I’m so proud of us! For the past month, I’ve been teaching classical pastry arts to culinary students. When the chance to enter a gingerbread house contest came up, I entered us as a class…in the professional division.
I couldn’t resist.
What a great opportunity to practice our skills by rolling dough, piping royal icing, sculpting fondant, shaping rice krispie treats, and just generally thinking outside the candy box. One of my students brought in an amazing gingerbread house book written by a pastry chef and an architect, Gingerbread Architect: Recipes and Blueprints for Twelve Classic American Homes. That book was pretty much the death of me for the past few weeks. I mean, why make a gingerbread box when you can make an asymmetrical Victorian farmhouse with stained-glass windows lit from within? And why just put icing on the roof when you can tile it with chocolate? And naturally, we needed Rudolph on that roof. And a pond – with koi fish. And a picnic table. And, and, and…
Each student took on a piece of the house, made a fondant snowman, and made a royal icing tree. A baker’s dozen of snowmen and trees!
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- Love the broom!
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- What a sweet scarf!
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- Corn cob pipe!
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- You shall not pass! -Gandalf Snowman
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- Fondant mittens!
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- Great bowtie!
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- Love the green eyes and twig arms.
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- Do you like my hat?
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- A snowball casualty…
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- This one evokes the Wild West!
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- Ready for the slopes!
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- Welcome, Christmas!
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- A jaunty scarf!
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- A partridge in a pear tree!
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- Candy canes!
I wish I could have fit them all into the display, but, alas, space was limited. I already have ideas for next year’s gingerbread adventure, many of them inspired by my students. I won’t lie – the house was a bit of torture for most of us. However, one of my students thanked me for assigning the project. She was amazed by how well everything came together and glad to have been a part of the process. Me, too! Thanks for sticking with me, guys. Great job!
Just a few more:
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- We built a full-scale cardboard model before we attacked the gingerbread.
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- Wine bottles make great tree holders.
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- Tootsie Rolls made perfect posts.
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- Sweet skates.
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- Step away from the house, and put your hands up!
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- See you next year!
Looks like fun! My daughter is a pastry chef, too. She made a Halloween gingerbread house this year. It was great. Your students did a great job.