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.

Since I live in Southern Spain I'm missing sometimes snow, so when I saw the challenge I immediately knew what the theme for my little house would be: Dreaming of a White Christmas.

I made my own template and used Y. recipe but reduced the amount of flour because many Daring Bakers had troubles with the dough seeming too dry. Luckily mine came out just perfect, but it was more than enough dough for my little house. With half of the dough I built the house and even a base.

During the assembling of the house I've noticed: I'm a better architect than builder and decorator. ;-) I have no nerves for sophisticated decoration as you can see.

Nevertheless I had loads of fun building the house. Thank you Anna and Y. for the great challenge and Merry Christmas to all of you!

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Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas

226 g butter, room temperature
220 g brown sugar
3 tablespoons of Lebkuchengewürz
113 g boiling milk/water
2 teaspoons baking soda
625 g all-purpose flour

Royal Icing
1 egg white
about 300 g powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the Lebkuchengewürz. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water/milk and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.

2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.

3. Roll the dough out (4mm) place the patterns on the dough cut required shapes and transfer these to the baking sheet. Save any scraps and reroll at the end.

5. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

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Head also over to the Daring Kitchen Headquarter to see the original recipe as well the houses my fellow Daring Bakers made.

November 2007 Challenge - Tender Potatoe Bread
December 2007 Challenge - Yule Log
January 2008 Challenge - Lemon Meringue Pie
February 2008 Challenge - French Bread
March 2008 Challenge - Perfect Party Cake
April 2008 Challenge - Cheesecake Pops
May 2008 Challenge - Opéra Cake
June 2008 Challenge - Danish Braid
July 2008 Challenge - Filbert Gateau
August 2008 Challenge - Chocolate Eclairs
September 2008 Challenge - Lavash Crackers
October 2008 Challenge - Pizza
November 2008 Challenge - Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting
January 2009 Challenge - Tuiles
February 2009 Challenge - Flourless Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Valentino
March 2009 Challenge - Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
April 2009 Challenge - Cheesecake with Lemon Curd Topping
Mai 2009 Challenge - Banana Strudel
June 2009 Challenge - Bakewell Tart
July 2009 Challenge - Milan Cookies
September 2009 Challenge - Vols-au-Vent
October 2009 Challenge - Macarons
November 2009 Challenge - Cannoli

More entries and recipes in English.

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