Nothing makes a more impressive centerpiece during the holidays than a homemade gingerbread house, and they are not as difficult to make as they might appear. It is also a great way to get your children involved in the holiday festivities. You can put the basic frame structure together and watch the kids have a ball decorating with their favorite candies. The construction of your gingerbread house will closely follow the building concepts of a real house. Proper planning is essential. You can make the gingerbread ahead of time, making sure to let it thoroughly cool in a dry area before wrapping securely to store. Be sure to allow plenty of time to put the pieces together.
I have always enjoyed making popcorn strings. Always use unbuttered popcorn, and just use a regular thread and needle. I also recommend that you keep them to a manageable length, like three feet or so. One fun trick my sister came up with was to toss the popped corn in red or green food coloring. You can also toss it with glitter to add some sparkle.
Another way to decorate and be creative is with salt dough. It can be colored, painted and glued, and it is very malleable. After mixing the dough, you can roll or cut it into different shapes which, after baking, can be painted with acrylic or poster paints, and further decorated with glitter, glued-on rhinestones or other whatever suits you.
Ingredients
* 6 cups all purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup dark molasses
* 1 Tbsp water
Method
Make the Gingerbread Dough
1 Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.
2 Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed the butter and brown sugar until fluffy and well blended. Beat in the eggs, molasses and water until well combined.
3 Beat half of the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in the remaining flour. Knead (or use your mixer's dough hook) until well blended. If dough is too soft, add a little more flour.
4 Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours, preferably overnight. You can make it up to 3 days ahead of time. Let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before rolling out.
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