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Holiday Gingerbread and Cookie Contest
Home Tweet Home for the Holidays
- Contest Photo by: jonaschick152
- Weaverville, NC,
- Category: Gingerbread Houses
Description
Our tradition focuses on gingerbread homes . One year, the kids created Mickey and Minnies homes (yes, the structures from Toontown). Another year, our son decided that home meant home plate, so he created a gingerbread baseball field, complete with players, umpires, dugouts, scoreboard, and fans. That same year, our daughter was concerned about animals having a home, so she constructed a barn, all decked out for the holidays, to make sure her friends would be safe and warm. Last year, we built a holiday home for the fishan aquarium, with swimming fish and bubbling treasure chest, guarded by a gingerbread replica of our cat, Milo. This year we created Home Tweet Home for the Holidays, life-size replicas of homes for 3 birds native to our areathe bluebird, wren, and robin.
Ingredients
Gingerbread: Cream together 1 lb butter, 12 oz brown sugar, 1 Tbsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, 1 Tbsp ground ginger, and 1 tsp ground cloves. Blend in 1 lb molasses. Add 3.5 lbs (about 14 cups!) all purpose flour alternately with 11 oz cold water. Refrigerate to set.
Royal Icing: Beat 2 room temp egg whites with 1 lb powdered sugar and 1 tsp cream of tartar on high 3-5 minutes. Make sure your bowl and mixer are clean. Do not use liquid food coloring (the icing may not set). Keep covered with a damp cloth until use.
Decorations: Anything edible, but mostly candy.
Royal Icing: Beat 2 room temp egg whites with 1 lb powdered sugar and 1 tsp cream of tartar on high 3-5 minutes. Make sure your bowl and mixer are clean. Do not use liquid food coloring (the icing may not set). Keep covered with a damp cloth until use.
Decorations: Anything edible, but mostly candy.
How to Make
Gingerbread is a holiday tradition for our family, started by Nana and Grandad when the kids were small. Its an activity reserved for the last days before Christmas, when we are at home, focusing on family and just being together. Everybody has a partdesigner, architect, dough maker, baker, frosting applicator, decorator&
Roll gingerbread onto floured surface, ¼ to ½ inch thick. Bake at 350 approximately 20 minutes. Overbaking a little will result in sturdier gingerbread if you are not going to eat your masterpiece later. "Glue" joints together with royal icing, starting from the bottom of the structure. Allow to dry thoroughly before decorating.
Decorate with anything edible, using royal icing or corn syrup as glue. The bird nest is made out of marshmallow-coated cereal, formed on the outside of a bowl. We look for interesting ideas and materials all year. Some of the candies in our gingerbread box are over five years old, and still holding on to the promise of use. This years additions were gummy fried eggs and chocolate alligators, neither of which we used. Maybe next year&
Homemade for the Holidays
Tips for Taking a Great Photo:
- Avoid clutter. Keep the background simple -- your gingerbread house or holiday cookie is the star!
- Daytime, natural light is best. If your area is bright enough, try taking the photo without the flash.
- Upload a horizontal photo. If you crop the image on your computer, make sure you keep a landscape 4:3 aspect ratio.
- For best results, make your image 1200x900 (or "save for web").
- With a digital camera, you can take as many photos as possible and choose the best one. Have fun!