Friday, December 11, 2009

Mini gingerbread house!



Ingredients
Makes 50
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses
3 large eggs, room temperature
About 1 1/2 cups chocolate frosting
2 red licorice wheels, unwound and cut into 50 pieces (3/4 inch each)
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Line bottom with parchment, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, and tap out excess.
Stir together boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl, and set aside. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, spices, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
Beat butter and brown sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add molasses and eggs, and beat until creamy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low.
Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the baking soda mixture, and beat until combined. Raise speed to medium-high, and beat for 15 seconds.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (To prevent cake from falling too soon, do not open oven for the first 35 minutes of baking.)
Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cake to loosen, and invert onto rack. Remove parchment, turn cake right side up, and let cool completely. (Cake can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
Using a serrated knife, trim edges of cake so they are straight. Cut cake into 1-inch cubes. Cut 25 cubes on the diagonal into triangles.
Spread frosting on long sides of triangles, and place one triangle on top of each cube, frosting side down, to create roofs. Insert a piece of licorice in top of each roof for the chimney. Dust roofs with confectioners' sugar. Petits fours are best the day you assemble them.
via martha stewart

11 comments:

A Bowl Of Mush said...

This really is the cutest idea!
They're so adorable!

love lives in the kitchen said...

oh, how adorable! i love this recipe!
wish you a very sweet friday!
justyna

Sarah Trivuncic Maison Cupcake said...

This is so not what I'd expected when I clicked through, I thought I was going to see mini version of the biscuit houses with sweets and icing - this is genius! Brilliant simple idea! I love it.

Deeba PAB said...

Oh B, they are beautiful! What an enchanting idea!
xoxo

BonjourRomance said...

Bonjour Bash! This is the most adorable idea -I have to give this a whirl.

El said...

Fabulous. I just love them!

Kathleen said...

Hey there! I'm sooo glad you tried my cranberry bars! I think you hit the answer as to why they turned brown. I bought an oven thermometer on Amazon just because of that. I found that my crazy oven can run 50 degrees too hot! Every time I preheat my oven I put that thing in there to make sure my oven isn't going wonky! I sure hope your cranberry bars tasted as good as mine did!!!

Kathleen said...

BTW those mini gingerbread houses are the cutest dang things ever! I want to make them when my daughter comes home for Christmas! Thanks for sharing.

Madame Sucre said...

El , Deeba, Bonjourromance , sarah , justyna , and bowlofmush..

I havent given this a try.. but its on my list! adorable.. thanks alot for stopping by!

Kathleen , You're cranberry bars turned out fantastic.. very very yummy .. I even had a little cranberry sauce left from the mix , so I drizzled it on the plate when serving..
I only had two mistakes , the oven was too hot , and it should have stayed longer in the oven , as the middle part of the bars was too runny. I will definetly make it again!

Lisa said...

These are absolutely adorable! The cutest little things! A great alternative to the traditional gingerbread houses.

Ago said...

Ohhh deliciousss!!! They are so cuuuteee!!! :-D