Wednesday 24 December 2014

Gingerbread village

Every December we going into this crazy baking and crafting mode.. We decorate Christmas tree with gingerbread biscuits (they don't seem to stay there too long for some reason!) and give them as gifts. This year we have taken it into the next level and made 10 mini gingerbread houses in one go.. oh, and 1 Christmas tree. I just had to document it!



And here is my favourite gingerbread recipe (I can't give a credit for it because it was a photocopy or a recipe that I have had for years and I have no idea what book it's from!)

350 g/12 oz plain flour

10 ml/2 tsp ground ginger

5 ml/1 tsp ground cinnamon

2.5 ml/ ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

100 g butter

175 g/6 oz soft brown sugar
60 ml/ 4tbsp golden syrup

1 egg, beaten

And that's how:
1.       Sieve the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Rub in the butter with the fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2.       Stir in sugar.

3.       Add the syrup and the beaten egg to the flour mixture; mix to a soft dough. If it’s sticky, add a little more flour.

4.       Knead the dough lightly until smooth.

5.       Roll out as desired. Basically if it’s thin, the gingerbread will be crispy, and if it’s rolled out thickly, it will be softer. Bake in the preheated over at 190C. Most items will take 8-10 mins, smaller biscuits might take less time and bigger ones may take longer.

If you like the idea of making some houses, don't think you need special cutters. I have printed a template and put in on a cardboard and used a pizza cutter to cut the dough. Here is the blog post with a lot of details and tips - Gingerbread houses .

The assembled houses.. I really am not skilful enough to make them prettier and more elaborate, but we love the results :)


And the result:

And it's been snowing icing in our gingerbread village..


I hope this post was helpful and will inspire you to do some baking :)




Wednesday 10 December 2014

Bubble fun

It's hard to believe it, but this session happened on one of those crazy days when it's sunny one minute and rains straight after. We had to take cover under some trees and the umbrella wasn't just a prop but a necessity!

 
 
 
 
I love looking back at the happy sunny summer photographs, it's cold and dark outside now in December, but spring will come and it's a good time to start planning session with your own family now...



 
© Tamara Tovey Photography