Miniature Gingerbread Houses (take two)

I say "take two" because it is only the second time to try Royal Icing and piping skills... hahaha... skills... that's a laugh!

This time I made the icing softer ... with many more tablespoons of water than Jemma suggests ...and still ... way too stiff to pipe.  So, after a lot of moaning, whining and wiping off about 17 doorways... and, then some swearing... I put the icing back in the bowl and added more water yet. By then, I'm sure there were dried crusty bits in it as well.

I tried again... but, by then, my hand was wobbly and I was totally ticked... so Mister BumbleVee said he would give one a try.  I managed to make only about two end pieces ... not great windows and doors...and his first one was a bit wobbly too... but, then...he became a piping machine!  He did all the rest of the pieces ...in total I had 8 houses, and at 6 per house that was a grand total of 48 pieces.. a lot of fiddly piping!

But, hours later, in spite of the silly icing never being the right consistency... he had managed to do all the pieces;  I waited til they were dry and assembled and added more "snow" ... which after awhile... became a bit messy too because my parchment bag was practically trashed.  I only had one piping tip and bag so made a couple of parchment ones;  well, Mr. BV did that too... ... hahahah... BUT... we did 'em, the little buggers!!

Since then, I have been watching many, many videos on piping, icing consistency, tricks and tips etc.... and, man, are some of those women ever amazing!!  I love one of them called Haniela... she does great stuff..and has lots of info to take in.  I will have to watch them again and then, make up another batch of icing and get busy practising on some parchment or something.  By next year I want my little gingerbread guys to look somewhat better than these.. but, I am showing them anyway... because darn it ...I am proud of our efforts.

Mr. BumbleVee says .. "don't show everybody our amateurish efforts".. but, I think they are cute and also..it is only the second time trying anything like this at all and his first time doing the solo piping, so .. here goes....

The worst ones, with no door sill... are mine.  The good ones are Greg's...
I think he is pretty good at this..... maybe I need to make him watch the videos and he can do them again next year.   Don't tell him I said that.

I like to encourage people to give things a try even if you have never done it before ... who knows how it will turn out?  You may be quite surprised at how good you are at something.   You may have amazing beginner's luck... try something new for the New Year!

Miniature Gingerbread Houses

From a Cupcake Jemma Youtube video.

I have no clue about piping and have never made Royal Icing before.

so.... as you may or may not know............ nothing is quite as simple as it looks on Youtube.  Besides, she is a professional baker ..hahahhahah... silly me.

I always just expect to follow along and things surely must just happen as easily as they do for them on there right? .... nope.......

Every square inch of my kitchen was a disaster let me tell you.  Icing sugar is so messy even if a person is careful and I am very careful.   And...it just didn't come together like hers did at all.  She put in 3 tablespoons of water and barely had to add a bit more and it looked great.  Of course... seeing and 'feeling' consistency isn't quite the same.  I had to add about 6 tablespoons of water just to get it to be almost solid glue...and, yes...I measured the icing sugar very carefully... an exact 400 grams... by the scale.  Maybe it is a case of the lack of humidity in our homes compared to those in England.  Basically, we have none.

Anyway... very long story made somewhat shorter ..( many hours long if truth be told!@#)  finally I got some icing in a bag.  By then, I already had 3 spatulas with hard, crusty bits on them so had to keep tossing them and reaching for a new one... good thing I have many, many spatulas. .. (still could not get a tip small enough to do it properly either) and practiced on some parchment paper for a bit and then...onward with biscuits to build some tiny houses.  Tiny being the key word here....they are only 3.5 inches high...and, 2.25 inches across the front...only 2 across an end.

At first I was pretty disappointed with my results...but, on I went... and even if they are a bit more whimsical and not as tidy as Jemma's.... I like them.   she did have 3 colours ...but in the end...all I could manage was my white icing... not trying for 3 colours if I can't even make the icing pipe properly.

Mr. BumbleVee says I was trying to make a two story house look like a bungalow....aha....I didn't notice that really....not a wonder they don't look so great.   Not a wonder he is the designer.  I watched the video a few times...and, then...just went for it.  Some details escaped me I guess.  Next time I may draw out some door and window configurations before I  begin winging it.....

Also...I did watch a few more Julia Usher videos later...WOW !!  and, discovered my icing had to be much softer  ... no wonder my arms and wrists almost gave out after 5 houses and many hours of struggling.  We ate the 6th house and other extra roof and side pieces.  A good thing.  My arms wouldn't take any more ...nor would my back. And, that is the BEST and tastiest gingerbread recipe ever.  I love those biscuits.  She uses Golden Syrup instead of molasses ... which I don't like anyway... so I love the taste of them.

I want to take a cake decorating class now...to learn how to pipe icing properly.  What fun that would be.

Here are my cute little "gb" houses.... as my friend Muriel calls them.... in spite of all the pitfalls and my own limited piping skills....I do like them a lot.