DODDINGTON HALL GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT!
We have made a traditional gingerbread house of Doddington Hall, which is on display in the Hall for the December Christmas open weekends - have you seen it yet? We'd like to share the recipe hoping that you'll feel inspired make a gingerbread house of your own homes or perhaps even a regional landmark such as the Cathedral, Skegness Beach or the Boston Stump!
The following recipe is the work of Sophie Airas, sister of current owner Claire Birch. Sophie, her husband and four children spend Christmas at Doddington. Sophie’s recipe makes enough gingerbread for at least 2,000 sq. cm. You could eat your creation over the Christmas period if you wish!
To make your own gingerbread house:
Ingredients:
200 ml sugar
200 ml golden syrup
100g butter
1 tbs ground cinnamon
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3 dl milk
1 tbs sodium bicarbonate
1.5 l flour
Firstly, preheat your oven to 175 degrees centigrade. Melt the sugar, syrup, butter and spices together in a saucepan, add the milk, then let the mixture cool. Finally add the flour and bicarbonate, having combined them first. Fold in well. Knead the mixture well then leave it rest overnight in the fridge. The next day, take the dough out of the fridge well in advance of rolling out so that it has a chance to warm up and
soften up. Roll out to around half a cm thickness, then cut out your shapes slightly larger than needed. (You should work this out first, perhaps making a paper template.) Cook your pieces in the middle of the oven for 10 - 20 minutes depending on the size of each. (They will not be totally hard when they come out of the oven
but when they cool they will harden up and become quite tough. If you overcook
>them and they dry out too much in the oven they will be more breakable.) Unfortunately the pieces tend to change shape a little in the oven, depending on how much they were stretched out by the rolling pin before baking. After they have cooled it is quite easy to trim off the edges with a serrated knife - this makes it much easier to stick the pieces together.
Before assembling the pieces it is best to decorate them with thick icing (icing sugar with a little water) piped on as windows, roof tiles etc. You can use a strong freezer bag with a tiny hole cut out of one corner if you do not have a piping bag. Use sugar melted to a caramel in a frying pan to stick the pieces together. (This part is not suitable for small children as the sugar is extremely hot!) After assembly you can stick on sweets etc with the same melted sugar. Sweets such as green marshmallows make for good bushes! Be sure to sieve icing sugar over the whole thing as a final snow sprinkle.
Gingerbread houses traditionally remind us of the witch’s house in the story of Hansel & Gretel. They are popular at Christmas, and are decorated with icing and sweets. Such is Claire’s love of these popular pretty houses, they are sold ready made in the Farm Shop and resemble little cottages, just as you may stumble upon in the woods if you are very little and lost...!
ENDS
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