This is going to make me sound like a major Grinch, but stay with me here people. Other than ordering the rum cakes which have become as much as an annual tradition as eating Turkish style grilled meats instead of turkey for Christmas dinner, I’ve done nothing Christmassy yet this year. Well, that was until last week, where we took my Christmas spirit from zero to one hundred in the space of a few days! The start of the week saw me attend my first Christmas lunch with my fellow ‘Ideal Life Club’ members and the following day, I whisked myself off to ateliers des chefs, round the corner from my day job, to meet the lovely team at NEFF.

I’ve been a big fan of the NEFF ovens and their sliding doors. This will make me sound old, but the Neff Slide and Hide ovens were more of a draw to the Great British Bake Off than the contestants, the first time I watched it. I’m a sucker or a good kitchen appliance. The NEFF oven is not only sleek and gorgeous, it’s also easy to clean which gives it extra bonus points in my book.

I’d thought it was going to be a small, intimate event for a handful of bloggers but this was more of a Christmas extravaganza! About 30 of us were split into three groups and tasked with creating a gingerbread house, from the dough upwards and also cooking our own canapes. The majority of us had never set eyes on each other until that evening so it was like the first episode of The Apprentice. You know? When you’re simultaneously trying to figure out where your team’s strengths lay and get on with whatever you’ve tasked yourself with? All whilst balancing your third glass of mulled wine and sneakily popping gingerbread dough into your mouth. You see, I  thought the canapes would be waiting for us on arrival and had come with an empty stomach, hence the need to eat the leftover dough in an attempt to soak up the wine. See, there was a totally acceptable reason….

Our team worked really well together, though there were certainly some formidable characters within it! Everyone found a way to get involved, be it cutting out the dough for the house or canapes, or piping out the icing for the house. Conversation flowed smoothly and we had a good laugh creating our masterpiece. Calling it a house just doesn’t do it justice! Our 2018 model gingerbread house came complete with retro 80’s style curtains, potted succulents, red piping on the exterior and a coordinated roof. Genius!

Some of our canapes were us making lemonade from our lemons. We had some lovingly prepared bruschetta and a ginger snap salmon concoction. Having spent far too much attention to our house, we left our cookies in the oven too long and we had to hollow them out, creating ginger snaps. These made a great shell to fill with our creme fraiche and salmon. You wouldn’t think it would work, but it was gorgeous and I ate at least four of them!

If you fancy giving the gingerbread house a go yourselves, or for the more daring, trying out the gingerbread and salmon canapes, the recipe for the gingerbread is below. There’s a great template for the house, courtesy of Ateliers Des Chefs, available on the Currys PC World blog here.  I love baking, but have to admit, it was the first time making gingerbread. If you do make it, let me know what you think.

How to make a gingerbread house from scratch

Gingerbread recipe

• Serves: 6 people
• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cooking time: 15 minutes
• Rest time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

For the biscuit:

• 375 grams unsalted butter
• 150 grams golden syrup
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 300 grams soft dark brown sugar
• 900 grams plain flour
• 20 grams bicarbonate of soda

For the icing:

• 4 egg whites
• Juice of 2 whole lemons
• 900 grams icing sugar

Directions to make the biscuit

1. Set the oven to 180°C.
2. Melt together the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a small pan over a low heat.
3. Mix the plain flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then pour in the butter mixture and stir until everything is incorporated.
5. Knead by hand until a smooth, firm dough is achieved.
6. Fold 2 sheets of baking paper in half and make a crease; open at the creases, and divide the dough equally between the two sheets.
7. Place the dough on one half of the baking paper, fold the paper back along the crease and roll the dough into a flat, even shape. Do this for both sheets of baking paper. This will give you 2 sheets of dough of even thickness.
8. Cut the dough in the requisite shapes, using the stencil provided. (See bottom of the page).
9. Bake for 15 minutes; the biscuit will still be slightly soft when it comes out of the oven.
10. While the biscuit is still hot, recut the shapes, as the mix will have slightly joined together during baking.
11. At this stage, you can cut out windows and doors.
12. Leave to cool. Once cooled and set, carefully remove the excess trimmings and assemble.

Directions to make the icing for a gingerbread house

1. Whisk the egg whites in a mixer until frothy.
2. Add the icing sugar and mix on a low speed until combined.
3. Add the lemon juice, increase the speed and mix again until incorporated.
4. If desired, split the mix and add food colouring of your choice.
5. Pour the mixture into multiple icing bags and place different tips on each one to give you more choices when decorating.

To assemble

1. The icing needs time to set firmly, so make sure it has rested.
2. Cement the walls with thick layers of icing using a wide nozzle.
3. Decorate as desired and enjoy with the whole family!