Get seasonal

Posted: November 13, 2020 by mm

It seems insane to bake for the holiday season yet, but sometimes, big things needs time. Today’s challenge is to bake a “not ordinary” type cottage, but a greenhouse, just to exit a bit from the traditions. Took in total 5 hours so is a great relax tip for the weekend while staying safe at home. Measurement chart convertor & greenhouse layout attached.

RECIPE

50 g melted butter
2 eggs
250 g confectioner’s sugar
4 tbs honey
1 tsp gingerbread spices
500 g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda

ROYAL ICING

2 large egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
345 g confectioner’s sugar (sifted)

PROCEDURE

Sift the flour with the baking soda and sugar. Add butter, eggs, spices and 3 tbsp of honey first and after a while the last. Mix the compact dough in a robot or hand mixer, it will stick a little. Wrap the dough in foil and leave it to cool in the fridge.

Roll out a sheet of dough to a thicker thickness (about 0.6 mm), if too sticky add icing sugar (no flour!) or if too dry add just a bit of milk.

Cut out wall and roof templates from paper with a sharp knife.

Bake the parts on a baking sheet lined with baking paper at a temperature of about 200 ° C for about 7 minutes. Take out from the oven and let it cool.

If you want to “shine”, don’t forget the windows, adding gelatin foil (I use Dr. Oetker thus it has the perfect structure and 3D effects). The easiest way is to add with hot glue.

The windows needs to be add as first step, before proceeding with decoration.

The preparation of the royal icing is quite easy if you decide to avoid to buy the ready-to-use-ones:

beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined. Add confectioner’s sugar and beat on low speed until smooth. For thinner consistency add water a few drops at a time. Add food coloring if desired. Royal icing will dry hard, use immediately or store in air tight container. Use a piping bag and tips to create more detailed designs.
As soon as you will decor the walls and the roof you can ensemble the house. Someone use to go classic methods with egg whites, but thus the house is pretty big I went with hot glue due to the fact that I am not planning to eat it!!

You can place the green house either on the GB base or as in my case, on a wooden chopping board.

Add lights and tree decoration around to make it more cosy.