turn-key

Well, I made it. But just barely. The challenge for this month's Daring Bakers' was a gingerbread house, made completely from scratch. I used the template and recipes from Martha Stewart’s website for the snow swept gingerbread cottage. I would love to say that I enjoyed every moment of the process, but frankly I cannot. To be able to share that while I was mixing the spicy ginger dough, the lovely sound of classical Christmas music flowed through my ever peaceful home. To be able to share that while the perfectly formed gingerbread framework was cooling on their racks the scent of cinnamon filled the kitchen. And then the joys of seeing it all come together as each piece fit seamlessly, just as I had planned.

Yeah right.

It was more like make the dough one day. Roll out the dough or at least most of it over the next few days when it fit in my schedule. Bake off the pieces only to realize that the website never gave a template or dimensions for the roof. So pull out the ruler and calculator and roll out more dough (thankfully I made extra). More days go by as the finished pieces await their construction. Make the caramel syrup for gluing it together (twice) only to get one section glued before the whole mass turned to rock hard sugar crystals. Another day, make royal icing instead for gluing, which worked much better.

This type of thing for me ranks right up there with knitting (no offense to you knitter's out there) but I just don't have the patience for fine detail work. Plus the fact that I'm a control freak with a type A personality makes for a bad combination. Maybe this is something that needs to be put on my “things to work on in 2010” list.

Hopefully my ranting does not detour you from trying one of these next year. I’m pretty sure it is a “user error” type of situation.

On another note, I am looking forward to getting back to normal baking.

Happy New Years!

Shannon