Directions

Making the Gingerbread House pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

2. Add the ground almonds, sweetener & ginger to a mixing bowl and combine.

3. Now add the egg yolks and water, mixing to create a dough - after a minute or so, use your hands to knead the dough into a ball.

4. Lay a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on the work surface and sprinkle it with coconut flour.

5. Take a piece of the dough and place it on the sheet of baking paper. Sprinkle a little more coconut flour on, then place a second sheet of baking paper on top and roll the dough. This dough can roll out fairly thin, but you’ll want to make it thick enough that you can pick it up in one piece.

6. Either draw out your own stencil, or use a stencil from online to create all the pieces you need for a house. As we’re not using typical icing, I recommend keeping the roof at a mild slope - the ganache can take some time to set.

7. Place your gingerbread house pieces on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake until slightly golden - usually around 10-15 minutes. They should be quite firm straight from the oven, but will go crispier as they cool.

8. Place the biscuits on a cooling rack. Meanwhile, make the chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache - to stick the pieces together!

1. Add the double cream to a glass bowl and microwave (with a lid on) or heat over a pot of boiling water. In the microwave, this will take 30-60 seconds. You want the cream to be hot and bubbling slightly.

2. Remove the bowl of cream from the heat (if you heated it on the stove) and break up the chocolate into pieces.

3. Add the chocolate to the cream and mix for several minutes, until the chocolate melts completely and creates a silky ganache. Set the bowl aside to cool - around 20-30 minutes is best.

Creating any other additions

1. Whilst you’re waiting for the biscuits & ganache to cool, prepare anything else you’d like to decorate the house with, such as roasted hazelnuts, desiccated coconut (like snow!), sliced berries.

2. I used the caramel from the Caramel Clusters recipe to create snowmen, gingerbread men & Christmas trees from silicone chocolate moulds.

Constructing the Gingerbread House

1. One word… Patience! Once the ganache is thick, drizzle it onto the joining edges of the biscuits. Place them together on your serving plate, using supports (I used tupperware) to keep the biscuits upright. I used a small spoon to drizzle more ganache onto the corners, allowing it to run down and form a better seal.

2. Use leftover ganache to drizzle it in corners or on top of the roof and let it drip down like… chocolate icicles? To create snow, sprinkle desiccated coconut on top - it’ll stick to the ganache.

3. Decorate to your heart’s content! I used melted chocolate, thickened with a dash of cream, to create the window markings. Another cool idea: dip strawberries in chocolate, chop the tops off and place them around the house like trees.

Enjoy!

1. Store in the fridge for 3-4 days.