I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday season! I know we have. We had a wonderful Christmas Day. We woke up at home, opened presents, ate breakfast, and then drove over to my parents’ house (about 45 minutes away) for more present opening and general all around fun. Mr. Fuji surprised us with a Wii and so we took that with us to my parents’ house and played for quite a few hours—having tennis, bowling, and boxing tournaments between various family members throughout the day. My arm and shoulder muscles are still punishing me for my participation! Today we are driving up to the Salt Lake City, Utah, area to spend New Years with my in-laws. Squirrel is looking forward to “sliding” (sledding) in the snow. But on to food related topics . . . . This month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge was a great one—-to bake and create a gingerbread house from scratch. It has been years since I have made a gingerbread house, and so I really enjoyed tackling this challenge.
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.
We were allowed to make our houses as big or as small as we wanted, but we had to meet these requirements:
1. Everything had to be edible – no glue or inner non-food supports allowed.
2. We had to bake the gingerbread ourselves. No graham cracker houses please!
3. We had to use some sort of template and take a picture or link to what we used in our post, but it didn’t have to be super technical.
4. The house had to be able to stand on its own.
I finally decided on a Japanese theme and created a little vacation house for the Fuji’s to go visit at the foot of Mt. Fuji.
I drew up my own template on some graph paper, checked, double checked, and triple checked my measurements, made the dough, cut and baked the pieces, and then prayed that everything would come together. I figured that if I totally failed, I could always take a picture of the mess and claim that an earthquake, or Mt. Fuji erupting, destroyed my perfectly built structure. Ha.
But, I needn’t have feared. Everything came together without incident, and I had a blast in the process. A friend of mine, the intrepid Missy J, came over to help in the decorating fun, which made everything even more interesting towards the end when we were both beyond tired and laughing at things that I’m sure weren’t really funny.
I chose to use the second recipe provided from the Scandinavian cookbook. I think this recipe is designed more for building houses with than for eating. The gingerbread was nice and sturdy, making for a great structure to pile lots of royal icing onto, but I have ZERO plans for ever eating any of my little house because the gingerbread isn’t very edible.
Edible or not, I don’t care, because in the end I was totally pleased with my end result. If I had more time I would have done some things differently, but I love my little gingerbread Japanese house sitting under the watchful eye of my beloved gingerbread Mt. Fuji. If I use my imagination, I can transport myself there . . . .
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fun stuff!
It’s wonderful to have you on our side, haha!
That is wonderful! The Mt. Fuji idea is great – something different, but something special for you. I love the little Japanese house. Most gingerbread houses are like the traditional "Hansel & Gretel" story ones- covered in sweeties and very cutesy. Yours is so different and rather artistic. You even made the gingerbread mountain, with snow on top. Lovely!
The Mt. Fuji was especially fun to do! Thanks Lizzie! :)
Briliant idea & so wonderfully presented Rachel…BRAVO! I used Y's recipe too, and the son is enjoying eating it!!
Thanks Deeba!!
That is the most gorgeous gingerbread house I've seen! love, love, love it!!
Thanks Kamran!!
Absolutely gorgeous! Someday I will attempt this!
So clever! I love the cheery blue background you added. Great idea for making a tree!
I still think we should have done the scene with the house in shambles and Mt. Fuji erupting in the background! Come on, you know it would have been a hit! I had a blast making our little house with you. Thanks for letting me be your foodie slave!! (Also, I am officially adopting Missy J as my new nickname!)
Very cute idea! Your house turned out beautifully!
What a fabulous idea for a gingerbread house. You did so well. I had to go with a template off the internet because my creativity is very limited! ;)
BTW, I made the same recipe and my husband said the gingerbread tasted exactly like how his mummo would make. So sounds pretty authentic. Maybe we are used to sweeter things!??!
This is absolutely brilliant. Have a happy new year – Akamashite Omedeto (a few days early)!
That is a stunning gingerbread house. Its original. I like how you put the mountain as a backdrop. Great job.
Ohh….Santa brought a Wii to our house this year as well and I'm feeling incredibly out of shape b/c my shoulders are SO SORE! Who knew that Wii tennis (and we can't even talk about that boxing game) used to much muscle power :) Lovely, creative gingerbread house–very cool. Merry Christmas, Rachel!
Beauty in it's simplicity. Lovely job.
I love this!! Seems like one very peaceful place. Have fun "sliding" and a happy new year!
Magical! Truly magical!
Wish there was a better word to describe your house than merely "awesome", but this is .. awesome! The colour scheme, the scale, the idea to begin with… Love it! Your contingency plan is brilliant too, by the way ;)
Very creative Rachael! Love your take on the gingerbread house! The tree is "perfect"….nice friend you got there :)
oh wow wow wow! this is one of the most innovative houses i have seen! rachael i love the theme – kudos to you!
This is AWESOME!!!!! I love it!
That is so cute! I love how you used the ice cream cone to decorate your tree – and the house just looks amazing. The last shot of your house with Mt Fuji behind is it perfect!
What a wonderful gingerbread house! I love the pine tree and the mont Fuji on the back. Impressive!
Absolutely awesome! So original and beautiful!
Your love for Japan comes through in this challenge. And your house looks absolutely beautiful.
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes For A Happy New Year!
Lovely house. I like the piles of snow which have dropped down from the roof.
Absolutely beautiful! And very creative! Too bad the dough is not as eatable as you'd like it to be! Enjoy Utah!
What an adorable gingerbread house! Love Mt. Fuji!!
How fun! Hope you have a great trip to Utah!
Very original, and extremely well done. LOVE IT!
I absolutely LOVE IT!
Well done, it's the shizzle. I thought I was going Japanese with my Christmas cake decoration, but you take the (gingerbread) biscuit. Good work. :)
I love this…just recently got rid of a house I made MANY years ago and brought out each year. Even though my kids are older, doesn't mean I don't love making a gingerbread house. Not this year…I'll just enjoy yours!
Wow! Very original. Love the little Japanese house and Mt Fuji!
This is GREAT! Makes me feel like I’m in a mukashi banashi cartoon! :)
I love how creative your Japanese house is and the Mt. Fuji is an extra bonus! So awesome!! :)
Very creative, it looks wonderful.
This is so nice! I made the same recipe for my DB challenge, and I didn’t think it tasted very good either – until I tried it a couple of days later. Then I actually froze all the leftover cookies to use in either ice cream or as a base of a cheesecake. Congrats on your Top 9!!!
This is seriously the cutest gingerbread house I have ever seen. I actually want to go to it for vacation rather than eat it! Your template is so precise too :)
Wishing you a fantastic 2010!
I love it! The house, the tree, the background, its pure perfection!
Loved seeing it in person. All it needs is a squirrel and bug in the yard to go with it.
What a great idea to do a Japanese GB house. It look so real – which equates to stunning work! You are an artiste! Have a wonderful New Year!
WOW, I am so impressed. The precision in your house, and the clean, gorgeous choices of decor – it’s a work of art!
this looks really nice. So creative! Well done . Happy new year
Beautiful photo and house… wow wow wow!
Rachael:
This is a fantastic effort. Wow!!! Happy 2010 to you
Best’
SAUCY
This is amazing! It’s so cute and I LOVE the gingerbread mountain! You did a wonderful job!
Wow, what a fabulous gingerbread house! I love it!
Very original shape and lovely decorations!
Wtg for the fabulous job!
Inbal
(also a DB)
Lovin’ it. All looks fantastic. Did you make some edible gingerbread people?
So cute. Well done, it looks amazing.
A very nice creation!
Hello Fuji mama. I’m currently in the middle of creating something similar albeit totally edible Japanese style gingerbread house. You can view a short video of my most current cardboard model on Instagram. My handle is @Damien_robe. I’m baking using my own gingerbread recipe tomorrow. Let me know what you think if you have the time/interest. Your post was a great source of inspiration to me. Thank you.
This is so cute ^_^. It makes me want to do a gingerbread house suited for where I live now. But you know need ambition for that.