I had no intentions of making this month's Gingerbread House challenge. While intuitively I knew that making homemade gingerbread should be no harder than rolling out sugar cookies, it just seemed like a lot of work for something that rarely gets eaten. But I had a few eager elves that wanted to try their hands at it and I was more than happy to co-opt their efforts for this month's DB challenge!
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
My youngest nephew was the head chef and with the help of Grandma prepared the dough. He came up with the idea of a ski chalet which is perfect for our typical wintery Christmas Day except this year we were enjoying an unseasonably mild green Christmas. At least it would be wintery in our gingerbread world. The template was made, the dough cut out and put in the oven with a little trepidation as it seemed a little crumbly and I was worried that it wouldn't hold together. But everything came out well and with help from his oldest brother, the architect in training, the chalet with wrap around porch was constructed solidly.
And once the middle brother came up with the gummi bear party theme, all the kids were pitching together while dinner was cooking to put together the most rocking gummi party ever! Who can resist those little bears with their mugs, lining up for their drinks apres-ski. I couldn't believe how much fun they all had and we all agreed that it was better than the store bought model they used every other year. I may be biased but I think this is the most whimsical ski chalet and I'm glad I could be a part of it - if from a viewer perspective rather than as a baker. What a wonderful Christmas memory and one sure to be repeated.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! See you in the new year and here's to another year of fun and challenging recipes with the Daring Bakers.
Kelly
