It’s been an exciting few weeks at kitchen stadium as we get ready for the holidays in addition to our regular restaurant orders!
On 12/5 I was at Harmony House Marketplace where I taught 18 eager pupils the fine art of gingerbread house construction. Fortunately the class was in the evening so code enforcement didn’t come by to check out the structural integrity of the houses or eat all of the candy decorations! Here are a couple of suggestions when creating your own gingerbread masterpieces:
- Use a dowel on either side of your dough as you roll it out. This will create uniform thickness parts after baking which will make assembly much easier!
- Gingerbread needs to harden in the air for awhile before you start assembling. Bake it a couple of days ahead and leave it out to dry.
- Attach the tops of the roof together with a piece of paper using royal icing as the glue and let it sit over night. You’ll end up with a “book” shape that will go over the peaks of the walls which will be much more stable than if you just try and stick them together when assembling. The paper goes on the inside of course!
- Don’t use too much icing when assembling the pieces as icing flows when there’s too much of it.
This week I’ll be making desserts for a party celebrating the Capital Regions foreign business partners that showcases some of the areas up and coming businesses. I will also be crafting a special cake for a company holiday party that has a few surprising features!