Martha Stewart's Gingerbread House with Royal Icing

By Hklbrries

Recipe makes a double batch for a medium house.

"I'm no Martha Stewart. But when an old family friend asked me to donate a gingerbread house to a charity auction, I didn't hesitate. Little did I realize what I was getting into. Now don't get me wrong. It was lots of fun and, in the end, there was this incredible sense of accomplishment. And relief. The best thing about building a gingerbread structure was the way my house smelled for days after baking my pieces for this sort of vertical puzzle. The worst part was worrying that it would stand as steady as the leaning tower of Pisa.

After committing to the project, I solicited advice from all my craftsy friends. Staff artist Bridget Sawicki urged me to up the ante: 'Wouldn't it be cool to do the Spokesman-Review building?' OK, why not, though I had no clue how I was going to get there. Fortunately, Bridget signed on to help with the decorating. Another pal suggested using milk cartons as my foundation. Yeah, that could work. And then I turned to a real pro. Carolyn's Cake Decorating where owner Carolyn Largent helped me brainstorm about how to construct the cupola.

'Maybe you could roll the dough around a can,' she suggested. 'How about a Pringles can?' I offered. 'Yes, you could bake it right onto that,' she said. And, then use an inverted ice cream cone for a spire. So, I had a floor plan. After that it was a matter of finding the right construction materials. I did a search on the Internet and found that gingerbread house architects have their own little subculture. Not surprising though, the queen of that kingdom is the aforementioned Martha Stewart.

I tried three different dough recipes and found hers held the shape the best. It also smelled the best of the bunch, a real holiday fragrance if there ever was one. The only setback was that the dough was about the consistency of heavy pottery clay. I kept wishing I had a professional mixer. I used my food processor until it was too stiff to turn and then mixed the rest of the flour by hand.

With plans to raise the roof on a Saturday, I mixed the dough on Thursday night. Largent suggested that you bake the pieces at least a day in advance so they have a chance to firm up. (All gingerbread houses in the auction were meant to be edible, but you could break a molar if you tried to bite into one). I cut out the pieces and baked them Friday night, two cookie sheets at a time. And it took me most of the evening. But it would have taken much longer without Largent's sage advice:

Roll the dough out directly onto a piece of foil. Place a sheet of waxed paper on top to keep it moist. Be patient and work the gingerbread gently. Cut the pieces out right on the foil and then pick up both and place them on the baking sheet. She also suggested baking it a little longer than the recipe called for. And she said you should cut out the windows before baking. (I bought the cutest little window cutter at her shop - a plastic piece with four tiny openings).

Of course, I ran out of dough before I had cut out all my pieces. And I had used the last of the molasses, so I had to run to the store first thing in the morning.

Just a minor snafu. I didn't run into any big problems until I started mixing the Royal Icing, the glue that holds it all together.

The stuff was so thick, my hand mixer started smoking. Yup, I burned the motor. I had better luck mixing it in the food processor.

Then, when I loaded up the pastry bag with the sticky sweet caulk, I discovered the tips I had were for making flowers. We needed something with a finer point.

I put in an SOS call to pastry chef Dorothy Harper at Cafe-5-Ten. Sure, she could help me out.

She lent me a pastry bag with several different tips, including a delicate fine point. That gizmo is an essential for constructing a gingerbread house.

Bridget decorated the windows using one decorative tip and delicately placing silver balls on the edges. Heeding Martha's advice, we did all the decorating before the final construction phase.

We didn't want to get too elaborate, so we used the classic Necco wafers as shingles for the roof.

I also didn't want to take any chances that the whole thing would collapse, so I cheated a bit and slathered frosting right onto the sides of clean milk cartons. The walls stuck right to that.

We tried to build interior supports for the roof, using bamboo skewers, but they were too flimsy.

As it all started to take shape, we started to believe that we might be able to pull this off.

The roof was definitely the trickiest part. The pieces didn't match up exactly, but the Royal Icing helped us cover our little flaws. A possible skylight was covered with a cleverly placed piece of graham cracker.

Just when we were starting to feel pretty cocky, a portion of the roof started to sag. And we couldn't shore up the possible collapse because we were completely out of Royal Icing.

It was tense for a few minutes and then, like magical instant cement, the icing firmed up, and the roof held steady.

From start to finish, it had taken us seven hours.

Now, all we had to do was get the thing downtown to the event where it was going to be sold to the highest bidder.

I enlisted the help of a friend who has an SUV. It's not that I was nervous. Once they're built, gingerbread houses are pretty sturdy. Still, I shuddered as we hit every pothole on my street. But we made it without losing a single shingle.

Yes, I was going to miss this incredible edible creation, but it was for a worthy cause. The annual show is put on by the Gamma Epsilon chapter of Epsilon Sigma Alpha International, which donates money to the Ronald McDonald House, the YWCA and other groups. And wouldn't you know this amazing undertaking has a real fairy tale ending. Publisher Stacey Cowles bought the mini-version of the newspaper building. It's been sitting in our lobby during the holidays. And it still smells good."

Leslie Kelly

Ingredients

• Martha Stewart's Gingerbread:
• 1/2 pound margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups unsulfured molasses
• 3 eggs
• 8 to 9 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• Royal Icing:
• 3 level tbsp meringue powder (available at specialty shops)
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 6 tbsp water

Preparation

Step 1

For gingerbread: Cream margarine and sugar until smooth. Add molasses and eggs. Beat until smooth.

Sift in 3 cups of flour with the baking soda, salt and spices. Gradually beat into the sugar mixture. Add 5 to 6 cups more flour, beating until just mixed. Dough will be stiff and heavy.

Form into two flat rectangles and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Roll dough (between a piece of foil on the bottom and waxed paper on top) directly onto the baking sheet to 1/8-inch thick. Carefully cut pattern pieces.

Remove scraps and press together into a ball. Reserve for another use.

Remove waxed paper and bake pieces for 15 to 20 minutes until done, not browned. Carefully remove pieces from baking sheet and completely cool. (If possible, make the pieces the day before assembling). Assemble.

For Royal Icing, beat all ingredients at low speed until moistened. Then, beat at high speed until icing forms stiff peaks. Use a pastry bag with a fine tip to "caulk" pieces together.