This Christmas post is inspired by an afternoon of fierce competition, in the lead up to last year’s celebrations. My wife and I were invited to a gingerbread bake-off, we really didn’t know what to expect as the invitation was very mysterious.
We walked through the door to find construction in full swing, the smell of gingerbread wafting out of the oven – which for the day was turned into a prefabricated gingerbread panel manufacturing plant. The oven was pumping out panels of all shapes and sizes ready to be incorporated into amazing architectural marvels. There was a miniature of the local stadium, Santa’s grotto and a castle. We managed a small but accurately reproduced bus shelter complete with a stained glass window made from a red hard boiled lolly, crushed and added to the pane just before popping the ginger bread in the oven.
Have fun creating your own mini masterpieces!
Before you commit to a design, make a pattern out of paper to check it will fit together nicely. Use royal icing as the cement for your little houses, as it will set to the hardness required to hold the house together. If you have any leftover dough, you could make some gingerbread cookie tree decorations. Just decorate in a festive fashion and stick a loop of string on the back with a little icing.
