A Very Merry Gingerbread House!

I finally finished decorating the gingerbread house yesterday afternon. In between making coquito, kipes, and pasteles en hoja, I finally finished!

This year it has been colder and more humid than usual, and in this climat the icing takes forever to dry. I decided to make my gingerbread house covered with red fondant; therefore, very little icing was used for details, it was mainly used to glue the house. I found that using meringue powder icing, option II here, without diluting it after it's done, makes a strong icing that glues and dries much quicker.

Traditional Gingerbread Men Cookies

These last few days I've been putting together our gingerbread house and making gingerbread men. With all the things we have made a habit of doing for this season, there is nothing better for me than to decorate cookies. I have so much fun decorating gingerbread men, and it keeps me busy doing what I like, especially when it is to give as a gift!

En español

The cookies are very easy to make and decorate. All you need is a gingerbread man cutter, your favorite cookie recipe, and royal icing. There is nothing complicated about decorating it the traditional way. I made a video of less than two minutes for you to see and get inspired to make a few in the next weeks.

Need some cookie recipes: 
Sugar Cookies (Traditional) 
Decorating Chocolate Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies Recipe

Notes: To add color to the traditional cookie dough, you just have to add a few teaspoons of cocoa or a few drops of color of your choice. These will look nice in red or green, maybe pink for a baby girl!  I am stuck on the traditional, but it is always good to try out new things, especially for kids!

Glaze Recipe: 
Royal Icing

A sweet peek at this year´s gingerbread house:

Have you noticed the beautiful new blog design? I would like to thank Fran, from Freborboleta Design, who is the one who helped me to change the style of the blog. I love the new design and I hope you like it too! Feel free to look around, use the new "custom search" on the right, or the options on the gray menu bar above. If it is not in your language, click on the top right button to switch to the English or Spanish blog.

Have a Merry week!

Adding a Festive Touch: Creating Poinsettia Fondant Flowers for Your Sweet Creations

Poinsettia flowers not only provide a beautiful finish to our sweet creations but also infuse them with a delightful touch of Christmas. The poinsettias I'm sharing today were crafted using fondant cutters, which are commonly found in many households. Specifically, I utilized two types of cutters: those designed for hydrangeas and daisies.

Cupcakes Navideños y Cómo Hacer Flor de Pascua en español.

These versatile flowers are perfect for enhancing small confectionery items such as cookies, cakes, and mini cupcakes. I trust that these tips will prove helpful and inspiring for your own festive creations!

What you needed to do mini poinsettias or poinsettias: 
• Fondant red or white
• Tylo
• Cutters shaped flowers (see link below)
• Dishes or molds to dry flowers


Note: If you have gum paste used that instead of fondant. If you need the sugar paste recipe, look for it here: Recipes Fondant Mari’s Cakes. A good combination to make sugar flowers or figures is 50% gum paste and 50% fondant. I used fondant and tylo for this project.

If you are interested in these cutters, get them here: 86 Pcs Fondant Cutters Decorating Tools Molds.

A large cutter and the small cutter of the same pattern is needed.

For drying the flowers, consider using a curved plate. If one is not readily available, a clean egg carton can serve the purpose, or you can fashion your own using aluminum foil.

In my experience…

• In highly humid climates, I've found that using a mixture of 1 cup of cornstarch (80 g) with ½ cup of powdered sugar (60 g) is ideal for working with fondant. This powder is perfect for sprinkling in the area where you'll be rolling out your fondant, and at times, over the fondant itself to prevent the rolling pin from sticking to it.

• Glue the gold dragees with a little vodka, it sticks well, dries fast, and is not sticky. I also use this to glue small fondant pieces.

Are you looking for recipes for soft and tasty cupcakes? I recommend the following:

• Pumpkin Cupcakes

• Gingerbread Cupcakes

• Eggnog Cupcakes

My best wishes to you all, and may you have a holiday vacation filled with love and peace!

Because of his kindness, you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it. - Ephesians 2:8-9