There has been some Christmas baking going on this house! I’ve had lots of fun with some gluten free recipes this year.
First I baked the annual Christmas cakes. I make two each year and last year was the first time I had to do gluten free (had only been diagnosed a few months at that stage) and my cake attempt was edible but not fantastic. I cooked them a bit long and they dried out. This year I reduced the cooking time and the temperature a little and was very happy with the results! This is from my grandma’s recipe with a few modifications 
Next item on the list was some darling baby gingerbread houses that were inspired from a photo I found on Pinterest. They are made to sit on the side of your coffee cup and are just adorable! Had to give this a go so I made a few for some friends and packaged them up in cellophane. I found the instructions here but used a gluten free gingerbread cookie recipe found on another site. Not too convinced about the flavour of these ones so will use a different recipe next time. The roof is topped with crushed up candy canes.
Then I wanted to make a full size gingerbread house so off I went on a google search to find what I was looking for. The recipes I used for the gingerbread dough and the icing are on this site and the pattern and instructions for the house construction is here. For the flour I used White Wings gluten free plain flour and I left out the guar gum. I also used the full 7 cups of flour, if you don’t you will end up with a very sticky dough. It says to refrigerate overnight, mine ended up in the fridge for about 48 hours before I could get back to it and was fine. Its very hard when you get it out but just cut into pieces and work each piece in your hands a bit, knead, then roll straight onto some baking paper, cut the pieces out and slide the baking paper onto a tray for the oven. This way you don’t disturb the cut pieces too much and helps them keep their shape.
The recipe makes a lot of dough, plenty for the house pieces plus a whole bunch of cookies and gingerbread men. I made two batches of the icing though as I used quite a lot on the roof to secure my shingles (freckles!). These are some gingerbread men I made with the leftovers. They are for the little nephews and niece on Christmas Day.
The gingerbread is delicious. I was so pleased with both the texture and the flavour. It can be difficult to find a good balance in gluten free baking but these really hit the spot.
Only two more sleeps till Santa comes 
