The Big Princess Poopie:
After stalling this week on our Winery Gingerbread House, we woke up to big rains and the Big Baking Day… and a missed deadline. In my infinite pregnancy abilities, I mis-calendered delivery of said House for tomorrow. But it is really due today. (Sorry SVVGA!)
Frankly, at this point in my pregnancy, I am a slug. And limit myself to one non-essential parenting activity each day. Baking the Gingerbread House is my big parenting thing this week. Besides, with the epic rain storm, would you want to cross this bulging creek with a Gingerbread House perched atop a dome of sugar icing? No, I don’t either. I mean, we don’t even have dog food. Poor dog — even Dean fed her leftover split pea soup (with a curry garnish) for breakfast… Can’t wait to see how that one turns out…
But set forth we girls did into what we will now call the Gingerbread Princess Castle…as making a Castle is more fun for Anni than our Barn. We pulled up the Food Network recipe link that Taylor had thoughtfully sent us. In our pajamas, Anni and I combined room temperature butter, dark sugar, molasses, and ample doses ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
Then we added 2 cups of flour. And did our Happy Dance over the bowl for luck to cranked up James Brown…
Perhaps I should have read the recipe a bit more carefully before wiggling. I was to cream sugars, butter and spices BEFORE adding flour. And we ended up with a gravely, dusty mess… Apparently I remain said “idiot” as the market Bakery Ladies reminded me kindly…
Hmm… Well, crap. Plan B: My fail safe method of using both hands to squish the butter and finely mix in the molasses with the dry ingredients helped a bit but not much.
Plan C: So I checked the reviews to this Food Network recipe while Anni licked the whisk. After the few obligatory, glowing remarks, I found what I was looking for: Critiques. And a handful said the recipe dough, even when done correctly, was too dry and ‘cracked everywhere.’ So I was not alone here.
One writer suggested beating in an egg or very fine vinegar. I may not be generally frugal but I didn’t want to waste good vinegar on what another writer dubbed “Frankenstein cookies.” So an egg it is. Anni and I blended in one large egg and the dry, dusty dough turned an aromatic, soft brown.
We turned it out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and kneaded it into a large flat disc for chilling.
The “Big Princess Poopie” as Anni called it, is now firming up in the fridge. 45 minutes from now, we will begin rolling out the dough and preparing our castle… Wish us luck!
