Getting started
I don't usually start a blog post off with an apology but I will today. I apologise that BlogMas sorted came to a halt last week on December 23rd. That was partially because my flu was getting the better of me but mainly because of the task I had set myself and my cousins to completing (or rather constructing). We try to host a family Christmas party each year and I'm always in charge of baking something yummy. This year, I decided to turn it up a notch and do something completely different (but definitely Christmassy).
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| Opening the box of goodies |
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| Prepping the icing bag (and the house!) |
Ladies and gentlemen - it was finally time for The Amateur Anthropologist to make decorate a gingerbread house.
I'd found a box (by Wilton) that offered all the necessary tools and sweets needed for gingerbread house decorating just the other day in the local shopping mall - there was definitely no stopping me now!
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| Steady there... |
Like all good cooks/amateur bakers, I made sure I read the recipe (in this case, instructions manual). This involved prepping the piping bag with a generous amount of thick white icing to begin with, and then gluing the walls of the house before waiting for an hour for them to dry off. A tip for anyone that wants to attempt at decorating a gingerbread house in 2016 (my countdown for next year's Christmas has already begun) is to pipe a decent dose of icing on the bottom of the walls before positioning them on your base (I used a silver piece of cardboard made especially for baked goods) - this ensures that your walls are sturdy enough to stand by themselves and to later hold the roof of the house up (there have been quite a few gingerbread house fails on YouTube - probably because they didn't follow my tip!)
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| Waiting for it to dry... |
Lunch break
Making the gingerbread house required a lot of patience (because it took several hours to dry each piece). So during that time, I decided to head out to do some last minute grocery shopping for our family Christmas party. I also picked up some lunch which was awesome.
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| Mini bus-ing it to the shops |
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| Purchases for the party |
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| A (somewhat) healthy lunch |
And isn't the Christmas tree in the shopping mall near my house simply stunning? They always ensure that a new design is used each year, so it's always exciting to see what they have install for us by the time December arrives.
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| Several levels tall and colour changing - best tree ever! |
Decorating delicately
Decorating the gingerbread house did require a lot of delicate movements -- push too hard on any of the pieces and the whole building (well house) could easily collapse. We decided not to go with a design that the box had suggested us to go with. Instead, we improvised along the way. I think it worked out quite well in the end don't you?
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| (Sweet) decorations for the house |
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| Beginning with the front door |
We also used some sweets (M&M chocolates) that I had bought during my lunchtime shopping excursion, and some leftover cake decorations that had been lying around in my house - I think adding them made the gingerbread house even more special.
That's it for this post - be sure to look out for the next two BlogMas posts (which I promise will be up before this year ends which is in like what...? 2 days?!?!?!)
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| A very Merry Christmas indeed! :D |
