Gingerbread Project 2014

As you can see by the photo, the gingerbread project of 2014 does not approach the grandeur of the Viking ship or the lighthouse. It is, however, done.

Great Expectations

Every year, the gingerbread project starts with big dreams in November when the plan is to create a gingerbread Who-ville. Filled with optimism as visions of sugarplums dance in my head, I believe I can create a curvy, whimsical village replete with dastardly Grinch and sweet Cindy-Lou Who.

Bleak House

By the 1st week of December, the magnitude of my delusions becomes apparent and it's back to the drawing board. Over the years I've copied and saved oodles of gingerbread project pictures, and as I digitally leaf through my album, I decide on plan B.

The Old Curiosity Shop

With input from Krista and Tegan, I settle on Santa's workshop. It seems straightforward enough - a cutaway with three walls, a roof and opaque windows made from melted Life Savers. I'll fashion elves out of marzipan or fondant and make a few work benches and shelves with toys. No problem.

Hard Times

It is now 10 days before Christmas. With all the excitement of the arrival of our new granddaughter, gingerbread has been all but forgotten. Yet, I like the idea of the gingerbread project so I'm not quite ready to admit defeat.

A Christmas Carol.

I lay out an assortment of cookie cutters and ponder: What would be easy & quick? The answer:  carolers in a forest, singing their hearts out for a herd of happy reindeer! Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Where the Dickens. . .?

It wasn't as easy or as quick as I thought it would be.  On day one, I mixed the dough.  On day two, I cut out and baked the shapes.  On day five at around 10 p.m. I finally got around to icing them. I lined up  all the cookies and couldn't figure out why half my reindeer were missing, so I asked Paul, "Did you eat the reindeer?"
In all sincerity he says, "No, I didn't touch the reindeer, I just ate the little gingerbread men."

(If you look closely, you'll notice the reindeer are actually little upside-down gingerbread men.)

The g-folks are holding songbooks made of Lindt chocolate squares. To make their arms stick out to be able to hold the books, I propped their arms up during baking  with silicon muffin cups. In some cases, the arms folded over during baking and only one arm sticks out. Those guys had to memorize the words and are holding a candy cane in their one sticky-outy hand instead of a songbook.

The stars on the Christmas trees are Werthers candies. They are shiny and stuck very nicely with a glob of icing.

Getting two dimensional cookies to stand up is always a challenge. I glued  gumdrops to the back of their legs so they were free standing. Unfortunately, when I glued the chocolate songbooks into their hands, they flopped forward.  I fixed this by then gluing the gumdrops to the base. (The snow on the ground is coconut.)

We Wish You a Merry Christmas – and a Happy New Year!