LETS BUILD GINGERBREAD HOUSES: It is definitely time to do this! Do it before you get so busy. It will keep.
I don't know of any Holiday project that is more fun for the entire family that building a gingerbread house. The first one you do, you may not want to break and eat. It is such a structural art! You will be amazed at your creation when you are finished.

PATTERNS:    One thing I have done over several years, is to collect pictures and patterns. I now have a notebook at least 3 inches thick. When I get ready to make them, I get my book out and decide on one I like. Many have patterns and many don't. But that isn't a problem, not having patterns for all. Once you do one, you will see that it is easy to even make up your own.
   I have an amazing GB house for you this year. Complete with pictures, patterns and directions. Though I have made it, I have no idea where I first obtained the directions. I'll put this on the GINGERBREAD page for you after the chat. You can use the GB recipe that came with it, your favorite, or another one I already have on these pages on the web. The recipe that came with this house is [NOT] gingerbread. It is a sugar cookie dough. I have not tried it. I like my own recipe I've used for years.

EAT IT! The main thing to keep in mind when you are making your house is that it is to eventually be eaten...this isn't easy sometimes. You almost don't want it broken. But once the Holidays are over, you may as well eat it. Eventually it will fall apart. Any product used to preserve it is NOT edible. Besides, you'll have no excuse to make another one if you don't eat it! I bring mine to work and break it all apart in small pieces. Every time one of the kids walk by, they take a piece. 2-3 kids will eat one in a week or so.

CANDIES: I would resist adding candies that you know the family doesn't care for. The 'thatch' roof on the house in my picture (using shredded wheat) is nice, but I doubt anyone would want to eat that. Then there is the 'chewing gum' roof. Chewing gum makes nice 'tile' for the roof, but do you really want all that gum for the kids? If you use gum, maybe you could use just a little and camouflage the rest of the roof with icing  'snow.' I like lollypops for 'light poles.' M & M's make wonderfully tasty decorations. Or lifesavers. I think most kids would eat the 'trees' if they are made of ice cream cones...especially the chocolate ones. Adding icing to them will make flavor.

WINDOWS: I add candies in my windows before I bake the pieces. Then the candy melts. I've learned not to break it too fine. Don't worry, it will melt. I like the round yellow butterscotch candies for 'glowing' lighted windows. I place my house on a cardboard that I first cut a hole in for inserting a light bulb. Plug it in and its SO impressive! (We carry these lights. It is one light bulb on the wire and a plug.)

Kak decor1:  you mean like stained glass? (YES)

Most of the 'tricks' and tips are already online at: http://w3.one.net/~proicer/cakepict/gb/gbread.htm
I will also add a page for this year's house. My favorite gingerbread is already online for you. Or you might like Joyce's. It is also there. Hers is darker (contains dark molasses). Dark molasses make good taste. It just depends on your preferences. You can also sub dark molasses in my recipe too. But mine is the ONLY one I have ever found that you can start assembling as soon as its good and cold. At first, baked GB is very soft. You can trim it more perfect. But the cooler it becomes, the harder it gets. If you use it too soon, your roof is apt to sag! Waiting until the next day is great. I like to bake all my pieces for several houses one day, assemble them the next, decorate them the next, etc.

CAUTION: You need to remember [DUST]. I cover mine up except for when I have guests.

PRESERVING: I have the fancy one I did last year and it still hasn't fallen apart. It is tightly covered with plastic wrap in my basement classroom. I haven't done anything to preserve it. Usually they fall apart by summer. I don't know what holds this one together. Maybe because I used exceptionally soft-thin consistency royal icing to glue it together. That is probably why. If your icing is too stiff, it doesn't stick as well. My icing is so thin that it barely holds shape. (Add more water to thin it).

I have a friend in Pennsylvania that has entered several times.  Creativity and new ideas seem to do better in this contest rather than your level of expertise.  Check out pages 141 and 143 for this years winners.

On page 193 there are some really cute cookies for Christmas.  I would make one suggestion.  If you are going to this much trouble to make beautiful cookies fix them where people can hang them on the tree if they want to.  All you have to do is take a large writing tip such as a #10 or #12 and cut the hole in the top of the cookies immediately as they are taken out of the oven.  After they are decorated thread a little yarn through the hole and  make it long enough to hang on the tree.  If your friends and family want to eat them all they have to do is remove the yarn.  Otherwise they are ready to hang on the tree.   They smell so good and make the Christmas tree and room even more festive.

The best hints i have for doing gingerbread are to make sure your dough is cold and to roll it out on tin foil and peal the excess dough away and not disturb the cut pieces.  If you are cutting out pieces for a gingerbread house that must fit together exactly the pieces must be cut precisely and not stretched or distorted.  Tear sheets of tin foil to fit the size cookie sheets you have.  Dampen the table with a wet rag.  Put the tin foil down on the damp area of the table and then roll out the gingerbread on the tin foil.  The moisture under the foil keeps it from sliding around on you as you are working with it.  Now cut out your shapes right on the foil and carefully peal the excess dough away.   Be sure and leave enough space between the cut pieces to allow for expansion of the dough as it is baking.   Transfer the whole sheet of tin foil right onto your cookie sheet and bake.  Cool the pieces on the tin foil.  Do not remove them from the tin foil until they are cold.  Then you can just peal the tin foil off of the back of the cookies or gingerbread house pieces.

Gingerbread is so much fun to work with when you have grandchildren.  I am really looking forward to doing a project with my granddaughters this year.  I have never had the time to make a gingerbread scene with the girls here in town.  With only two more cakes on my schedule for the rest of this year i am really looking forward to being able to do one just for fun.  With children i must remember to keep it simple and keep it fun.  Do you have any suggestions for me and the girls?

When i was in Houston for a cake show several years ago i was very surprised to see gingerbread houses in that show from several of the Houston decorators.  That area is so humid that i didn't think that the gingerbread would hold up.  One of the gals there told me that they must bake the gingerbread and usually over bake it a little.  Then they coat the back side of all the pieces with royal icing.  This protects the gingerbread, makes it sturdier and helps protect it from absorbing so much of the humidity back into the gingerbread.  Those of you in high humidity areas might try this and let us know just how it works.

Thinkchoc:  Pwd, can you roll them out on Parch, paper on the cookie sheets too?
CCChefPwd:  Sure I don't know why not
JTWdirect:  Don't you find the pieces get soggy then?
JWGPKG:  I did mine last year on parchment.  Came out great.
Cakestmper:  Thinkchoc, I always use parchment paper
CCChefDol:  Think, tin foil - heavy duty works really well. Sometimes I scoot them off just on the oven rack to bake more pieces. Mine always liked to cut out gb boys and decorate them, easier
JTWdirect:  I taught 20 second graders last year and they did it with one parent to four children
DPastry:  My neice did one last year for the first time and entered it in the fair and won first place
CCChefPwd:  The girls really want to do a scene this year.  Not just the cookies
Cakestmper:  We did classes on gb houses last year, 27 students, no problems in Florida
Cakestmper:  The only trouble we had in class was the nasty meringue powder that came with the Wilton kit
CCChefDol:  Cake, taste bad? I add almond extract
Cakestmper:  Not taste bad, was sticky, gummy, couldn't get it mixed properly.
JTWdirect:  Cakstmper- put water in bowl 1st, add powder & whip to froth then add sugar
Cakestmper:  No, JTW, it was the meringue mix in kit, just was not same formula as Wilton meringue pwd
JTWdirect:  Oh, I see cakestmper...you can always call Wilton to discuss
CCChefDol:  Pwd...that is good information. FL girls say they have a hard time too
Ploeger642:  That's what I do it FL - same as Houston w/royal icing backing
CCChefPwd:  Those Neco wafers make a neat roof
Ovrworkmom:  I use those licorice things that are multi colored for the roof. looks like a roof
CCChefDol:  Necco...go to their web site for good ideas - don't have the URL, sorry (Search word "Necco" should find it for you)
CCChefPwd:  One of the gals last year said they were a problem for her because of the humidity
CCChefDol:  The royal icing backing would help I bet
CCChefDol:  I also read once that people re-enforce the corners with plastic tubes - like Wilton's
DPastry:  That was me.  Was having trouble with the GB not staying together.
LRYinVA:  dp, toothpicks can work.
JTWdirect:  Try letting the walls dry overnight before adding the roof
DPastry:  The gingerbread went too soft.
Ploeger642:  I color my royal brown that I'm gluing with - like look better
JTWdirect:  Color brown, great idea
CCChefDol:  Ploeg...that is a VERY good tip!
Ploeger642:  Watch the size of the roof in high humidity.  If house it small not problem

IDEAS:
Kak decor1:  make your trees with royal icing
CCChefDol:  all kinds of ways to dec. those trees. I roll them in royal i. then sprinkle candies on
JTWdirect:  sprinkle 10X on trees for "snow"
CCChefPwd:  Scott Ferguson from OK, makes the neatest GP  Christmas or pine trees. They are easy and amazingly real looking. He uses the cutters for leaves like the silver foliage - I can't think of its name. He just cuts them out and lays them in flower formers.  He makes lots of leaves and several different sizes. Then he assembles them with royal icing on a wax paper cone starting at the bottom. They are really realistic. He was the guy who took the grand prize at the OK show last month. I'll send you a picture of his entry this weekend for all to enjoy. He is also a magnificent gingerbread house architect.  Precision and detail you just can't believe
Ploeger642:  I use the patterns all the time
DPastry:  I have a whole drawer full of patterns for GB houses and everything else.  Been cutting them  out for many years.
CCChefDol:  It isn't hard to make a pattern once you've done a few houses so
you understand it. I preserved my patterns between clear contact paper. You NEED the paper so you can see them or you may bake your pattern & ruin it
JSTJZN:  but the bottom line is - the children are not supposed to eat them.
DPastry:  Don't for get the soup cans
CCChefPwd:  Soup Cans????
DPastry:  Put one on the inside and the outside to hold it together
JSTJZN:  because in order to make them stand you must insert toothpicks
Roca Karen:  has anyone ever bought the kit for GB Houses?
Cakestmper:  Roca, do you mean the pre-baked? Yes, I have
Ploeger642:  Roca - Wilton - Yes
JTWdirect:  Wilton has a new kit this year
Roca Karen:  Me Too.........Plo, is it good?
JSTJZN:  which is of course inedible -
JSTJZN:  as tempting as those houses may be - back to basic sugar cookies with yummy frosting and decorating

JSTJZN:  decorations for those children to eat - gingerbread houses are for the oldsters.
JSTJZN:  agreed these gingerbread houses are not for children?
CCChefDol:  our children enjoy them very much

JTWdirect:  ChefDol, what type of board do you recommend?
CCChefDol:  I just use 2 cardboards - we sell a lot of them. Don't want to cut boards. I wrap them in foil
Kak decor1:  i make gingerbread men, and wrap them, tying a ribbon on them and had guests cut one before they leave the house
JTWdirect:  Each year the children delight in "smashing" the traditional Gingerbread house....and eating

CCChefDol:  2 kinds of GB: Do you ALL realize their are GB cookies that are crispy and that is what we use for GB house. Then, there is also gingerbread (bread). Someone wanted soft ones. They won't work for this.
JSTJZN:  oh yes gingerbread - got mine form fanny farmer - always a big hit.

I WANT TO DO:
Roca Karen:  I want to do gingerbread basset hounds!
JSTJZN:  perhaps we could make gingerbread houses out of those cute little gingerbread men we buy and then they outline the door. Allow the children to decorate and eat?
Roca Karen:  I need a gingerbread Jaguar (car)
CCChefDol:  Roca, its easy to form things like that but it would need to bake in that form
CCChefDol:  Star stained glass cookies are fun...cut out one large one...cut out a smaller star inside the big star and add candies - bake
Thinkchoc:  I bake extra gb people for inside the house when the kids take the roof off

KBius:  Is any amateur decorators entering the Wilton cookie contest?
CCChefDol:  I attended that chat of Wal-Mart/Wilton's -learned a little too
Kak decor1:  how can i get it? Is the chat printed anywhere
KBius:  me too, Dol.. hopefully your not entering, we amateurs would have no chance, lol
CCChefDol:  Kak...I have the log, most of it anyway. .I'll email it
DPastry:  You really must have the time to work on them.
JTWdirect:  Wilton teachers have been encouraged to enter
CCChefDol:  I doubt they are looking for perfection, prob. more on good ideas
Thinkchoc:  what do you need to get in (credentials)?
CarolA5238:  Pwd, did you get to peek in on the Wilton cookie chat last Sunday, it was okay.
CCChefPwd:  I could not get in.  I tried several times and it would not let me in. Guess I was not wanted.  BOOHOOO
CarolA5238:  I'd love it ,I didn't know you could have logged thank you. I thought it was different, some of the questions asked were sort of corny.
CCChefDol:  People asked a lot of ?'s and she knew all the answers

GINGERBREAD HOUSE EXHIBIT: Exhibit, vintest and silent auction of finferbread houses built by everyone from pre-schoolers to professional chefs!
There will be more once I recieve the printed matter from them that I requested.
I will post it here and on my gingerbread pages.
Some information may not be exact and I will change this notice when I recieve more exact info.
GINGERBREAD HOUSE EXHIBIT closed Sundays
WHEN TO SETUP: November 30th to December 5th, 10:00 am to 3: pm
VIEW DISPLAYS: December 8th to 19th, 1998
WHERE: Monroe House
73 1/2 S. Professor St.
Oberlin, OH
about 30 miles SW of Cleveland
30-50 exhibits expected

Thinkchoc:  Pwd, had trouble fitting the bows together last week-looped ones, had to do regular bows.
Any special tips for assembly on looped ones as far as sizing?
LRYinVA:  You use rolled fondant or marzipan...
CCChefPwd:  The largest loops I make are 1 inch wide and 7 inches long with the ends tapered
Thinkchoc:  ok, I did that 1"wide and tapered ends, in assembly how do you lay the first row of loops,
CCChefPwd:  How ever they fit in a circle.  -some laying flat others tilted up a little.
Thinkchoc:  ok, then the second row do you lay flat or sideways?
CCChefPwd:  Then you add a little more royal in the center and fit the next
row of loops in.  You don't want them all uniform.   Some tilted a little one way and some another like real bow loops. The very top loops must be shorter or they just don'[t fit in right
Thinkchoc:  Kind of did that but maybe first row wasn't spread out enough. Ok that's the problem I had them more uniform and they were to crowed, will tilt and turn them next try

Kak decor1:  tried the frozen buttercream picture transfer last nite
Icing Wiz:  Kak how did it turn out?
Kak decor1:  great, was very pleased
CCChefPwd:  Did it work for you Kak
Kak decor1:  yes
Kak decor1:  did a Noah's ark cake, and copied the plates
Icing Wiz:  sounds almost like color flow?
Kak decor1:  never did color flow, but this was just tracing
Icing Wiz:  color flow same thing
Kak decor1:  am forcing myself to try new things, and get out of the same ole rut

DieLady:  i think my fav cake was one i did for my son....train with coaches
JTWdirect:  DieLady, my favorite was daughter's wedding.
PiddyRud:  I have to say I made a really cool...Halloween bridal shower cake 2 years ago - used the pedestals from my own wedding cake - white cake...black icing - ended up looking like a top hat
Icing Wiz:  Halloween/bridal shower?????
JTWdirect:  sounds cool...mine had wired gumpaste flowers. Nine corsages in all, four stacked tiers.
PjW10:  I did a wedding cake last weekend, the set up was gorgeous!
Icing Wiz:  what was it like PJ?
PjW10:  they had twinkle ligts under a bunched tablecloth, made the whole table glow and the cake was on the Lucite pillars stand, all white with real flowers, white roses. It was incredible! Can't wait to get the pictures back
Icing Wiz:  I did a fall one with hunter green and gold. The garlands were vines with little apple blossoms white roses are so weddingy! I put two monarch butterflies in the middle with a mound of apple blossoms
Kak decor1:  have yet to tackle fondant, even with your hints
CCChefDol:  butterflies...Pwd's favorite!
PjW10:  how did you color the monarchs Icing??
Icing Wiz:  I was butterfly woman for Halloween
CCChefPwd:  I sent my theme in for the OK show.  Guess what I picked????
Icing Wiz:  they were gold too/the monarchs
CCChefPwd:  Fluttering Fantasies
Icing Wiz:  I just got the coolest t shirt from Target white with a black velvet butterfly
CCChefPwd:  or otherwise Butterflies - figured that gave me a little more leway
Icing Wiz:  butterflies?
CCChefDol:  butterflies? right?
Kak decor1:  did the wedding cake on pg 58 of the treasury of wedding cakes but added another tier, was beautiful
Icing Wiz:  Fluttering Fantasies sounds more creative too
PjW10:  ICING, did you paint the monarch butterflys??
Icing Wiz:  no, I cheated I bought them was running out of time. I wanted to do them in color flow but was pressed for time. I feel so guilty now
PjW10:  I did a monarch for a show cake, stole the idea from Colette's book, hehehehe
CCChefPwd:  I think we all understand that -  next time - rice paper butterflies are pretty fast
Icing Wiz:  I bought those pens that you put the paste color in I had a hard time with them
PjW10:  Icing I sent you my bird house cake didn't I???
Icing Wiz:  yes
PjW10:  monarch was on that cake and a blue Butterfly too

Tbdecor1:  When you guys do wedding with real flowers...do you place the flowers or let the florist?
CCChefDol:  you should let the florist so you can't be responsible for the poisons
Tbdecor1:  poisons????
PjW10:  I let the florist if possible, but will do it myself if necessary
CCChefDol:  Tb, insecticides
Tbdecor1:  Oh, something I never even thought of.

Tbdecor1:  When are we going to see this castle cake you all have been talking about?
Kak decor1:  is there a place for us semi pros to send in pics of cakes?
PjW10:
Icing Wiz:  I saw it in American Cake decorating
Icing Wiz:  I loved the balconies Dol - so realistic
PjW10:  yeah, Dolores, Great cake!!
CCChefPwd:  She did good.......
Tbdecor1:  Will it be online? Like in Dol web site?
CCChefDol:  The balconies on the real one were MUCH better...used lace points
CCChefDol:  thanks all : )
Icing Wiz:  I bet you are glad it is over?
TO ALL: I am still waiting for a GOOD picture - both of the fake one and the real one. The newspaper has the fake one and said they will get me the negatives. The bride's mom said she will order me one of the real one. The real one is by far the prettiest!