Oh man.
Have you ever over estimated your ability to do something, and then just laugh hysterically when you fail at it?
That is exactly what happened to me when I made our gingerbread house this year.
I made my first, from scratch, gingerbread house last year and I remember being surprised at just how easy it was.
Sure, it was a bit time consuming, but it wasn't hard and I really enjoyed doing it. I kept that in mind, and I set out to do the same thing this year.
I made the mistake of not saving the recipe I used last time and couldn't find it anywhere,
I checked out so many different recipes before I settled on one.
I finally found "the one"and I went with this Food Network recipe.
I then used a template I found on Martha Stewart.
After I had cut out the walls and front/back, I realized the template did not provide the roof.
All it said was measure out 2 pieces that were 6.5in x 7.5 in.
Well, I totally underestimated my talent in eye ball measuring.
I thought for sure I was spot on with the sizing...and then I tried to glue it onto my walls and realized I was about an inch short. Ha.
I figured I'd just glue it on anyways and cover the huge open gap with frosting and gum drops.
The next day when I was going to decorate it, I noticed that one side of the roof had fallen off and that it broke into 2 pieces. I then noticed the other side was bending and starting to cave in.
At that point, I threw the whole thing in the trash.
A week later I decided to give it one more shot. I wasn't going to go down in flames.
I whipped up another batch of gingerbread, this time using this recipe and baked it for 15 minutes at the suggested temperature.
I then left it in a 200 degree oven for another 30 minutes to make sure it was really hard.
And I let it dry in the oven (turned off) all night.
I used this template for the house and love the look of it.
Evan was a pro decorator and had so much fun placing, and eating, the candies on the house. He still points to the house everyday and says, "See, it's me house!"
Now, I just need to remind myself to revert back to this post next year, so I don't give myself another big gingerbread house headache.
Sorry for the long boring story, but I felt I needed to explain myself to make me feel better :)
A platter filled with candies. I think my favorites are the Necco waffers. I'm slightly obsessed with how (half) of the roof turned out
I know, you're jealous of my amazing icing skills.
It's pretty, right?
Evan totally made this gingerbread house, a gingerbread house. I had high hopes of keeping it uniformed and mess free, but I love it more this way. I couldn't not let him help me on the big house. His eyes had that sparkle and honestly, it was more important that he have fun memories of decorating than for me to be a Grinch about what my expectations were of how it was supposed to look.
(I apologize if this post sounds scattered. We are in the midst of some changes around here and to say I am beyond exhausted would be an understatement.)
To see the rest of the cookie series, head on over to here
No comments:
Post a Comment