Gingerbread House
December 9, 2005 9:37 AM Subscribe
These amazing gingerbread houses on display in Seattle sent me looking for others. This directory includes tons of pictures, including a haunted house, a millhouse complete with millwheel, the old lady's shoe, a tudor castle, and a Thai temple. Recipes and dimensions for your own modest (and delicious!) abode.
Very cool, OmieWise! The National Gingerbread House Competition is held every year at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. Here are the winners for 2005. Pretty amazing, no?
PS The best gingerbread recipe I've ever tried (for eating, not building) was published in Cook's Illustrated a few years back. If you like gingerbread, you must try this recipe. It's super easy (unlike most of their stuff) to make.
posted by Sully6 at 10:18 AM on December 9, 2005
PS The best gingerbread recipe I've ever tried (for eating, not building) was published in Cook's Illustrated a few years back. If you like gingerbread, you must try this recipe. It's super easy (unlike most of their stuff) to make.
posted by Sully6 at 10:18 AM on December 9, 2005
I love gingerbread houses. You can order a handmade gingerbread house for almost any holiday from The Gingerbread Contruction Co.. Also, the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC is hosting the National Gingerbread House Competition & Display through Jan 8, 2006. Check out the winning houses.
(on preview, Sully6 beat me to it ;)
posted by geeky at 10:20 AM on December 9, 2005
(on preview, Sully6 beat me to it ;)
posted by geeky at 10:20 AM on December 9, 2005
Funny -- every year at this time I get the un-envied job of coordinating a Gingerbread House contest for the museum where I work. In the past it's been kind of a nobody's baby job that's always given to the new kid. But this year I volunteered for it and decided to wholeheartedly embrace the task - part of this was writing a Gingerbread FAQ that included the URL to that amazing site with the directory.
We received more than 35 entries and the contest is actually pretty spectacular! We got a nice spread in the local paper. The standouts so far are a (working) lighthouse, complete with lobster pots painstakingly made from pretzels and a lighthouse keeper hanging fruit-leather laundry on a licorice line; a Hogwarts Great Hall, a Sustainable Living house with a woodstove, Andes-Mint solar panels, and wafer windmills, and a Spanish mission church. The creativity is really something to see.
The best part is walking into the display -- the aroma of that much gingerbread is awesome!
posted by Miko at 10:22 AM on December 9, 2005
We received more than 35 entries and the contest is actually pretty spectacular! We got a nice spread in the local paper. The standouts so far are a (working) lighthouse, complete with lobster pots painstakingly made from pretzels and a lighthouse keeper hanging fruit-leather laundry on a licorice line; a Hogwarts Great Hall, a Sustainable Living house with a woodstove, Andes-Mint solar panels, and wafer windmills, and a Spanish mission church. The creativity is really something to see.
The best part is walking into the display -- the aroma of that much gingerbread is awesome!
posted by Miko at 10:22 AM on December 9, 2005
The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation seems like a poor choice of sponsor though...
posted by iamck at 10:28 AM on December 9, 2005
posted by iamck at 10:28 AM on December 9, 2005
ah, I found photos of the 2004 National Gingerbread House Competition winners. The first one was the winner, and the best gingerbread house I've ever seen!
posted by geeky at 10:30 AM on December 9, 2005
posted by geeky at 10:30 AM on December 9, 2005
Wow. The part I can't imagine, geeky, is building some that amazing and time-consuming and then having to transport it to a hotel in the mountains. I think it would make me crazy.
If you've never seen Rose Levy Beranbaum's gingerbread Notre Dame WITH stained glass windows, definitely look for the cookbook Rose's Christmas Cookies next time you're at the bookstore. (I couldn't find a photo online sadly.)
Trader Joe's used to--maybe still does--sell a cheapie kit for those who'd like to decorate a gingerbread house but not have to bake.
posted by Sully6 at 10:39 AM on December 9, 2005
If you've never seen Rose Levy Beranbaum's gingerbread Notre Dame WITH stained glass windows, definitely look for the cookbook Rose's Christmas Cookies next time you're at the bookstore. (I couldn't find a photo online sadly.)
Trader Joe's used to--maybe still does--sell a cheapie kit for those who'd like to decorate a gingerbread house but not have to bake.
posted by Sully6 at 10:39 AM on December 9, 2005
Actually, I'm headed over to take some pix today. Maybe I'll get them onto Flickr and post the link here.
posted by Miko at 11:26 AM on December 9, 2005
posted by Miko at 11:26 AM on December 9, 2005
Hi OmieWise, thanks for the link-love. I am happy to see that many people have enjoyed these simple, colorful pictures.
To me, the funny thing is, after years of blogging, this is the first thing I've done that has garnered more than modest attention!
It just goes to show that you never know what people will find interesting. It is cool to read all of the comments from the kindergarten and first grade classrooms.
posted by jeffbarr at 5:13 PM on December 9, 2005
To me, the funny thing is, after years of blogging, this is the first thing I've done that has garnered more than modest attention!
It just goes to show that you never know what people will find interesting. It is cool to read all of the comments from the kindergarten and first grade classrooms.
posted by jeffbarr at 5:13 PM on December 9, 2005
I live in Asheville, and every year the Biltmore Estate hosts some sort of gingerbread house making contest. Apparently it's a big deal, people come from all over the country and stuff.
Two years ago when I went to see it, they had entries from a local elementary school as well, which were far, far better than the 'professional' entries.
The students interpreted 'house' very loosely, There was a gingerbread UFO, a football game being played by Teddy Grahams with lasagna bleachers (no gingerbread in sight on that one), and my personal favorite: a gingerbread recreation of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
posted by Who_Am_I at 5:18 PM on December 9, 2005
Two years ago when I went to see it, they had entries from a local elementary school as well, which were far, far better than the 'professional' entries.
The students interpreted 'house' very loosely, There was a gingerbread UFO, a football game being played by Teddy Grahams with lasagna bleachers (no gingerbread in sight on that one), and my personal favorite: a gingerbread recreation of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
posted by Who_Am_I at 5:18 PM on December 9, 2005
OK, so if I'd bothered to read the comments more closely, I would have seen that Sully6 already covered the gingerbread contest up here, and that it's the Grove Park Inn, not the Biltmore Estate. Still a good story though.
posted by Who_Am_I at 5:21 PM on December 9, 2005
posted by Who_Am_I at 5:21 PM on December 9, 2005
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