Gingerbread Emergency For School

[2Boys4Me]

On Wednesday they are making gingerbread houses in class. I will supply a zip-bag of acceptable candies to stick on it, and the teacher knows we need a space away from the other kids gingerbread and pretzels, etc.

I need to make pieces of gingerbread squares for Ty and he will probably share with the girl in class who is "gluten-light". I have a found a few recipes for gingersnaps, but I don't know if I can use them for a house. Can you tell I never, ever eat or work with gingerbread?

Also, they were supposed to get something called "Royal" icing to glue them together, but the teacher who bought it is sick today so I can't check ingredients. I called Duncan Hines from the store to check on DH Creamy Vanilla frosting. The label is gold with microscopic brown printing and no phone number. I got the phone number from a brownie mix. Anyway, there didn't seem to be any suspicious ingredients, but the guy on the phone said there WAS gluten in them. I asked what the gluten containing ingredient was, he put me on hold and then came back without a real answer so I called him on the U.S. law to have a may contains line if there was wheat in the product and he pretty much knew nothing. I didn't buy it, so I don't have the label, but I guess there could have been malt in the natural flavouring if there even was natural flavouring. Does anyone have more info on that? I'm in Canada and the label on the icing said Manufactured in USA prepared for Duncan Hines Missassauga, Ontario.

Thanks in advance. I have to bake tomorrow.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I could be wrong, but I think gingerbread houses are actually made either from ginger snap dough baked in a sheet, or even graham crackers. I thought they were more for decoration and weren't supposed to be eaten, but I could be wrong. gluten-free doyughs do tend to be more crumbly and fall-apartish.

Seems to me that the teacher ought not to be planning this sort of thing with 2 kids int he class who have problems with gluten. She would never get away with doing something peanut related if even one kid in the class had a peanut allergy! Or am I being too hard on her?

Anyway, if you get desperate, just get your kid some stiff foamboard at the craft store, and let him decorate that with whatever icing you find or make that is gluten-free,, and tell him you'll bake him a gingerbread he can eat for Christmas!

[2Boys4Me]

I don't have the vaguest idea if you're supposed to eat a gingerbread house or not, but I'd rather him have one he can handle for the decorating even if he doesn't eat it.

As for the planning with two gluten-free kids in class, this is a co-operative effort between three grade 1-2 classes. There are probably about 65 -70 kids in total. The note said to please not include candies that contain peanuts and I said that I would probably have to supply original M&Ms that have a may contain peanuts statement because Ty is not allowed to have Smarties. (Our Smarties are similar to M&Ms, not the sugar candy in cellophane you guys call Smarties. We call those Rockets.) The teacher is very young, only 23, so I don't know if she is not comfortable telling the other teachers - both with 20 years experience - that another craft would be more suitable or not. I don't even know that it crossed any of their minds that it might be a problem.

I guess the reality is that it's not an anaphylactic reaction and the schools will no sooner ban the making of gingerbread houses than ban children from bringing sandwiches and pizza for lunch.

Ty, Amanda (the gluten-light girl, she has Down Syndrome), Amanda's aide and I will be at a table kind of away from the rest of the kids. I said that we wanted to be close enough to be included, but far enough away that crumby kids wouldn't be contaminating our area. Ty knows that he can share things from his goodie bag, but is not permitted to take anything from the other kids bags.

By the way, excellent suggestion about the stiff foamboard. I never would have thought of that.

[JenKuz]

By the way, excellent suggestion about the stiff foamboard. I never would have thought of that.

If not foamboard, maybe you can make a bake-able playdough style dough out of corn starch and tapioca flour, or something like that? I guess any hard cookie recipe would do; you could always stir a little ginger in to be authentic.

Here's a recipe. I imagine it will bake hard...but I don't know for certain.

GLUTEN FREE PLAY DOUGH

Ingredients

2/3 cup rice flour

1/3 cup potato starch flour

1/3 cup salt

2 tsp. xanthan gum

1 Tb. cream of tartar

1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid, any flavor (or food coloring, but Kool-Aid is brighter and has a scent)

1 Tb. vegetable oil

1 cup warm water

Extra potato starch for kneading dough

Directions:

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the rice flour, potato starch flour, salt, xanthan gum, cream of tartar, and Kool-Aid powder. (If using food color instead of Kool-Aid, add the food coloring to the water before adding to the dry ingredients.)

2. Add the oil and the warm water to the flour mixture and mix well.

3.Heat the mixture on medium heat for about one minute or until the mixture thickens and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.

4. Turn out the dough onto a cornstarch-floured board or waxed paper. Knead in enough potato starch until the dough is no longer sticky.

5. Store in an airtight container or zip-style bag when not in use.

6. If the dough becomes too thick or slightly dry after using, heat in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds and knead.

[Guest nini]

my daughter's class is doing the same thing and I talked to her teacher about it this morning... she said they aren't going to eat them so it hadn't occured to her that it would be an issue, but the room mom that was planning this had already sent out the request sheets to all the kids and it was out of her hands at this point... so she suggested since they aren't going to eat them that we use the EnerG crackers (they are putting them on milk cartons with the royal icing... and I'll just bring in a selection of gluten-free candies for her to glue on

[mommida]

Hey, I was in the same mess yesterday! YOU CAN NOT USE GINGERSNAP RECIPE FOR A CUTOUT SHAPE COOKIE. If you add more flour to the dough the cookies taste terrible. My daughter's class was just decorating the gingerbread men, and eating the cookies. I gave her gluten free frosting and had her put smiley faces on K-toos. She was happy with that.

L.

[2Boys4Me]

Thanks everyone. I found a recipe for gingerbread houses that uses Pamela's Amazing bread mix. I have a package that is pretty close to the expiry/best before date, so I'll use that. I'm off to bake it right now. Then I have to look for meringue powder (which I've never heard of) to make the icing.

I'm glad I read this before I tried a gingersnap recipe.

[Guest cassidy]

I'm sure it was a pain to figure all that out but you are a very good mom for doing all that for him!

[momandgirls]

I have some Pamela's mix in my house now and my daughter would love to make a gingerbread house. We were just talking about it yesterday. We do one every year but didn't know what to do this year now that she's gluten free. I'd love the recipe if you're willing to share it! Also, for frosting, we usually just use powdered sugar mixed with a little water or milk or lemon juice. It gets hard and works just fine. I would have no idea where to find meringue powder (though I have heard of it).

[2Boys4Me]

This is taken directly from Open Original Shared Link

(A tip...when you're rolling it out use some sweet rice flour/rice flour/cornstarch/something/anything to keep it from sticking. I tried rolling it between two pieces of waxed paper and it was a mess. That piece turned out looking kind of icky. The other two came out nice and smooth because I rolled them out with a very little bit of sweet rice flour. I'm still not sure about the meringue powder. I might try egg replacer. I called my local Safeway and they don't have any, nor does the health food store. I can't go searching for it because my older son is home sick today. I guess I could call around. Probably I'll use the egg replacer and if it doesn't work, I'll hope the icing the teacher brought has an 800 # on it. Or we'll use a glue stick and forget about eating anything that falls off. Ours are just going to be mini-houses about 3 inches square pieces, I think the other kids are using graham wafers. I should have enough for Ty and the gluten-light girl if they don't break. Or...we'll put the icky piece with the icky parts on the inside of the house where no one goes. )

Gingerbread Cookies & Houses

1/3 cup shortening or unsalted butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mild or light molasses for light cookies/dark for darker cookies

1- 1/2 teaspoon ginger

1- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

5 tablespoons water, add additional if needed to bring dough together

1 bag Pamela's Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix (do not use the yeast packet)

Cream shortening or butter, then mix in top 7 ingredients together. Add water and one bag Pamela's Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix (do not use yeast packet) and mix gently together. Parchment paper can be used to help with rolling out if dough sticks to your rolling pin. You can also refrigerate dough for 1 hour before using.

Roll out onto greased baking sheet. I use two wooden rulers or chopsticks on each side of the dough to roll out the dough so that it is the same thickness. Cut out cookies or house pieces and bake. Dough should be about 3/8-inch thick. Bake in a preheated oven at 350

[jkmunchkin]

I don't know much about gingerbread houses, but I don't think any of Duncan Hines frostings are gluten free anymore. I believe they added malt several months back. But I believe Pillsbury is still safe. I haven't bought frosting in awhile but last time I checked Pillsbury is ok.

[2Boys4Me]

Thanks for the heads up on Duncan Hines, Jillian. As I said there was nothing suspicious on the label so it struck me as odd when he said there was gluten in it, and odder yet when he couldn't identify the gluten containing ingredient. I have never seen Pillsbury pre-made icing here. Usually I make my own anyway. A friend at hockey practice tonight said she had a tube of Royal icing and also meringue powder, so tomorrow I'll call the bakery that made the icing and if all else fails I'll make it from scratch tomorrow morning for construction tomorrow afternoon. I'll have to take my camera.

[hstevens]

I posted something similar to this last week. I took the Gingerbread house my daughter was to decorate and encapsulated the whole thing in a couple coats of Mod Podge. The complany tells me it is gluten-free, and it dries clear. We never eat the house anyway, and this way she could join right in with all the other kids without a problem. I suppied her own bowl of candies and her own Pilsbury frosting.. It turned out great!

[GFBetsy]

Royal icing is made from egg whites, cream of tartar, and powdered sugar. It's VERY hard when it dries. It should be gluten free . . . of course, we all know that sometimes people add gluten to the strangest things!

Here's another gingerbread house/cookie recipe, from eatingglutenfree.com. It's really good:

4 1/2 c. Bette Hagman's Featherlight mix

2 tsp. xanthan gum

1 Tbs. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. butter (softened)

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 c. molasses

Royal Icing

In a medium-sized bowl, sift the Featherlight mix, xanthan gum, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and baking soda. Set aside dry ingredients.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the molasses.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture, a little at a time, stirring after each addition with a wooden spoon or mixer. The dough should be stiff.

Grease a 13 x 18 inch cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Place the dough onto the cookie sheet and flatten it to 1/4 inch thickness. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Use cookie cutters to cut out gingerbread men on the pre-rolled dough. Combine any extra dough, roll it out again, and cut out more cookies. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a greased cookie sheet, placing them 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes or until light brown.

Once the cookies have cooled, decorate them with frosting and small gluten free candies. Makes about 25 cookies.

There's also a royal icing recipe on that site . . . or you could find one in a Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.