Haunted Gingerbread House

Have you ever tried to make gingerbread? It is actually interesting and fun--if you are a baker type of person. I have tried various recipes and finally found one with the secret trick to make it relatively moist and pliable (though it still bakes up like a brick...thus making it suitable building material). It's melted shortening...which is sort of gross. But it does the trick beautifully, and moisturizes your hands while you roll and cut (wink, wink). When I've made it before without the grease, it is so dry it's not workable. I'm sure the dessication issue is in no small part due to the fact that we live in the high desert at 8200 feet elevation, which makes baking anything a challenge. But I love a challenge. Most cookies and un-leavened items may only require a bit more of whatever wet ingredient seems logical. Cakes and the like require advanced math to figure out adjustments, or use of the lovely Pie in the Sky cookbook (by Susan G. Purdy), which figures it all out for you and includes charts with every recipe for varying elevations up to 10,000 feet.

Part of the fun of holidays and home made is the opportunity to establish family traditions; it gives children predictability and anticipation, a yearly rhythm. Haunted gingerbread houses are a blast to make whether you tackle making the gingerbread yourself or buy a pre-made kit. My children look forward to this decadently fun activity every year, as of course, they partake in the decorator's dividend. I did the foundation work and C and S (ages 7 and 4) did nearly all of the decoration. S, who loves to be in the kitchen, helped with the gingerbread; after it cooled I glued the form of the house together and let it dry. I was able to use the extra gingerbread dough for both cutout extras (leaves, tombstones) and free form decor (ghosts and little ginger boys). I bought one bag of candy that had the pumpkins and candy corn, and then a few sprinkly type items for decoration. A little frosting/glue...and viola! We made a scene this year on a cake board and added landscaping. The trees are paper bags that were filled with sand and pebbles and twisted to make the trunk (you can use a bottle to make the correct trunk shape then remove and put in something weighty), then strips of the bag were cut and twisted for a creepy, bare deciduous tree. Salt dough ghosts were made with faces a la Sharpie; basically use a home made play dough recipe, mold into ghost shape with your little ones, and bake in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until firm. A few collected golden/red aspen leaves for ambiance, and off we go! We made this a week ago or so, and the fence just keeps disappearing, corn by corn.

Here is last year's version--made with an all-inclusive kit (I had an infant at the time so went for major convenience).
A fun way to work up to the holiday--enjoy!

Gingerbread Recipe (enough for 1 house + a few acoutrement):
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 t powdered ginger
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt
1/2 c solid white vegetable shortening
1/2 c unsulphured molasses

Melt shortening in saucepan. Add sugar and molasses and mix well. Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved (this will take a while). Sift the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and ginger together in a mixing bowl. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the melted shortening mixture. Mix thoroughly. Shape into a ball. Roll the dough ball into a rectangle 1/4 " thick to cut cookies (you can roll directly onto the cookie sheet so you don't have to transfer the cutouts which can be large--a damp towel under the sheet will keep it from sliding). Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet in oven preheated to 375 deg F. for 13-15 min or until lightly browned.