Sunday Sweets: A Gingerbread Jam!
December 11, 2016 Tomorrow is Gingerbread House Day!
So in case you want to try your hand at Gingerbread Greatness, I've found some gorgeous examples to inspire you. Or, if you're like me, to make you not even try, because there's no way mere mortals can do this:
;)
(By Little Wonderland)
Isn't this pretty?
I'm seriously considering selling my house and moving in here.
I hear cardinals aren't great roommates, though...
So how about a sweet little cottage instead?
;)
Who wants to lick the icing off the roof and eat a tree?
Would that be rude? (Is anyone looking?)
Because, you know, gingerbread houses don't have to have snow on their roofs to be beautiful.
Like this adorable little springtime number:
;)
(By Catherine Beddall Edible Art)
So pretty, I almost won't miss licking the roof. Almost.
This baker went the stone cottage route:
;)
(By Worth Pinning, includes step-by-step instructions)
All the stonework is royal icing, allowed to set and then painted with diluted food coloring. Wow.
Meanwhile, I once messed up Rice Krispy Treats. Just saying.
Of course, stone doesn't have to be rustic.
;)
(By Judy's Cakes)
I can't get over all the details -- she made about 1700 individual shingles for the roof alone!
Amazing.
Or, if you're feeling a little blue:
;)
There's just enough room on the roof for Santa and his flying friends, which really ought to be a requirement, if you think about it.
I've decided every house needs a gazebo like this in the front yard:
;)
(By Ginny Pilarz)
Or at least MY house does.
Just look at all that "gingerbread" trim, and those adorable swirly trees!
I'm also loving this roof line:
;)
(By Classic Cakes and Confections)
Dibs on the turret!
And don't you love the lit-up palm tree? So perfect for a bakery based in Arizona.
Of course, if you want to go full Gothic Revival, how about something a little despicable:
;)
(By Carly Owens, Photo by Michael Oppenheim Photography)
Gru's house from Despicable Me!
And, you guys, a teenager made this masterpiece. A teenager! (Do I need to mention my Rice Krispy Treats again?)
Here's one for you over-achievers: instead of a gingerbread house, how about a gingerbread village?
;)
(By Peggy Porschen)
...artfully arranged around two tiers of fruitcake and topped with a Gingerbread Church?
(Love those pastels!)
Or how about a fantastic windmill?
;)
(By deKoekenbakkers)
Isn't it perfect? Look at the tiny bricks and flowers! I wonder if the blades spin?
(I suppose we could ask the cow...)
Of course, if you really want non-traditional, you don't make a gingerbread house at all.
Nope.
You grow it!
;)
(By Susan Aitken, found on The Gingerbread Exchange)
It helps if you're an elf.
I'll bet they're inside there right now, making little gingerbread houses.
Wouldn't that be Sweet?
Happy Sunday, everyone!
*****
Thank you for using our Amazon links to shop! USA, UK, Canada.
Reader Comments (24)
WOW, those are AMAZING. I am slightly in love with the despicable me house-minions make me giggle :D
These are all AMAZING! I'm in awe!
Of course the windmill moooves; just ask the cow.
=^~.-^=
"Meanwhile, I once messed up Rice Krispy Treats. Just saying."
Yup - that is about my talent with gingerbread houses. Love looking at them, though, and I so appreciate the skills. I am really liking that village - I have not seen something like that before. Although the 2nd one has many of the classic touches I love. So hard to choose!
These are redonkulously fantastic!!!! I will definitely admire them from afar and then go back to my $10 store-bought kit - which will look like a 2-year-old completed it when done. I have no skills.
Royal icing is a wondrous thing. One year, I made shortbread cookie houses for all my cousins' kids. My cousin's wife took one home with her so she could copy it. She set it on the roof of the car as she loaded up her stuff, then forgot about it until they started to drive away. Yep, it hit the pavement and nope, not a bit of it broke. Royal icing FTW!
I gladly cede the all pastel village houses to you. Gimmee the fruitcake!
Oh Gosh! I certainly can not choose a favorite this Sunday. They are all incredible!
I don't want to be that guy... oh what the heck, yes I do. Those aren't elves, they are gnomes ;)
Also, now I really want rice krispy treats.
Yayyyyy!! I look forward to this post every year!
Impossível escolher uma. Estão magníficas. Belíssimo trabalho. Parabéns!!
Thank you so much for including my Windmill in this incredible line up of gingerbread houses. Merry Christmas!
Ps. I asked the cow---》 https://www.instagram.com/p/BDBM4GMl8qx/
Don't feel bad, Jen! I can make a wedding cake, but I mess up rice krispy treats. Every. Time. Thanks for all of these beauties to inspire!
The third house has a solar panel roof!
What is that coming out of the chimney on the second house?
Looks suspicious
Like something you'd see on a turkey cake
Only it's pink.
o.0
When all else fails and your gingerbread house falls down - bring on the dinosaurs and blame the wreckage on them! These were lovely and I would never attempt any of them.
is that a kitty looking out of the window in the blue house????
Speaking of decorating gingerbread/sugar cookies: Hy-Vee is currently selling undecorated gingerbread and sugar cookies, along with 1 pound containers of various-colored frosting.
Just in case you happen to live near a Hy-Vee, and pretty much live for frosting.
You're welcome.
Starting at the 5th one I started to wonder if they were still gingerbread or if they were wood/plastic.
WOW! These are phenomenal. I've always admired people who can craft gingerbread houses and the houses themselves. When I was young, a friend of my grandmother was incredibly talented with royal icing. Whenever we all got together, I received a platter of beautifully decorated spice cookies. Whenever I see gingerbread houses (or silver dragees), I'm reminded of those fond memories and gorgeous/delicious cookies.
Gorgeous! The one above Gru's reminds me of the Haunted Mansion. :)
These are food?? I was sure you accidentally threw in a few pictures of model homes. Who could eat such works of art, anyway? To me, it would feel like taking a bite out of the Mona Lisa or Aphrodite of Milos.
I recognize the eighth one down (above Gru's house)! It's the Rosson House in downtown Phoenix! It seemed so familiar, and then it finally hit me! http://heritagesquarephx.org/visit/the-rosson-house/
I hear you about the Rice Krispie Treats. I can make cake, cupcakes, brownies, pie...I can make cheesecake for Heaven's sake, but I can't make Rice Krispie Treats.
Building stones--how about cutting Bertie Botts Beans in half? That's about as close to painting royal icing that I'm going to get. Of course I would have to sort through a lot of them to get the right ones . . . gosh, what to do with the leftovers?