Source: bounty parents
Is it even Christmas if you don’t whip up a gingerbread house… or at least decorate one?
This year, famed pastry chef Anna Polyviou has gone one step further by creating a life-size, two-storey gingerbread beach house.
It’s made from one tonne of gingerbread dough, 100 kilograms of icing sugar, 450 kilograms of lollies and 100 packets of Iced Vovos and it’s as amazing as it sounds!
Visitors can check it out at Level 1, Westfield Sydney until 30 December. You can also can pick up limited-edition sweet treats made by Anna herself including pre-made gingerbread houses and cookie dough.
Anna Polyviou has created a life-size, two-storey gingerbread beach house.
Anna Polyviou’s Gingerbread House Recipe
Prep and cook time: 3 hours (+ refrigeration & cooling)
Makes: 1 house, 1 tree
Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup (180g) honey
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
4 cups (600g) plain flour
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt flakes
1 tbsp lemon zest
3 eggs
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
3 egg whites, at room temperature
3⅓ cups (535g) pure icing sugar, sifted
3 tsp lemon juice
pink food colouring
chocolate freckles, licorice allsorts, sherbet lollies, to decorate house star sprinkles, to decorate trees.
Instructions
To make lollybag house, on a sheet of cardboard cut out one 15cm x 18cm rectangle for the floor, two 10cm x 15cm rectangles for the roof, and two 15cm equilateral triangles (all sides same length) for the walls. Cut a door out from one of the walls.
Place butter, sugar, honey and vanilla in a medium saucepan; stir over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved and butter has melted. Pour into a baking tray and cover surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or until cool.
Place sifted flours, spices, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in a medium bowl of an electric mixer; stir to combine. With electric mixer on medium speed, gradually add butter mixture to dry mixture; beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions. Beat until mixture comes together.
Knead dough gently on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide dough into thirds. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 170°C/150°C fan-forced.
To make lollybag house, roll one-third of the dough between sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Peel away the top sheet of baking paper. Using the cardboard templates, cut out the shapes from the dough, rolling and re-rolling dough as necessary. Slide baking paper with shapes onto baking trays. Brush tops lightly with milk. Bake for 30 minutes or until firm. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the sprinkle Xmas tree, roll another third of the dough between sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Using various sized star cutters (see tip below), cut one star of each size from dough and two 3cm stars, rolling and re-rolling dough as necessary. Slide baking paper with shapes onto baking trays. Brush tops lightly with milk. Bake for 20 minutes or until firm. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make royal icing, lightly beat egg whites in a small bowl with an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on low speed until just broken up; do not whip into peaks. Beat in icing sugar, ¼ cup at a time, to reach the required piping consistency (soft but not runny). Stir through lemon juice. Cover surface directly with plastic wrap to prevent drying out. Place two-thirds of the icing into one bowl and one-third into another. Using the pink food colouring, tint the smaller bowl of icing pink and leave the remaining bowl plain.
To assemble lollybag house, secure the largest gingerbread rectangle to a board with a small amount of royal icing to make the floor. To make the roof, pipe royal icing along both short sides of the two smaller rectangles. Using the picture on page 100 as a guide, and leaving room at the front for a verandah, position roof at one end of the floor along the longer sides, meeting at the top; hold in place for a few minutes to stabilise.
To make the walls, pipe a little royal icing around the border of both triangles. Place triangles against the roof and hold in place for a few minutes to stabilise. Pipe royal icing along all joins to secure. Position the door in place with more icing. Leave house for 30 minutes or until icing is set. Spoon remaining royal icing into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm piping nozzle.
Decorate the house with royal icing, freckles and lollies. Stand for 30 minutes or until icing is set. To assemble sprinkle Xmas tree, secure the largest star to a board with a small amount of royal icing. Repeat layering with remaining stars, from largest to smallest, ensuring the points of the stars alternate; use royal icing to join them together. Pipe royal icing at the base of the remaining 3cm star and place on top of tree.
Decorate tree by placing a tiny dot of royal icing on the tips of each star, then scatter over sprinkles. Allow icing to set.
KIDS’ TIPS I used 11cm, 10cm, 9cm, 7cm, 6cm, 5cm, 4cm and 3cm star cutters for the Xmas tree. There will be some dough left over, so make another tree, if you like.
