Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House

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.

In general, Mr Splorer and I don't seem to conform to gender stereotypes. He's the tidy one, for a start, getting exasperated when I get home and dump my stuff wherever it falls. And then there's the famous time when we decided not to celebrate Valentine's day, but he got annoyed when I went out drinking with my mates. But when it comes to gingerbread houses, I'm the one who makes pretty hearts out of Smarties, while Mr Splorer swaggers in like a builder, announcing that my walls need reinforcing and getting to work on some gingerbread 'beams' to strengthen the structure. Looks like you can't escape those stereotypes forever!

So, here is the finished house ...

... all of two minutes before the whole thing collapsed! Hardly surprising when you take a look at the other side:

Not pretty, eh? Even the smarties are trying to abandon ship.

Yes, despite Mr Splorer's best efforts, it collapsed almost immediately. But I feel I learnt a lot of lessons about making gingerbread houses, which I shall share with you here:

• Giant chocolate buttons, though clearly aesthetically ideal for roof tiles, are a tad too heavy for this sort of thing. I was intending to get normal buttons, but got carried away in the shop. As so often happens. 
• A little last minute reinforcement of the basic structure may not be sufficient, and internal walls should possibly be considered in future. 
• Gingerbread for houses should be pretty thick, except for the roof, which should be relatively thin. Rather than the other way around. (Doh!)
  
• Even if your gingerbread house collapses, there's always a bright side. Visiting friends will be delighted to take the ruins apart and eat them, especially the bits with giant chocolate buttons on. 
• Men may be into the DIY aspects of the gingerbread, but they can also turn out to be talented at making French snowmen out of nothing more than a couple of white chocolate maltesers, a blue smartie and a bit of icing. 

So, I feel I've learnt a lot and definitely want to have another go. But next time, I will give a lot more thought to how the bloody thing is going to stay up, as well as the decorative aspects. But it was a lot of fun as a joint project, so maybe the secret is to get Mr Splorer involved from the start.

And now I'm off on a tour of the country, with no internet access until God knows when, so I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

Spiced orange festive biscuits

I did this like a proper food writer - testing out different variations to come up with a recipe I was happy with. Admittedly it might be slightly cheating to start off with a proper recipe from a book (and once again, it was Rachel Allen that had what I needed), but I feel I made them much more Christmassy, with lots of spices and orangeyness. I handed them out to chums and workmates as edible Christmas cards today, and they went down very well indeed. And they are very easy to make, so they may well become my festive signature dish.

Adapted from Rachel Allen's German spice and hazelnut cookies in Bake

125g butter
80g soft light brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
zest of 2 oranges
50g hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4.
Cream the butter until soft and then add the sugar. Beat together until fluffy, then mix in the egg and vanilla extract. Sift in the flour, bicarb and spices, then add the zest and bring the mixture together. (This bit's easier with your hands.) Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop hazelnuts very small (I used the food processor) and then roast in the oven for about 10 minutes - until they start to smell nice!
Roll out the dough to about 5mm and cut out with cookie cutters. Lay out on a baking tray (no need for any greaseproof paper or anything) and sprinkle with hazelnuts. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes - until the edges start to brown. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before taking off the tray.
Makes about 40.

I decorated the biscuits with royal icing, made according to this recipe.

And to finish, I have a question. What's the difference between a cookie and a biscuit? I know it's a UK/US thing but you do also see cookies around these parts. Look, Rachel's original recipe was for cookies. And you don't usually buy a chocolate chip biscuit. So is it the encroaching influence of the USA that's changing our language, or are they two different products in the UK? Any ideas?

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Oh, the festive season - when your social life goes from nought to 60 in 2 days and you start spend your evenings at events of enforced jolliness, trying not to embarrass yourself in front of your workmates! Though I shouldn't complain - at least I'm not in the team that had to go to karaoke last night. That sounds like enforced jolliness on an epic scale.
Not that I'm a bah humbug type, far from it. I've been having a fine old time seeking out festive fun. And that's why I missed the Wednesday round-up last week. And I've been getting very behind in my blog reading - I had to work my way through over 250 posts this evening. Which is a fine way to spend an evening - as long as it's not the same evening you simply must make your Christmas biscuits to hand out at work! But there have been some delicious looking goodies around over the last week or two, so here goes.
First of all, I really like the sound of this recipe for Stuffed peppers, from Nigel Slater's new book Tender. It sounds incredibly simple but tasty - just the sort of thing you can rely of Nigel for. And he's also responsible for this Chickpea and chorizo stew, a colourful, comforting one pot meal made with two of my favourite ever ingredients. And while I've got chorizo in the house, I'm also going to make Refried beans with salsa and chorizo. Liz puts anchovies in her recipe, and I'm dying to give it a try, having become a total convert to adding anchovies for extra flavour to all kinds of dishes.
Other delicious savoury treats I spotted this Welsh Rarebit soup, made with leeks, beer and cheese, this Empanada Gallega, a classic Spanish pie perfect for filling with leftover fish or meat and this Chicken, butternut and feta lasagne, which looks creamy and delicious.
As for sweet things I think you might like of late, well, I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you like chocolate, I'd strongly recommend that you head over to see these Molten chocolate puddings, these Dark chocolate, cinnamon and hazelnut truffles and these Very chocolate cupcakes. And if you enjoy your deep fried doughnut type desserts, check out these Churros y chocolate and these Pear fritters. Yum and yum!
But all this normal food is fine and dandy, but where's the festive stuff, I hear (some of) you cry. Well, don't you worry, there's plenty of recipes around blogsville for the eager Christmas cook. Firstly, one of my very favourite seasonal treats is mulled wine, so I was delighted to see a recipe at Gin and Crumpets. Or an equally festive alternative that definitely looks worth a try is this Apple & Spice vin chaud. There's also a Christmas cake recipe that I think I might have to try next year. (As eager beaver readers know, I've already made mine.) This one at Sarah Cooks looks so moist and delicious - and it's ANOTHER Nigel Slater recipe. That boy gets about, doesn't he?
It's always handy to have a cake for those people who don't like Christmas cake (foolish but quite common, I find) and this Sticky orange and almond cake looks like just the job. Or how about these turrón inspired Almond, honey and orange shortbreads, which look so fragrant and crumbly? In fact, there's loads of sweet Christmassy treats around - I'd also like to point you in the direction of these Spiced oat cookies inspired by something called a pfeffernusse, which is apparently a German spiced cookie. Not a noise you make when you sneeze. Anyway, check out the cookies, they are gorgeous. I also really like the idea of Gingerbread pancakes - a nice bit of spiciness to start a festive day, and I imagine that they'd get you through a great deal of Christmas shopping. Next in the parade of seasonal sweets are these Stained glass window cookies. I'd never heard of such a thing, but as is always the way, someone brought them up in conversation just after I'd seen this post. A marvellous idea for making very pretty cookies. And finally, Sig of Scandilicious did a stall at Covent Garden market and has provided the recipes for a whole long list of amazing cakes here.
Meanwhile, there are the savoury items also to be taken care of, and two very different posts jumped out at me here. One was for a classic, but one where you're always looking for tips and hints in the quest for perfection - The Daily Spud's guide to the perfect roast potato. The other uses a traditional Christmas ingredient to make something totally new and inspiring - a Sprout and pomegranate pilaff.
And last but by no means least, there is a wonderful long list of holiday baking and present ideas here, as well as the PDF for some very cute gift tags for your presents.

Clementine Curd

To tell you the truth, it never really mattered who my secret Santa-ee was, it was always going to be a food based gift. Who can be disappointed by a couple of jars of Christmas themed goodies, eh? Well hopefully not the recipient of one jar of home-made mincemeat and one jar of clementine curd. I was going to make lemon curd, but then I spotted this recipe for clementine curd on Chocolate Teapot, which sounded like a much more festive option. I halved the recipe, which made two jars - one for Secret Santa and one for me and Mr Splorer to enjoy! The only other change I made was to make it in bain marie, just because that's how it's done in my usual lemon curd recipe, and I didn't trust my gas hobs to provide a low heat. As with lemon curd, this was a really easy recipe that makes you feel so competent. There's something about putting things in jars that makes you feel like a proper cook who fills their larder with preserved goodies, ready with a jam or chutney for any occasion.
Meanwhile, apologies to any of you who noticed the absence of the Wednesday round-up of deliciousness. The Christmas whirl seems to have started in earnest round my way, but I promise that the round-up will reappear next week. In between the three Christmas meals I've got in this week, which involve one chocolate tart, one chocolate torte, various hunks of meat and no doubt a rather dodgy bit of turkey from the work canteen. I'm going to be in serious training for Christmas eating!

Mincemeat

It being December, I'm sure there are more mincemeat recipes online than you can shake a Chistmas tree at, so I wouldn't add this one to the pile if it wasn't a goodie. It has been handed down the generations, to me from my parents, and to my parents from ... err ... Constance Spry. If you're not familiar with Constance Spry, she has, according to Wikipedia, been described as the "Martha Stewart of mid-century Britain". And apparently she did the flowers for Queen Elizabeth's coronation. As far as I was concerned, she's the author of one of those browning little cookery books with teeny tiny print and no pictures that my parents are always referring to, along with Anna Thomas and Elizabeth David. And the woman responsible for the family mincemeat recipe. One important consideration is that this recipe is vegetarian, so my Dad can have some. So there's no suet in this one, but, trust me, it doesn't feel like you're missing out on anything. In fact, I was so determined to make this when I was living in Costa Rica that, not having a food processor, I chopped up all the ingredients by hand. Murder on the hands, I can tell you - a food processor makes life SO much easier.
I actually halved this recipe, but am giving you the full thing because I couldn't resist giving a recipe which called for a gill of alcohol (and I don't know the measurement for half a gill!). Half makes a lot - enough to fill a large mixing bowl. So more than enough to keep me in mince pies for the foreseeable future.

Mincemeat

1 kilo each of raisins, currants and apples

500g sultanas

700g grapes (seeded)

200g blanched almonds (chopped)

zest and juice 3-4 lemons

1 kilo sugar

(100g candied peel)

1 gill (quarter of a pint) brandy or rum

Peel, core and chop apples. Mix all ingredients together and put through food processor.

My big family Christmas plans are getting quite complicated, with people falling out and dropping out all over the place, and we haven't even got together yet. But whenever things get fraught, I'm just going to reach for another mince pie and another glass of mulled wine, and all will wash over me as I slump on the sofa in Christmassy haze!

Oh, and my other festive preparation work has been the production of this cake:

It's a Port and Orange Christmas cake, with the recipe supplied by Gin and Crumpets. Obviously, I can't vouch for how it tastes just yet, but the combination of the port, orange and dried fruit smelt amazing - sweet and fruity. I am studiously feeding it with port and can't wait to break this baby open!

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

First, and foremost, big thanks to Jenny from the Red Mangetout for last week's excellent round-up - there were some really great links there. And I was amazed to see how many people were inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's pear cake. I really must get around to making that myself soon. 
And secondly before we get to the round-up proper, I must just mention Food Blogger Connect, a most stupendous event I attended on Saturday. It took place in a splendid restaurant called Levant in London and I popped down for the day. It was a really excellent, inspiring event, with talks on food photography, finding your voice and social networking. The only problem was that the time passed so fast that suddenly lunch was done, the talks had finished and it was time to brave the rain and tootle off back to Cambridge. But there's talk of another, longer one in June, to which I say hurrah!
So, let's start with a round-up of fab food bloggers who attended and their posts about the event. Our fabulous speakers were Meeta from What's For Lunch Honey?, Kang from London Eater, Jeanne from Cook Sister! and Jamie from Life's a feast. I was particularly excited to see Jeanne and Jamie as I am an avid follower of both those blogs - and they didn't disappoint. Together they did a really interesting presentation about finding your voice. I'm still trying to decide if I'm a writer who likes cooking or a cook who likes writing (maybe neither!), and I'm sure I'll be thinking about a lot of their points for quite a while. The other organisers were Bethany of Dirty Kitchen Secrets, Mowie of Mowielicious and Hilda of Saffron & Blueberry - check out their websites for their write-ups. Then head over to a few attendee's websites - Maison Cupcake, Kitchen Butterfly, Cooking Your Dream and Sunita's World, as well as this write-up from Paul of Get Me Cooking. And I can guarantee that by the time you've seen all those, you'll have seen more beautiful shots of mezze and smiling blogger types than you ever thought possible! 
Oh, and one last thing. Jeanne talked to us about the BloggerAid Cookbook, so I'd just like to mention it and encourage any American readers particularly to invest. It looks really beautifully put together and is for a great cause. If you're interested, head over here for Jeanne to tell you all about it. 
Right, back to Wednesday round-up business as usual! Let's start with this luscious looking Sticky toffee bread and butter pudding from the Graphic Foodie. It was so good it converted her to stodgy puds, though I need no such conversion - just the name of this little number gets my mouth watering. Also very firmly in the camp of delicious stodge, I would say, is this boxty from the Daily Spud. I'd never heard of it before, but it turns out to be an Irish potato dish, and the post gives three different methods of cooking it, all from an authentic Irish mammy. Another potatoey dish that caught my eye this week was these cute Chive potato balls from Allotment 2 Kitchen. They look easy peasy but delicious - all crunchy on the outside and soft and potatoey on the inside. Yum!
Meanwhile, I'm obviously craving a bit of curry, as I have picked out a lot of dishes with curry flavours from the last week. This Prawn Coconut Laksa from The British Larder looks just heavenly, with a fragrant home-made paste. My Colombian Recipes had a guest post from Velva of Tomatoes on the Vine about this Tropical Curried Chicken with Rice - it's a prizewinner and everything! Meanwhile, Stephen and Kerri of Dinner Diary have produced two amazing curry posts this week. The first is nothing short of a feast - Rogan Josh, Chana Dal, Spiced Cauliflower and Naan bread from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery. And then there's this enticing Indonesian Chicken Curry - another one that starts with a fragrant paste that you can almost smell as you read the ingredients.
There were a few extremely easy little dishes around this week. This recipe for Pasta with Fried prosciutto, Parmesan and Butter from Orangette has a grand total of five ingredients, and likes like a really simple but delicious dish. Eggs can always be relied on for quick and simple, so I really like the sound of both these Eggs baked in Phyllo with Goats cheese and Bacon and these Eggs baked in cream. However am I going to decide how to bake my eggs first?
Now, please don't think that I've forgotten about the sweet things. (Really, what are the chances of that?!) Firstly, I need to dash out and get myself some plums, so that I can make these Mini Sugar Plum Tarte Tatins from Maison Cupcake and this Plum tart from Foodycat. Then, it wouldn't be a round-up without at least one cupcake and/or muffin recipe, so how about one of each? Blueberry muffins from Let Her Bake Cake and Burnt butter brown sugar cupcakes from The Caked Crusader both look so soft and inviting. 
And to finish, a couple of recipes for classics that I'd like to perfect. Firstly, this White tin loaf from Domestic Goddess in Training looks so perfect - it just screams out to be made into a massive pile of bacon sandwiches. And who amongst you can resist a good dollop of aioli? I certainly can't and thus will have to try this Julia Child aioli recipe from Through My Kitchen Window. Any suggestions about what to have it with would be most welcome!