Gingerbread House and People (Makes one gingerbread house and all the trimmings or 40 gingerbread boys and girls) You need to put aside a couple of hours for this recipe, but it is great fun for the whole family — you can get very creative and as tasteful or as tacky as you wish.

(For more fun, games and fairytales go to the House of Fairy Tales website)

Ingredients

300g butter; 125g caster sugar; 125g soft dark brown sugar; 225g golden syrup or treacle; 725g plain flour; 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 3 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Welcome to the House of Fairy Tales

A group of rebel artists have hijacked the features section of the newspaper, times2 for the day, click here to see the results

BACKGROUND

• The Okido science colouring book that you can eat

• How schoolchildren shaped the new Trafalgar Square plinth

• Traditional British culture has been forgotten

BACKGROUND

• Heston Blumenthal's Mock Turtle Soup

• Sophie Dahl's magic muesli

• Make a gingerbread house and people

For the icing for the gingerbread boys and girls:

175g icing sugar; 1-2 tbsp boiling water

For decorating the gingerbread boys and girls:

Smarties; chocolate buttons (milk or white chocolate); gold and silver balls

For the “glue” and icing for the house:

2 egg whites; 500g icing sugar; plus extra for dusting

For decorating the house:

Hundreds and thousands; Chocolate buttons (milk and sugared chocolate); Jelly Tots; Dolly Mixtures; sugar strands; Flake bar for the chimney; Piping bag and nozzles

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the sugars and golden syrup. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the melted butter and sugar and mix together. Knead the mixture for a few seconds until it comes together, adding a teaspoon or so of water if necessary. Flatten the dough into a round about 2cm thick, wrap with clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

To make the gingerbread boys and girls, remove the dough from the fridge, dust the work surface with flour and roll to about 5mm thick. Cut out using boy/girl cutters, transfer on to the trays and cook for 12 minutes until they are slightly firm. Place them on a wire rack to cool. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the water and beat until the icing comes together. Using a small palette knife, spread the icing all over the gingerbread boys and girls. While the icing is still slightly “unset” on the biscuits, arrange the decorations, then set aside for the icing to set.

To make the gingerbread house, first make templates in paper (click here to see dimensions)These are handy not just for now, but for when the dough is cooked and you need to trim the walls and roof to ensure that all the edges are straight. Now place a sheet of parchment paper on the work surface, dust with flour and roll out about a quarter of the dough to 5mm thick. Place one of the paper templates on the dough and cut around it with a sharp knife, then slide the dough, still on its parchment paper, on to a baking tray. Repeat with remaining dough until you have a front and back wall, two side walls and two roof panels. Re-roll any leftover dough to make into boys and girls — there should be enough for 6-8. Carefully trim excess paper from around each piece on the baking trays.

Bake all the sections in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Allow to sit for a few minutes on the baking trays to firm up. One by one, lift the pieces, still on the paper, and trim around the template to give clean, sharp edges. To make an open door for the house, cut one out of the front wall and cut out windows, if you wish. Place on a wire rack for a few minutes, then turn over and peel off the trimmed paper. Leave all the pieces to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare a board for the house to sit on. To make the icing “glue” for the house, place the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon into a piping bag. To assemble the house, pipe icing along the vertical wall edges to join the walls together. Using a bowl to support the wall from inside, hold the walls gently in place until the icing is dry. Leave the roofless house to dry for at least 30 minutes until the icing is firmly set. Once dry, remove the supports and pipe a thick line of icing along one side of a roof piece and along the top edge of all the walls. Stick the two roof sections together at an angle and set the two pieces on top of the house. Hold the roof in place for a few minutes until it dries, then leave it for a further 30 minutes.

While the roof is drying, attach the door to the doorway by running a line of icing glue down one side and along the base. Stick a piece of a Flake bar on to the roof as a chimney. Using the icing, pipe around the windows and stick sweets around the door and on the front of the house. To make snow on the roof and icicles, squeeze out a pea-sized blob of icing. Keeping the pressure on, pull the nozzle down and then pull away, leaving a pointy trail of icing. Using the icing, stick milk chocolate and sugared buttons on to the roof for tiles. Glue the gingerbread boys and girls around the house, then scatter the board with sugar strands.

Bake, by Rachel Allen, is published by Collins, £20

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