Gingerbread Empire State Building

I made an Empire State Building out of ginger bread.

I did this because I used to live in NY, and the Empire State Building is an iconic landmark.

I wanted to capture the beauty of it in one of my favorite mediums, gingerbread.

Here it is.

For The Dough:

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 cup of honey

1/2 cup of shortening

3/4 cup of dark molasses

1/4 cup of warm water

4 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 and a 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon

For the icing:

1 pound of powdered sugar

3 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Melt the shortening, molasses, water, honey, and sugar in a saucepan.

Sift the flour

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl

Put the shortening mixture into a mixing bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth.

Roll out the dough. Make a template for the shapes you are going to need, and cut out those shapes.

Put the egg whites in the mixing bowl on the highest setting. Keep it going until the eggs have stiff peaks. Slowly add the sugar and cream of tartar. Keep on mixing it.

Assemble the pieces, gluing it with icing.

Decorate with the leftover icing.