able to circulate freely to dry everything out. Now is the time to pop out the ‘scraps,' before they become hard. ‘Scraps' are the insides of windows or the spaces between fence rails, etc. Remove the door, but don't throw it away because you can include it later when you assemble your house — a front door can be a fun part of your house to decorate!

Leave the gingerbread out to try. (Leaving it on cooling racks is ideal so that the air can circulate on all sides.) Gingerbread used for building should “season” about 2 weeks before being used to build with so it can dry out. Dry gingerbread is stronger and will support more weight. If you're pressed for time, or if you're building a small house, you can get away with letting it dry overnight, just be sure to limit exposure to moisture and humidity by carefully choosing where you leave the pieces to dry.

Once you have your dried pieces, it's time to build!

Inspect your gingerbread pieces. Are your edges straight? If you need to do a little trimming, I prefer a bread knife and a light hand. Be very careful as you trim, though, as you don't want the gingerbread to crack or crumble. You may want to label your pieces as you prepare to proceed so that you don't accidentally use a roof piece as a side wall, for example. You can just write on a small piece of paper and set it on top of the pieces.

If you're making a multi-story gingerbread house, I strongly recommend cutting pieces of heavy-duty cardboard to support the interior walls and roof(s). Just ‘glue' it with icing inside your gingerbread house like you ‘glue' the gingerbread together . . . run a bead of icing on all sides of the cardboard and position it in place, straight up and down, in the interior of your gingerbread house so that it comes in to direct contact with at least 2 of the inside walls and the roof.

Prepare a batch of royal icing. Cover the bowl tightly with Saran wrap or throw a damp towel over the bowl to keep the icing from drying out until you're ready to use it. (Once you start using the icing, be sure to keep what you're not using covered).

Grab a couple of cans of food or sturdy cups or something else that can be used as supports for your gingerbread walls.

Fit a pastry bag with a medium to large circle tip. Fill the bag with a cup or two of icing. (You don't want to fill it too full or it will be difficult to hold and squeeze). If you don't have a pastry or piping bag, use a heavy-duty Ziploc bag (just cut a hole in one of the corners to fit your piping tip through).

If you're going to be doing intricate piping work or decorating on your walls, it's much easier to do it before you assemble the house while your gingerbread pieces are flat. Keep that in mind so you can decide whether you want to decorate before or after assembly. The pictures below show decorating I did prior to assembly.

Also, if you'll be doing a royal icing wash (like I did both on the red-and-white gingerbread house pieces above, as well as on the large black-and-white Victorian house featured at the top of this post), you'll want to do that to the individual gingerbread pieces before you assemble them.

To make a royal icing ‘wash,' prepare a batch of royal icing. Slowly add a little warm water at a time to thin the icing until it runs freely. You don't want it too runny or it won't provide sufficient coverage. When it's ready, use a silicone pastry brush to brush it on to your walls. It takes hours and hours to dry, even longer than royal icing of regular consistency. Plan accordingly. Sometimes, after the frosting has dried, you may want to add a second coat for really thorough coverage—just be certain the first coast has dried completely before you do. Up to you.

Add the second side wall as you did the first and finish with the final wall (either the front or back piece depending on what piece you already placed). Make sure you've got your supports in place and allow the icing to dry completely (overnight) before attaching the roof.

When the icing securing the bottom section of your house has completely dried (preferably overnight), it's time to add the roof. I like to keep my supports in place against the side walls and have additional supports ready to go to hold my roof up while the icing dries.

The sky's the limit here. So many possibilities. Use royal icing as your glue to secure candy pieces, sprinkles, and whatever else your heart desires.

Photo credit: Lauren Comstock

Royal icing works great for not only for ‘gluing' your gingerbread house together, but for making custom decorations, as well. Below, I used royal icing that I had watered down to about the consistency of Elmer's White School Glue to make accents for the roof line of my gingerbread house. I piped the designs out on parchment paper using a small, round piping tip and let them set-up over night. Once dry, I carefully peeled back the parchment paper and peeled off the design, which I attached to my gingerbread house using more royal icing.

Don't forget that while you're decorating, sometimes you need a little extra help (i.e. support) to hold candy or gingerbread in place while the royal icing sets up. In the picture below, you can see that I cut a plastic drinking straw into pieces to use as supports for the awning above my window. When the icing set, I removed the straw supports.

Decorated gingerbread houses can make great gifts! Just wrap in cellophane and put a bow on it. I've also made homemade gingerbread kits before as gifts, too. I stack the gingerbread house pieces on a base board along with bags of candy and tie everything up together in cellophane. Kids love it!

Don't forget the kids! When I was growing up, my mom and sisters and I would make two large gingerbread churches each Christmas. We'd work on decorating them together a little each day after school over a couple of weeks. With my own kids, I let them each have and decorate their own gingerbread house anyway they like. We have a tradition of decorating our individual gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving. We display them as a gingerbread village table centerpiece.

There's even more inspiration and eye candy to come! All of the houses below are the work of the very talented Mary Comstock and her daughter, Lauren Comstock Bishop. These ladies know how to decorate a gingerbread house! A great big “thank you” to both of them for permitting me to feature their lovely work in this post!

This article was originally published on Nov 25, 2015. Updated Nov 12, 2017.

The post Gingerbread Houses: Tips & Tricks appeared first on Remodelaholic.

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chocdono · 7 years