The Building Blocks of Gingerbread Houses

Today we carefully transported my gingerbread house to enter it into a contest.  If you would like to see it personally, it will be on display all next week at the seminary's housing office with the other submissions.  Plus, you will have an opportunity to vote for the one you like the best.  I hear they'll be having special treats for visitors as well. 

Here are a few of my building blocks.

You must start with a good gingerbread base.  For houses this is a sturdier dough, firmer than

what you'd use in gingerbread cookies or cakes. 

I used the recipe and template from King Arthur Flour Company.

A great template or pattern is essential.

A good rolling pin, a sharp knife, and a steady hand are also helpful.

Once your pieces have cooled and dried out some,

you can't beat royal icing,

the glue of the particular gingerbread constructor.

I must say I learned a lot about bricks

in creating this design.

More completed pieces, well almost.  I'm getting excited.



Aaah...the front view at 71 Ginger Lane.

Don't you just want to walk up the Christmas gravel walkway

 and on through the white chocolate picket fence and

into this brightly lit little cottage.

The back and left side view.



An aerial shot.  This one makes the cottage seem taller to me.

It's all in perspective.

Our lives are a lot like gingerbread houses.  It depends on the pattern we're following.

Our human lives will always need trimming.  Sometimes huge pieces and sometimes small ones.

Often the small cuts hurt more.  It's a lot like the annoying papercut.

Following Christ's pattern is in opposition to our human nature.

But when we do it will sure turn into something unimaginably better than a lump of dough. 

Deep Chocolate Brownies

I think most things taste better when they're homemade.  Brownies are one of the few exceptions.  I think out of the box brownies are great, and making homemade brownies seemed like a waste of time until I played around with several recipes and came up with this one.  I think these taste just a good as out of the box ones.  Try them and see what you think.

Deep Chocolate Brownies

·         2/3 cup all-purpose flour

·         1 cup sugar

·         1/3 cup cocoa powder

·         1/4 teaspoon baking powder

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 cup vegetable oil

·         2 eggs

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.

In medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.  Blend together with a fork or slotted spoon.  Add oil, eggs, vanilla, and nuts, if desired.  Mix lightly with fork or slotted spoon just until ingredients are combined.  Do not over mix.  Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.    

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the edges of pan.  Let pan of brownies cool on wire rack before cutting into squares.

Makes 16 brownies.  Recipe can be doubled to make a 9x13x2 inch pan of brownies.

The Grains

Unbleached white flour, rice, oatmeal, barley, and pasta are the grains I focused on for the past month in preparing for a craft and bake sale.  I baked several kinds of bread and cookies which I sold.  Most of my preparation time with the grains was spent filling glass jars with them and other ingredients for delicious soup and cookie mixes.  It gave me a lot of time to think.  I mean after you've made several of the same thing, you just start doing it without thinking and then thinking can be about anything.

We begin with some raw ingredients...

Then we move to the preparation phase...

  

And finally the final product.

I was reminded in this project of how our lives contain a lot of raw ingredients - our life experiences.  And sometimes the process of making something with all of that can get a bit messy.  When we follow a Master Chef, the messiness becomes a culinary treasure or the new haute cuisine.  When we follow the bread of life as Jesus refers to Himself in the book of John, the messiness of life fades away and real living comes into focus.  Our Lord creates the treasure we were designed to be in Him.  I, for one, find great comfort in that.