As we approach this Saturday’s Gingerbread House Making Lesson (Saturday, December 12, 2020 12:00pm-2:00pm PST) I’ve got some questions to answer.
If you’d like to join the lesson, it’s part of our monthly “Holiday Dessert” lesson that you get joining the Kids Can Cook Inner Circle, which includes 10 lives cooking lessons a month, with over 12 hours of lesson to WILL get your kids to eat new foods, more vegetables and bond with you in the kitchen.
We’ve got 17 spots left at this special price, join at www.kidscancookinnercircle.com
Anyway, I did a trial run of the house last Wednesday with Andrew, the young kid I mentor through Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Los Angeles. We learned a LOT during this lesson.
Here’s an old post on when I made13 gingerbread houses in one night and stayed up 33 hours straight cooking
Q: What will we do during the two hour lesson?
A: The lesson will consist of a few stages
- Make the dough. I’ll do this with a stand mixture, but you can use a hand blender as well. Then we’ll let the dough rest
- Make the royal icing. This is a combination of egg whites, cream of tartar (to help bind it) and LOTs of powdered sugar. This is your glue, that when it hardens, will keep your house intact and your decorations stable!
- Roll out the dough and bake the house pieces. There are 6 pieces to build: two side walls, two front and back frames and two roof pieces. They must be rolled out fairly thin, so they don’t fall apart. We’ll bake them in two batches.
- Assemble the house: This will be in a few stages, with one person holding the pieces together and applying the icing, and another using a blow dryer to speed up the drying. Once you build the frame, the tricky part is adding the roof pieces and making sure they fit well. There are some tips and tricks to make it stable.
After that you must WAIT.
Q: When will we decorate it?
A: Once your house has rested for at LEAST 2 hours and the royal icing has hardened, you can start to decorate it. This is the MOST FUN part.
Put on some pleasant holiday or pop background music, put a LOT of different candies in little bowls and create a memory of decorating your house. I did this with the help of a friend (frankly, I’m not the best decorator) and I’m very happy with the results. That memory of putting it together was a really fun experience on its own.
Suggested Candy decorations includes: m and ms, ice cream cone (to make a tree), gum drops, swedish fish, jelly beans, gummy bears, licorice, candy canes, mints and powdered sugar to make it look like it “snowed”
Q: Can I bring a friend to participate in the lesson?
A: A few clients have asked me about this and the answer is yes if they are helping YOU build your house on your screen.
Example: If you’re a Kids Can Cook Inner Circle member and you invite your extended family over to your house, you’re still only using one screen, which is fine. Everyone can participate in the lesson, but we are still building only one house. However, you can build MORE houses once you get the hang of it. Just remember to have the extended family not take over the lesson and ask a ton of questions, so we can keep the focus on the core members.
Q Can I eat the frosting?
A: Technically… no because it’s made out of egg whites! If you want to make an edible frosting, you can just mix milk or water with powdered sugar.
That being said…a tiny bit of egg white isn’t the end of the world to consume on a cookie with m & ms on top 🙂
Q Can I make cookies?
A: Yes! You can double the recipe and make lots of gingerbread men or trees and those you can eat.
Q Can I eat the house?
A: Why do you want to eat the house???? Because it’s made of candy?? 😛
I get it, the house will get you hungry just hanging out in your home. I had to MOVE it on top of a book shelf just so I wouldn’t stare at it all the time and want to eat candy.
You could eat the house…but I wouldn’t. I leave mine out for a month or two just so people can see it! That’s the point 🙂
Q: How long can I keep the house up on display?
A: I would say 1-2 months. If flies come out or something, you might want to get rid of it, but I haven’t found that to be an issue. Put it in a place people can see it! It really showcases the magic of the holidays.
With the lesson coming up, go to Kids Can Cook Inner Circle. Click the subscribe button in the corner and you’ll gain immediate access to the Gingerbread house lesson this Saturday!
And you also get weekly 1-hour healthy dinner classes, a monthly gourmet lesson with me, 70+ of our best recipes, an exclusive newsletter for parents and aprons shipped to your door! It’s a lot of stuff at a great price.
It’s limited to the next 17 signups, and the price will go up in January JOIN HERE Today
Get Cooking,
Chef Eric Horwitz
