Crispy honey house

First, prepare the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves or other spices and salt. Next, prepare the butter mixture. Beat the butter and brown sugar at medium speed with a stick mixer until the mixture is fluffy and well blended. Beat in the eggs, molasses and water until well combined.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and knead to form a dough. Stir half of the flour mixture into the butter-molasses mixture until well combined and smooth. Add the remaining flour mixture and continue mixing until well combined. The result will be a soft dough that is well combined. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it with your hands 5 or 6 times to make it smooth and well combined. If the dough is too soft, add a little more flour.

Divide the dough in half, form into a circle and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours, but preferably overnight. The dough can be made up to three days in advance. Warm the dough at room temperature for at least ten minutes before rolling.

Cut the rolled out dough into pieces to make the house.

Dimensions of the house parts:

• SIDE HOUSE PIECE (two pieces needed): 7,5 cm x 12,5 cm;
• FRONT AND BACK OF THE HOUSE: cut out two more rectangles of dough, 19 cm x 14 cm. Make a small mark on the longer side at 7,5 cm on both sides of the rectangle and shape this part of the dough into a roof;
• ROOF: rectangle 16,5 cm by 18 cm.
• DIMENSION: four pieces are needed: 1x rectangle 7,5 cm x 1,5 cm, 1x rectangle 3 cm x 2,5 cm and 2x rectangles 7 cm x 2,5 cm. Make a slope between the two rectangles by cutting off the longer side at 4 cm on one side and cutting it off with a diagonal line. To help you visualise, we have prepared a preview of the design. It is waiting HERE.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Prepare 2 to 3 flat cookie sheets. Then start rolling out the dough. Spread baking paper on a large flat surface. Lightly dust the paper with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to an even thickness of 0,5 cm. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin or the surface, sprinkle it with more flour. If the rolled out dough is very soft, it can be frozen for an hour before cutting out the samples.

Sprinkle a little flour on the surface of the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut out patterns from the dough, wiping the surface of the knife frequently. Depending on how soft the dough is, you may need to use scissors to cut. Patterns can be cut through the dough and paper, and the pieces of dough and paper can then be placed directly on the baking trays.

Arrange the pieces of dough on the baking tray at a distance of one centimetre from each other. If the pieces of dough stretch while being carried, push them back into the shape. At this point, you can also cut out the doors and windows or wait until the end of baking to shape them while the dough is still warm.

Bake the dough in an oven preheated to 180°C. Bake the large pieces for 11 to 15 minutes and the smaller pieces for 6 to 8 minutes. Halfway through baking, rotate the baking trays so that the house pieces brown more evenly. Cool the baked pieces for about 15 minutes.

Prepare the sugar topping. In our case, we can call it glue. Whisk the egg whites and 150 g of icing sugar until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar and whisk. If the mixture is too thin, add a little more icing sugar. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag.

At the short end of one of the sides, draw a thick line of icing with sugar and egg whites. Press the icing-coated side part against the edge of the front or back part. Hold in place for a few minutes to allow the icing to partially set. Repeat with the other side. Repeat with the other short edges of the side sections and the remaining front/rear section. Stamp the glaze along the seams, inside and outside the house, to fill any gaps and provide additional stability. Stamp the glaze along the edges of the house where it meets the base. Leave to stand for at least one hour before attempting to add the roof sections. If any of the parts break, don''t worry. Simply glue it back together using the sugarpaste.