Saturday, December 26, 2009

Hansel and Gretel got nothing on this....

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes. I chose to use the Good Housekeeping recipe. Let me tell you, this recipe was more than enough to make my gingerbread house. I so much dough left over, I made some gingerbread vertically challenged people.

There are many things that go into building a house. First you need the basic foundation...
















Next you need to build your sides...


Then you "nail" your house together with royal icing. Don't forget your shingles!


Once its complete, inspect and make sure the new homeowner is happy about it.

I think Fido is quite happy about his home. Did you know this was my first gingerbread dog house ever? I remember in preschool someone's mom brought in a gingerbread house for us to devour. I recall the kids surrounding the house oohing and ahhing. I was crying because I kept getting pushed to the back as everyone was trying to get a good view of the house. I don't even remember if I even got to taste it? Well guess what?? I don't have to share this house. I get to have front row view of this home and I get to eat this house all by myself.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Where's the beef?


The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

The beef ain't here. So if you are looking for some, you will have to go looking for it elsewhere. Wait...don't leave! I was just kidding. At least take a moment to read my post. :)

Doesn't the salmon look yummy? For those of you who are not aware of a Salmon en Croute, its salmon wrapped in puff pastry baked until golden delicious. I think I might have gain a few too many pounds this month with all the holiday baking and this delcious Daring Kitchen challenge. You want to know what the biggest challege was for me? Finding watercress. I live in CA and to not find any watercress that just seems silly. I searched high and low, but no watercress. Instead, I made a homemade pesto sauce to go on top of my salmon. I hope I still get credit for the challenge.

Thank you Simone for this awesome challenge!
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