I finally finished our Advent Tubes, and set them up this evening. Now I’ve moved on to gingerbread. Damon and I are working on a gingerbread house for a neighborhood contest. Damon’s doing the designing, I’m doing the baking. Damon will probably do most of the assembly, but I’m open to helping.

The recipe I’m using is the recipe my mother used to have us making gingerbread people every Christmas. We decorated them with cinnamon dots, giving them buttons down their fronts. As far as I understand it, she never used it to make a gingerbread house.

Damon and I figure all the years we have seen Gingerbread House Challenges and competitions on Food Network makes us pretty much experts. And if not, we can still have some fun.

Here is the recipe I am using. They are called Lucia Gingersnaps and my mom found the recipe in a magazine or newspaper a long, long, long time ago.

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups molasses
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons baking soda
7- 9 cups flour

Whip cream; add sugar, molasses, corn syrup, ginger, lemon rind and baking soda and
mix for 10 minutes. Add flour and work until smooth. Cover and leave in a cool place overnight. Turn onto a floured work surface and roll out thin. With floured cutters cut out shape.
Bake on a greased cookie sheet in a slow oven 250F (120C) for 15 minutes.

Leave on sheet to cool.