Coffee cup gingerbread houses

Teeny tiny gingerbread house that sits on the side of your cup. For a mere $20 each ... Wait, you lost me. For about $2 of ingredients and a used fizzy drink can I made my own.

I started with an existing recipe and made a number of modifications. This is way too much dough for a batch of mini houses unless you have a crowd to help you put them together and decorate. If you just want a dozen or so houses, halve or even third the quantities. Or, as I did, make some ninjabread people too. (Inspired by this comic strip.)

The recipe

Adapted from No gluten no problem

1/2 cup brown sugar
12 tbsp unsalted cultured butter (1 1/2 sticks), room temperature
5/8 cup molasses
2 large eggs
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
3 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt

The method is the bog-standard "cream butter then sugar then eggs then dry ingredients". Add the molasses with the sugar.

This mixture is a bit weird to work with. The xanthan gum that helps it hold together also makes it really hard to cut through. It's also sticky and needs a generous dusting with flour. It helps to keep it quite cold. But it can be cut after baking if you're careful - it's a soft style gingerbread. Really soft. In a humid climate I would probably use the original recipe, not my adaptation.

I held the cut shapes overnight in the fridge to let them dry out a bit, before baking them at 375 F until lightly coloured and set(350 F for larger shapes.) Don't undercook; they will look weird and scabrous.

Assemble with royal icing. Do this in stages if possible to ensure structural integrity. Then decorate with more icing and sprinkles.

Cookie cutter

You can buy 3d printed plastic cutters for tiny houses. Fancy tin ones too, even. But (pro tip!) do as I say, not as I do, and don't wait til mid December to get excited about Christmas baking projects that need new equipment. Or you'll find that the shipping time is most of the remaining big sleeps.

And then find yourself googling 'make your own cookie cutter'. Ask me how I know this ...

The prevailing advice was to use drink cans or heavy gauge 'disposable' roasting pan etc, and to be super careful of the sharp cut edges. Well I made a soda can alcohol stove earlier this year. The edges are just not that sharp, I found. I grabbed scissors, pliers, and a can. I cut a strip and folded one lengthwise edge. Then eyeballed it to see where I wanted corners, and used the pliers to make neat corners. Instead of trying to rivet it or anything, I made the two ends press together at the peak of the ridgeline and pinched it together when cutting. Although I made a rectangular cutter too, to be honest a) it was a pain to use and b) this dough cuts really well with a sharp knife even after cooking. So I just cut rectangles and squares with a knife.

And of course, I did not photograph it. Sorry.