I'll admit it, I'm in love with my gingerbread house. Even looking at it today after the hurricane came in the night and took out the two trees, I'm still loving it.
I knew months ago that I'd get to make my gingerbread house so close to Christmas that everyone would be in the spirit. I knew too that by then I'd be dying to come home to my beloved Louisiana and all our cajun-ness! Combined I could think of no better gingerbread house than a representation of the "Cajun Night Before Christmas." All credits to "Trosclair" and James Rice for their fabulous inspiration.
It was the best three days at school, period. I even felt a sense of pride when my hands turned a horrible shade of green from making all eight alligators for hours. I made marzipan (one of my favorite candies) into a completely inedible substance by adding herbs de provence, cloves, and nutmeg but I had the perfect swamp dirt afterwards. I made Santa's piro and sack full of toys. I hung garland over the windows as I know the poor swamp family could not afford expensive decoration. I had the most trouble with the cypress trees, they wanted to flop over and I wanted them to stand up. Sure if you are at home you stick something in the tree to make it stand up but if you are a student at Le Cordon Bleu making a gingerbread house, everything has to be edible. Thin spaghetti saved the day but thats about as long as they lasted ...
In case you are thinking of trying this at home ... A couple of tricks: Bake the gingerbread long and cool, dry it out completely, it will make a more stable house. Use well whipped royal icing to glue it together and let if dry completely before moving it around. Then just have fun with it! The more the merrier!
This was incredibly fun and I can't imagine a Christmas in the future without a gingerbread house. They are magical.
"Merry Christmas to all 'Till I saw you some mo'!"
I knew months ago that I'd get to make my gingerbread house so close to Christmas that everyone would be in the spirit. I knew too that by then I'd be dying to come home to my beloved Louisiana and all our cajun-ness! Combined I could think of no better gingerbread house than a representation of the "Cajun Night Before Christmas." All credits to "Trosclair" and James Rice for their fabulous inspiration.
It was the best three days at school, period. I even felt a sense of pride when my hands turned a horrible shade of green from making all eight alligators for hours. I made marzipan (one of my favorite candies) into a completely inedible substance by adding herbs de provence, cloves, and nutmeg but I had the perfect swamp dirt afterwards. I made Santa's piro and sack full of toys. I hung garland over the windows as I know the poor swamp family could not afford expensive decoration. I had the most trouble with the cypress trees, they wanted to flop over and I wanted them to stand up. Sure if you are at home you stick something in the tree to make it stand up but if you are a student at Le Cordon Bleu making a gingerbread house, everything has to be edible. Thin spaghetti saved the day but thats about as long as they lasted ...
In case you are thinking of trying this at home ... A couple of tricks: Bake the gingerbread long and cool, dry it out completely, it will make a more stable house. Use well whipped royal icing to glue it together and let if dry completely before moving it around. Then just have fun with it! The more the merrier!
This was incredibly fun and I can't imagine a Christmas in the future without a gingerbread house. They are magical.
"Merry Christmas to all 'Till I saw you some mo'!"
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