Upside Down Cookie House

Method

1. Sift your flour, corn starch, spices and salt in a large bowl. Give it a whisk.
2. In your standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together. Throw in the lavender and mix.
3. Add the egg while mixing. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Add vanilla extract.
5. Pour in the flour mixture and mix until everything is well incorporated.
6. Put the dough in a plastic bag, flatten it together, then chill it in the refrigerator so it firms up.
7. Once the dough is chilled, place it on a rolling mat, sprinkle with flour and roll out with a rolling pin. Move the dough around so as to prevent it from sticking.
8. Use the templates to cut out your cookies. Take away extra scraps to re-roll for more cookies.
9. Place them on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at 180° for 12 minutes
10. Let the cookies house panels cool, whilst making the melted sugar glue.

Melted Sugar Glue for Cookie Houses

Ingredients

Sugar 1 Cup

Method

1. Pour sugar into a heavy pot.
2. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until the sugar melts and liquefies – about 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Watch closely to avoid burning, and be very careful handling it because it is extremely hot.
4. Use to glue cookie house panels together

Royal Icing

Ingredients

1/2 cup pasteurized liquid egg whites (4 large egg whites)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Food coloring in desired colors

Method

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. You can also use a hand mixer.
2. Switch to low speed and gradually sift the sugar into the egg whites until it’s completely incorporated.
3. Add the lemon juice and beat on high speed until the icing is very thick and forms stiff peaks, about 5 to 10 minutes.
4. At this point, you can add the food coloring if you’re only going to need a full batch of one color. If you need more than one color, separate quantities of icing into individual bowls and just stir in the coloring you want.
5. Use the royal icing to decorate your cookies.

Chocolate Paint

Ingredients

White chocolate 2 cups
Colouring dust powder

Method

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each time. Once fully melted, using a pastry brush paint the cookies with the melted chocolate and let dry on parchment paper
2. Use the chocolate to decorate the cookies.

Assembly

1. Pour a dollop of melted sugar & start by assembling the roof.
2. Work methodically and join the side panels of the cookie house.
3. Decorate around the upside house with granulated sugar coloured brown to resemble sand. (Pour sugar in a ziploc bag and a drop of brown gel colouring, shake until desired colour)
4. Shredded coconuts that are colored green.(Pour desiccated coconut in a ziploc bag and a drop of green gel colouring, shake until desired colour)
5. Make pathways with cookies (offcuts)
6. Pipe some grasses with the green colored royal icing