The Gingerbread Houses

Today I started working on the annual gingerbread houses.  For more than a decade, I've made gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate at Christmas time.  In a nod to The Pioneer Woman, here's what I do, at least three times over, to make the houses:

Lightly grease the molds with cooking spray.  Tip:  I've found that laying the molds on the inside door of my dishwasher while spraying them means there's no residual spray to mop up, either on my kitchen floor or my table.

Combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy. 

Add molasses

 and egg yolk.

Beat until smooth.

Gradually add flour mixture

and continue to beat until dough is thoroughly combined.  Gather dough into a large ball.

Cut dough ball in half.

Press half of dough firmly into greased mold.

Bake for 20 minutes; let cool for 5.

Place a cooling rack over surface of mold.

Flip mold and cooling rack together to unmold house pieces directly onto the rack.

Given that I had to tackle Mount Washmore this morning, and that I'm still napping the afternoon away in an attempt to kick this walking pneumonia thing, this was as far as I made it today:  two houses baked, none assembled, none decorated.  Tomorrow's another day.  I think by Friday, along with the tree, the gingerbread houses will be complete.  Stay tuned...