Winter Gingerbread Cottages

There's a reason why I've never done a Christmas gingerbread house class. 

Let's be realistic, this is Durban... Christmas means heat, humidity, and ants (and family and fun and festivities, yes - but mostly heat and humidity 🙈)

So, winter is the best time to construct these cottages. They're not going to fall apart as soon as you're finished putting on the final shingle.... 

 Talking about shingles, how clever is that idea to use ribbons or twine to keep the roof together?!
So clever. I can't take the credit. Thanks Pinterest!

 These cottages are a lovely size - not too large that they require a kilo of royal icing to construct, but not miniature either.
The perfect size for a little weekend getaway spot in the woods  😉

My lovely friend Lauri of Treat Boutique  made up the cutters for the class for me, but I used a template to test out my design initially. I've shared the dimensions with you here. But please support Treat Boutique and order cutters from them.

You'll need to cut out two of each shape. 

The cottage is narrow from front to back, so note how the  long axis of the roof is orientated. 

The side walls are also orientated with the long axis up/down and not sideways. 

The dashed lines in the drawing are optionals - a scalloped edge for the roof, and a circle cut out of the front of the cottage. 

A sprinkling of royal icing "snow" completes the winter wonderland look.
See here to make royal icing crush -  https://www.cloughd9cookies.com/home/easy-ice-cream-cone-cookies. Use white royal icing instead, and ta-da ... it's snowing in Durban!

Happy cottage constructing!

xxM

School Cookies - Pencil Sharpeners

If you know me, you know that I like to be prepared - I don't just wing it.
There's not enough time in the week for winging. (And there's not enough serotonin in my brain to deal with chaos!)
But over-preparedness can be a problem, too.  When I bake cookies for classes,  I do it at the beginning of the week (...being well-prepared, you know!).
However, that means that I might over-cater for the classes by the time the final numbers are in.

What do I do with the extra cookies?
Unlike me, they're good at chilling...

And by that I mean that they go into the freezer, until I can find another use for them.

 Sometimes their fate is to be ground up (sorry cookies!) to be used as bases for cheesecake or tarts; but sometimes they actually get decorated.

These were left-over from the "Too Cool for School" class we did in May.  And now they're going to be super-cool at a school cake sale.

This also gives me an opportunity to share a quick tutorial on making the sharpener, that I intended as a post back in May, but didn't get around to writing up (busy as I was, baking all those unwanted extra cookies...😉)

Pencil Sharpener Cookies

If you don't have a pencil sharpener cutter, improvise by using a rectangle cutter
- cut in half if it's a large rectangle
- and trim the sides with a round or oval cutter...

To decorate 

-  Pipe half the metal inner with grey royal icing; leave to dry, then pipe the other half. Add a dot. 

  (This creates that textural distinction between the two side.) 

- Outline and flood the rest of the shape with your colour of choice. 

- Once the grey area is completely dry, brush on silver lustre dust. 

 

And while we're talking about freezing cookies -
When you thaw biscuits, if they need crisping up, simply place them in a warm oven (50'C) with the thermofan on, and they'll be good to go in a few minutes.

Happy decorating!

xxM

Seed Crunchies

School holidays... we eagerly await them and the respite they bring from the morning rush and packing lunch boxes.
  But can we talk about how many snacks kids need when we spend a whole day at home?! I land up taking mine out for milkshakes and hamburgers more often than I should, because I can't face having to come up with yet another wholesome meal to see them through 30 minutes until they're yelling "Mom, can I have a snack!" again...

Thankfully my daughter enjoys baking, so she helps me whip up goodies to keep some of the hunger monsters at bay.

Here's a favourite:

Seed Crunchies

Preheat the oven to 180'C
Line a square baking pan (20x20cm) with parchment paper

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbs golden syrup
150g butter
1 tsp baking soda

1 cup plain flour
1 cup oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup mixed seeds - sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, linseed, etc

In a small saucepan, melt together the sugar and butter.
Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and sugar mixture. Combine well.
Press into the baking tin.
Bake at 180'C for approx. 15 minutes, until just starting to turn a golden brown.
Cut in squares while still hot, but leave in the baking tin until cool.

Ok. One snack option done, three dozen to go....!

Happy baking

xxM