Gingerbread House

Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter
200g light muscovado sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp treacle
600g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp mixed spice

Royal Icing:
500g icing sugar
3 tbsp Meringue powder
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla clear extract

or

1kg icing sugar
5 tbsp Meringue powder
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla clear extract

Directions:

1. Mix the plain flour, bicarbonate soda, ginger & mixed spice in a large bowl.  Set aside.
2. Heat the butter, syrup, and sugar in a small saucepan until melted, stirring occasionally.  Set aside to cool the melted butter to the dry flour mix & stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a stiff dough.
3. Shape the dough into a ball & knead for a couple of minutes.  Divide the dough into 6 equal pcs & roll out each to a thickness of 5mm (1/4 in).  Lightly flour non-stick on the baking sheet for the template.
4. Cut out a template using a downloadable guide @ tesco.com/real food.  Put all the pieces of gingerbread on baking sheets.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C & bake for 8-9 mins or until firm.  Remove from the oven & leave to cool for a couple of minutes before trimming to neaten while still warm.  Transfer the pcs to a wire rack & leave to cool completely.
6. Once cold, put the gingerbread pieces in a Tupperware box layered between pieces of non-stick baking paper.  Leave overnight to crisp up (Assemble & decorate the house before it's had time to harden up properly; the pcs won't be firm enough for the home to stay up.
7. Make up the icing and pipe icing to join the 4 walls together.  Stick the walls onto a serving board to keep the house in place.  Put a bowl inside the home to hold up the walls.  Stick on the door with icing & decorate with sweets.
8. Once the walls are set, stick on the roof pcs.  Use a thick line of icing between the top join of the two roof pcs to ensure they stick together.
9. Spread any leftover icing on the board around the house to make a snow scene or decorate the garden with iced gingerbread trees & snowmen; make a little path using colored sprinkles & add any other sweet decorations.