Mini gluten free gingerbread houses

At the end of last year I made a large gingerbread bird house to sit on my Winter Wonderland dessert table and a bunch of small ones to give as gifts. I now am in love with mini gingerbread bird houses as they look so cute and those that received them as gifts seemed very pleased! I might have to start making mini gingerbread bird houses for all the holidays: I think they would be a cute Easter gift filled with mini chocolate eggs!

Gluten free chocolate gingerbread mini bird houses x 4

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter
200g dark muscovado sugar
600g gluten free plain flour
3 tsp xanthan Gum
7 tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Cooking instructions

1. Heat oven to 180 deg C
2. Place the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a medium saucepan and, on a low heat, stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat
3. Place the flour, xanthan gum, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda in a food mixer
4. Slowly add the melted butter mix to the flour mix and beat until well combined
5. Roll dough out to about 8mm thick on to baking paper
6. Cut out four fronts, then cut small circle out of fronts
7. Cut out four backs
8. Cut out eight roofs
9. Cut out eight sides
10. Cut out four birds
11. Slide cut pieces still on the baking paper on to baking trays
12. Bake in the oven for 8 minutes or until firm to the touch, turning the tray half way through cooking
13. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then re-cut around edges to neaten
14. Leave to completely cool

Decorating the Bird House

Ingredients
Roll on icing
Icing sugar (powdered sugar)
Royal icing
Pink candy melts
Blue candy melts
Pink pareills
Blue sugar crystals
Teal food colouring
Teal edible glitter
White edible glitter
White candy sticks cut to 2cm long


Equipment
Rolling pin
Sieve
Icing bag fitted with small star nozzle
Paint brush
Bird cutter

To decorate

• Dust icing sugar onto a hard clean surface and roll out coloured icing to 2mm thick
• Cut out bird in icing using bird cutter
• Dampen back of cut out bird and stick to top of bird cookie
• Brush front of iced bird with water and sprinkle with glitter, leave to dry

• Dust icing sugar onto a hard clean surface and roll out icing to 3mm thick
• Cut out base of house components in icing

• Brush water onto back of cut-out icing component and place on top of corresponding gingerbread piece. Repeat until all gingerbread house side pieces are iced
• Lightly dampen the front of the iced houses and sprinkle in white glitter, leave to dry

• Melt pink candy melts as instructions
• Paint candy melt onto front of roof
• Liberally sprinkle with pink pareills, leave to dry
• Using a sharp knife, angle the inside edge of the roof so it is 45 degrees

• Paint melted candy on to inside of front
• Push side of house into candy, hold in place for a minute until candy sets
• Brush candy melts around inside of hole in front of house, and along outside edge
• Push blue candy melt over hole

• Brush melted candy on to the inside of the back piece
• Push sides of house into candy, hold in place for a minute until candy sets
• Brush melted candy on to the top edges
• Push roof of house into candy, hold in place for a minute until candy sets

• Brush melted blue candy on to the entire gingerbread house base piece

• Set house on base
• Immediately sprinkle with aqua sugar crystals before candy sets
• Using a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, pipe small stars along the top of the roof
• Pipe a small star on one end of a candy stick and attach to front of house, just below hole

• Pipe a star on to back of iced bird cookie and attach to front of house
• Pipe iced stars along sides of bird house and along front and back edge of the roof

• Sieve icing sugar onto roof, to give the house a snowy look

On my Winter Wonderland dessert table

Have a sweet day!

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When real is really scary

I have offered my blog as a safe-haven for a writer to write something out...

Firstly thank you to Maxabella for offering to me to write this post. It is the hardest thing I have ever written. It makes it real, for so long it has felt safe in my head, a story, a fictional life, but it isn’t. Life is not as dark as it may seem in this post, this is a mere slither, generally life is full of wonder, beauty and things to be grateful for and again thank you to Maxabella for reminding me of this. Oh yeah, and sorry it is really long!


When Maxabella emailed me earlier this week concerned that she couldn’t find my blog I didn’t know what to tell her. Part of me wanted to reply with some fluffy reason and another part of me wanted, needed to be honest.


You see late last week I all but deleted myself from the online world. Here is why.


Growing up all I wanted was a sister. Someone to play with, hold hands with, feel safe with and someone to share life with. But I already had a sister, an older sister, just not the one I wanted.


Schizophrenia is such a broadly used term these days but in the 70’s it was still a taboo subject. She, (I will call her she), has a mental illness, loosely diagnosed as schizophrenia but it is more than that. She is paranoid, angry, and worst of all violent. When she is triggered she is the scariest thing I have ever seen. Throw in a mass of illegal substances and really, you don’t want to even think about it.


This was my reality growing up. Thankfully not constantly, she would come and go and my parents protected me from the worst of it. Generally, I had a happy childhood, apart from these instances where she would again blow in to our lives.


When she was fine she was what I always wanted and still to this day part of me wishes she was. Another part of me, a larger part of me wishes she would expire from this earth.


I often question why there is so much tragedy in life. Innocent children with terminal illness, parents and children separated by tragic accidents, when people like her, seem to be invincible. Untouched by anything including the pain, hurt and fear to their victims.


In violent rages she has attempted the worst, family members including children have been exposed to this. I have too, in an incident that is my clearest memory, sadly, even moreso than the birth of my children. I remember breaking free in a split second of chance and running. I never knew I could run so fast. If only I was running toward something. I can’t articulate the feeling, or maybe I just don’t want to. Then a few years later in one violent eruption of rage she did the worst. A member of my family.


Finally, after so many years she was taken away. The relief I thought I felt wasn’t there. It intensified, for I knew how it would play out. Just as it had in the past. A master at manipulation and even with all of her history she would deceive her way out all too soon. Forever would have been too soon.


It is hard to explain what it is to live your life in fear. It isn’t a constant fear, which I know some sadly live with every day. God, I couldn’t even imagine. It is just a fear that is deep down in a pit deep in your stomach. Your senses are more acute, you feel the tingle of your adrenaline on the verge, ready to fight or flight, and it will instantly when needed. It may be walking down the street and you feel you have to look over your shoulder. A shadow out of the corner of your eye. It may be coming home and entering an empty house. It may be the strange noise in the middle of the night, or even in the middle of the day. The fear can be gripping, paralysing. My mind will race 1000 miles an hour playing out all the scenarios. Where I will hide, where I will run. I am never ready, but always preparing.


Many years have passed with nothing to be heard of. I have kept my profile low and getting married, the first thing I thought about wasn’t the joy of new beginnings with the love of my life, it was the relief of no longer carrying my family name. I couldn’t sign those papers quick enough.


But all this lead to complacency. Not a total lack of fear, but the feeling of what it is to lead a normal life. I started to do things I loved doing using my name. The online world beckoned and I began business. Along came social media and out there I was. Then I discovered blogging. Hesitant at first I again became complacent. It was liberating to feel free to write about my life, my family, the ups and downs, sharing funny and happy moments. A part of me was still careful of disclosing everything, but it did feel wonderful to relax a little.


Until now.


In a flash it all returned.


It only took me about an hour to wipe myself from the online world, although I am sure not completely, (is that even possible?) but enough for me to feel safe. Safe enough.


Now I am in limbo. Going from wanting to change my name, wanting to disappear myself, wanting to crawl in the corner of my wardrobe for as long as it takes for this storm to pass....again. But then, in the same moment, I want to be strong. To keep going on with life as it is. To be grown up. To stand up. But that is harder to play out than in my head.


I miss my blog. I miss sharing my thoughts. Perhaps it is what kept me sane all these years. My journals, my diaries, my writing, and then my blogging. The blog posts still run through my head continually. Maybe they will stop one day. Maybe not. After all I am a writer and it isn’t something you can just switch off, it is just now I have to do it just for me.


I have considered reinventing my blog under a pseudonym or anonymously but I can’t get my head around doing this. I want to be authentic, I want to be real. I don’t want to have to hide. But the world is a dangerous place, generally. There are people out there who can’t believe their lucky stars at what people share on line. We are today, the most accessible we have ever been.


For me, for now, as I said, I will write privately. This will pass. I think I will return in some anonymous state. I have a lot to share and perhaps I can share more that way. Perhaps in fact anonymously I can be free without caution, without the fear. For once.

One day life will be good. All the time. One day the fear will leave. I only dare to dream of that feeling, I know it feels good. I close my eyes tight, the tears well. Imagine. One day.

♥

You never really know what is going on in a person's life at any given moment. The hidden pain, the sorrow, the fear. My dear friend, you are a brave soul and your blog is much missed.

You need to do what is right for you, but I do think you can be totally anonymous and still be 'real'. I am sure many reading this would agree.

Do you think you can?

[Image via weheartit]

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