The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I chose Y’s recipe. In part because I had all the ingredients on hand, but also because the claims to Swedish grandma-ish authenticity appealed to my sense of holiday sentiment. I stretched the undertaking into a three-day affair, which worked quite well.

Day One: I built the dough.

I had learned from front-leading DB’ers that this recipe could be a little dry and unwieldy so I made sure to add extra water to my dough. Things came together quite easily (and smelled spicy-delicious) and I rolled up my dough-balls to sleep and rest overnight. Meanwhile, I downloaded a gingerbread house pattern from one of Audax’s much appreciated links and traced my house onto the back of a Bran Flakes cereal box for next-day cutting.

Day Two: I baked the house.

My dough had settled into two hard disks which took surprisingly long to soften. Still, they were relatively easy to roll, and using my previously cut-out patterns I fashioned my various house bits from the dough and set them on parchment to bake. My house smelled gorgeous baking these pieces, but I tasted one of the roof trimming disks and they were perfectly awful. Aromatic to be sure, my house nevertheless tasted like drywall. I actually think this is good since, given that I built my house the same week my thesis was defended I would have no doubt stress-eaten the entire structure had it been the least bit delicious.

Some reported shrinkage on house bits during baking, but my pieces stayed pretty true to form. I think this is pure dumb luck and not due to any secrets re: dough rolling or whatever. I stacked the pieces in foil dish and let them sleep for the night.

Day Three: Construction

I started construction day whipping up my royal icing. Royal icing is a seriously formidable confection and I had no trouble whipping up a perfectly stalwart icing-glue. I constructed a platform from cardboard and tinfoil and set to work. My walls went up easily and I had to hold each for only a fraction of the recommended time. The room was equally amenable, and even my chimney posed little trouble. I decorated with piped on icing, a few extra disks of round roof-trim, and various candies. The result is not particularly Martha, but I was chuffed. Voila.

Addendum: Over-puffed on self, the newly minted doctor decided to build a more complex and Victorian version of the gingerbread house for family Christmas. I packed up the pieces to assemble on site… and it was a complete disaster. First, I forgot an entire side of the intended edifice. Nothing stuck or stood up, and it the roof slid off immediately. The hut was a catastrophe. So we ate the Rabbit-sister’s excellent Guinness layer cake and that was that.

The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

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Our host for this month’s challenge is Jen from userealbutter. She chose Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers (aka gyoza in Japanese).

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The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

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The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

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The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

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Rabbit has now joined Daring Bakers, a secret society of kamikaze bakers who post monthly on their clandestine missions. 

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Nobody was more excited about Nota Bene than the Rabbitz. It finally promised a neighbourhood destination suitably gourmand and yet financially restrained. We thought we’d be there every week. We thought we’d know the bartenders on first- name basis. But we don’t. And this is in part because we just don’t think Nota Bene is all that.

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