GingerBread House

The Joy is in the journey and in this case the destination too... Wishing Everyone Merry Christmas and Happy holidays.

Mission accomplished. I always wanted to make a Gingerbread House and finally we made it. My first ever Gingerbread House made from scratch. Not that there's anything wrong with the pre-assembled ones. I had waited so long to make one I wanted to experience the joy of making one right from scratch. Also I had promised my son we'll make one soon. Now since it was so close to Christmas I started frantically searching for the recipes and the know-how before we set out in our venture. Finally zeroed in on a good recipe. Got all the ingredients and then waited for a good day to start with our "Gingerbread House project". Ok let me admit to you that I almost chickened out but since we had made plans and the ingredients were all set up right on my kitchen counter , it was hard to ignore this Project any longer.

So this is how our Mission was Accomplished. We did not do it all in one day. It always helps if we break it up in smaller sessions. We took 1 and half days - just like half an hr to an hour sessions. Only the decorating took more time.

• First I Cut out the template/pattern for the house.
• Prepared the dough for the Gingerbread house.
• Baked all the pieces of the house (4 pieces for the walls and 2 for the roof).
• Made the Royal Icing .
• Put the house pieces together using Royal Icing.
• Decorated our GingerBread House.
  

This is where I got my recipe for this structural strong Gingerbread house. Also since we still have a few days before X'mas and I have tested this recipe. IT works. I would recommend this to everyone out there who wants to make a gingerbread house. Also a great project for the holidays where you can involve your kids.

To Make Gingerbread House Dough.

Ingredients

• 2 cups light corn syrup (or dark corn syrup for a darker house)
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups or butter
• 9 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

**Using the above ingredients I made one house and have some dough left over (little less than half) which I'll use to make Christmas ornaments. So if you are using the above recipe you can make the adjustments as needed. For me this is my 1st time so just wanted to try as is ..without any major changes.

Preparation :

1) In a bowl add the butter, corn syrup and brown sugar and microwave until the butter melts.

2. Stir well until the brown sugar dissolves.

3. Add this mixture to the flour and knead into a dough.

4. If you are not using the dough right away , Keep it covered in a plastic wrap and refrigerate.

5. Now if the dough is refrigerated and its too hard to roll just microwave for 10-20 seconds. Now roll the dough to 1/4 " thick with a rolling pin on an aluminium foil/Parchment paper so that we could cut out the pattern for our Gingerbread House. We would need parchment paper to roll out the dough . Also aluminium foil works well (since I did not have parchment paper). Also this helps us to transfer the pattern onto the baking sheet. If you try to get them off and then transfer the pattern could be pulled and will not be of the right measurements. Place the template/pattern onto the rolled dough.

6. Cut using a pizza cutter or kinife.

7. Repeat this until you get all the pieces for the house. 2 gabble walls, 2 regular walls and 2 roofs.

8. Bake on a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. I baked mine for almost 14 minutes.

9. Let them cool and then transfer them carefully to a wire rack to cool completely. In fact I let them cool for about 3 hours before I assembled them.

10. Now before we begin assembling the Gingerbread House its a good idea to keep all the walls of the house and the decorations handy. Because once we make the Royal Icing its always good to begin gluing them together as soon as possible as Super Icing dries very quicky.

11. Making Royal Icing.

• 3 3/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

* I have used 1 teaspoon of lemon juice as a substitute for cream of tartar.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and turn mixer on high and beat till its thick and white. It should take around 7 -10 minutes. You could also whisk it by hand for about 7-8 minutes. Thats what I did and you will notice its getting harder to whisk as it gets thicker. Our Royal Icing is Ready.

*** Always cover your Royal Icing with plastic wrap, making sure it touches the royal icing so a crust doesn't form since it dries out quickly. Also if the icing gets too thick you could add little water and if its too thin add more confectioners' sugar.

12. I did get a 15" cardboard circle to built my gingerbread house on (foundation). Now fill up a pastry bag with the icing and begin assembling the Gingerbread house.You could check out the step by step assembling tips here. Its recommended to use a #10 plain round tip for bold lines and #3 plain round tip for thin lines. Begin by making a L shape with the icing. I made thick and bold lines so that the walls could have enough glue to stick together and be strong. Now add two adjacent walls. Hold on to them for about 30 seconds to a minute and then continue with the other two walls. On the inner side of the wall apply some icing to all the four seams. Now go onto to the roof. Apply a thik bead of icing on all the top edges of the wall and attach one roof at a time. Then apply icing onto the seam where the two roofs meet.

13. The decoration begins. This is the best part. This is the time to unleash your inner child and just have fun...Enjoy.

Irish Potato Soup

This is an easy soup to make with all ingredients available in your pantry. Now I would presume that Potato is an universally loved vegetable. Every cuisine has some use for this wonderful vegetable. Did you know that Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat and maize. Well how do you think I know, just read it at our valuable and reliable source which is Wikipedia. Read More about potatoes here.

Also the Irish Potato Soup has a lot of variations. Some use celery and leeks in the soup as well.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium size potatoes peeled and cubed
• 1 cup red onion chopped
• 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
• small piece of ginger
• 1-2 green chillies chopped (optional)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup milk
• freshly crushed black pepper
• salt to taste
• 5-6 cups vegetable stock or water

Preparation:

• Heat butter in a thick bottomed pan. Add the Bay leaves. Then Saute the onions ,garlic and ginger till about golden brown.

• Add the green chillies and diced potatoes. Fry for about 2 minutes.
• Add the vegetable stock/water . Season with salt and pepper and cook covered for about 25 -30 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
• Now carefully remove the bay leaves and puree the rest in a Blender.
• Transfer it back to the pan and add milk and stir it well. Let it simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
• Adjust the seasoning. Ready to serve. This recipe serves 4.
  

Vegetable Hakka Noodles

Vegetable Hakka Noodles is simply loved by everyone. I would call it an Indo-Chinese dish. Hakka noodles are flat noodles and they are quick cooking noodles. Since I'm a big fan of Quick, Easy and Healthy Meals its no secret why this recipe finds itself here.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Hakka Noodles (Ching's Secret)


• 1 cup cabbage shredded


• 1 cup carrot cut into julienne


• 1 cup green bell pepper sliced


• 1 bunch of spring onions chopped


• 1/4 cup ginger sliced


• 1/4 cup red onion sliced


• 2 tablespoon oil

Preparation :

• Prepare by chopping all the vegetables as shown.

*I buy carrots cut into thin strips like matchsticks...thats what you see in the picture. It's a real time saver.

• Now cook the noodles as per the package instructions. In case of Ching's Secret Hakka noodles. Boil 10 cups of water in a large pan. When the water comes to a boil, cook the noodles for ONLY 2 minutes. The noodles are cooked Al dente. Now drain the noodles and spread them on a flat surface. Add 1 teaspoon of oil onto the noodles to prevent them from sticking.

• Prepare the sauces : In one bowl take 1 teaspoon soy sauce,1 teaspoon green chilli sauce, 1 teaspoon chilli vinegar and 1 teaspoon red chilli sauce. The other bowl is 2 tablespoons of Schezwan sauce. This is optional. (I like to add this sauce as well to my vegetable hakka noodles though tradionally its added to Vegetable Schezwan noodles).

**You could adjust the seasonings to your taste if you think this is too hot for you . I use Ching's Secret Sauces.**

• Now heat oil in a wok or frying pan on a high flame. Add all the vegetables except the spring onions and stir-fry for about a minute. Add both the sauces and stir fry until vegetables are crunchy and half cooked. Now add the noodles and stir fry on high flame for 2-3 minutes.
  
• Ready to serve. Garnish with the chopped green onions.
  

Rava Dosa - Semolina Crepes

Rava Dosas are Instant. No Grinding, no pre-soaking required. I always enjoyed the Rava Dosa in the restaurants but never tried them at home. I knew you needed some practice in making Rava Dosa. So Today I mustered enough courage to try my hand at making Rava Dosa. Also I was getting ready to participate in Malar Gandhi's event "Mishaps in the kitchen". So I knew If this venture did not go well I could always send this post to her event.

The first couple Dosas were not really picture worthy. I had to scrape them off the Tava(Griddle). They tasted like Rava Dosa but did not quite look like the picture I envisioned. Also by now the kids knew there was going to be dosa for dinner. So I better start getting my act straight or cook something up real quick. Thank God it was Friday night, so no dead line for bedtime. I put the flame on slow. Then by the fourth try it did turn out a little better. I was happy and so were the kids as by now they were really hungry. Now you be the judge and tell me how they turned out.

Ingredients :

1) 1/2 cup Rava /Semolina /Sooji

2) 1/2 cup Rice flour

3) 1/4 cup Maida or All purpose flour

4) 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

5) 2 green chillies finely chopped

6) 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

7) pinch of hing or asofoetida

8) salt to taste

9) 3 1/2 - 4 cups water

10) oil for roasting the dosa

* You could substitute water for butter milk. This recipe is a bit forgiving as to the amount of water or butter milk you could add, since the batter is not as thick . You could compare the consistency to that of butter milk.

Preparation:

1) Mix together Rava, Maida and Rice flour . Add the water and make a batter making sure that no lumps are formed.

2)Now add the salt, hing(asofoetida), cumin seeds, chopped green chillies and chopped ginger.

3) Keep this aside for 30 minutes.

4) Heat a Dosa Tava or Griddle.

5) Mix the batter well and pour a laddle full of batter start from the outside to the inside in a circular manner. The preparation of this dosa is quite different than our regular Dosa. The way its done is you first make the outer circle of the dosa and then fill the centre with the batter. While making the Dosa keep it medium to low flame.

6) Add oil around the dosa and some oil on top of the dosa. I do make it on a high flame now for the dark golden and crispy look.

7) Once golden brown turn over and fry for another minute or so.

8) Serve hot with coconut chutney and sambhar.

Cranberry Raisin and Almond Biscotti

Ever since I saw this recipe last month on Julia Child's food show rerun on PBS, I've been dreaming about making these Biscotti. This recipe happens to be in her book, "Baking with Julia". She was a remarkable chef no doubt about it. In fact she had a guest on her show who was making these wonderful delicious Biscotti with Currants. I did not have any currants in the house so I have substituted Currants with Cranberry, Almonds and Raisins. The rest of the recipe is as is. This is my first attempt at making Biscotti. I was'nt really happy with the looks as I wanted to post this recipe on my blog. But they tasted really good and I wanted to share this reipe. I'll try it again and hopefully get some good pictures.

The word "biscotti" in Italian is the plural form of biscotto and applies to any type of biscuit (in the UK sense of a very dry, hard cookie or cracker). The word originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-cooked/baked". To read more about Biscotti its available here .

Ingredients:

1) 1 cup all purpose flour

2) 1 cup cornmeal

3) 1 full egg and 1 yolk

4) 3/4 cup granulated sugar

5) 1 teaspoon salt

6) 1 stick unsalted butter

7) 1 cup mix of Cranberries, Raisins and Chopped Almonds

8) 1 teaspoon baking powder

* I used the Indian Head old fashioned stone ground yellow corn meal.

Preparation:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Sift together All purpose flour , cornmeal , salt , and Baking Powder. Add sugar.

3) Now bring the butter to room temperature.

4) Gently crumble the butter into the flour by hand . Add the Cranberry/Raisin/Almond mixture. Add the eggs and knead into a dough.

5) Grease a cookie sheet. Now roll the dough into a log. Gently flatten it a bit. I rolled the dough into two logs. It depends on the size of the cookie sheet.

5) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. It will still be a little soft to the touch.

6) Cool the logs . Cool it for almost 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer them carefully to a cutting board and cut them diagonally into 3/4" thick slices. Arrange the slices so as to stand them ,as if you were to make a log. Bake for another 10 minutes.

7) Ready to serve.

Apple Green Raisin Muffins

We (my six year old son and Moi) made these muffins last weekend. Perfect day to bake. It was snowing outside so had to be indoors. Just before Christmas we always get into the mood to bake. There's something about this time of the year which makes you crave for sweet goodness.

My son announced the secret Ingredients - Apple and Cinnamon. (You could tell he's been watching a lot of Food Network along with me, especially the Iron Chef where the contestants are given a secret ingredient which they have to use in all their dishes in a set amount of time.)

This is the first time I made Apple Cinnamon muffins. I used to make Banana Walnut muffins and since its been a while that I made them, I had misplaced the recipe. No worries I thought to myself and looked up this very promising recipe on the internet. You can find the original recipe here.

Now to cut a long story short I did make a lot of changes to the above recipe and my muffins did not quite rise as they are supposed to. But they still tasted great. Oh, well To ERR is Human and to Forgive Divine. But good lesson learnt when baking follow instructions to a tee, especially the flour to liquid ratio has to be perfect. (So I should have added less amount of milk ).Well now I know. Or maybe not. If you are reading this recipe, feel free to give your insights as to why my muffins did not rise enough to show off their muffin crowns.

Ingredients:

1) 1 1/2 cups all Purpose Flour

2) 3 teaspoons Baking powder

3) pinch of salt

4) 1/2 cup granulated sugar

5) 2 eggs lightly beaten
6) 1/2 cup or 1 Stick butter

7) 1 tablespoon Orange Zest

8) 1 cup milk

9) 1/4 cup Orange juice

10) 1 1/2 cups Gala apple peeled,cored and chopped

11) 1/4 cup green raisins

12) 1 tablespoon sugar

13) 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation:

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2) Grease the muffin cups or line them with paper muffin liners.

3) In one bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl cream butter and sugar. Add in the lightly beaten eggs. Whisk by hand. Add the Orange Zest, followed by milk and orange juice. Blend them together.

4) Now add the flour mixture to the butter mixture till its all moist and there are no lumps. Add the raisins and gently fold in the chopped apples.

5) Spoon the muffin mixture into the muffin cups already prepared.

6) Now to top the muffins , prepare a mixture of 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

7) Sprinkle the sugar-cinnamon mix on top of the pre-baked muffins.

8)Bake for 15 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

9) Let it cool for couple minutes and then set them on a wire rack to cool completely.

10) Ready to serve. I love mine with ginger tea. This recipe yields 2 dozen Muffins(12 small and 12 mini muffins.)

Rotini Pasta With Basil and Margherita Sauce

Rotini Pasta is cork shaped Pasta and has lots of twists thats how it derives its name. In my house you can eat Pasta everyday. There's never too much Pasta. I always stock up my pantry with different kinds of Pasta.

Ingredients:
1) 1 pound Rotini Pasta uncooked (1 box )
2) 1 Bottle Pasta Sauce -1 pound 10 oz (Old World style Ragu Margherita Sauce).
3) 1 teaspoon dry crushed Basil
4) 2-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
5) 1 Jalapeno pepper finely chopped
6) 1 small piece of ginger finely chopped
7) Salt to taste
8) 2 tablespoon Olive oil
* The Margherita Sauce contains Tomatoes, Pizza Seasonings and Mozzarella Cheese.

Preparation:
1) Cook pasta according to package directions. Just add basil and salt to the water when you boil the Pasta. The Pasta gets a very good flavor when cooked with it. You could cook it Al dente but I like mine a bit tender so I cook the pasta for another couple minutes.

2) In a large Pan heat the oil. Add the garlic and ginger. Fry till you no longer get the raw smell of garlic . The olive oil will get infused with the garlic flavor. Now add the chopped jalapeno pepper. Fry just for about a minute.

3) Add the entire bottle of the Pasta Sauce. Keep it on slow flame. Stir for a minute and Cover. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.

***Caution - Cover the pan with the lid soon after you add the pasta sauce. It will splitter and splatter all over the place. Believe me..I've been there.

4) Now add the drained and cooked Rotini to the sauce. Cover and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes. Ready to serve. I serve it as is. You could garnish it with more cheese of your choice.

This recipe serves 4-6 people. In my house just serves 4 as we all love lots of pasta.