Houses for Hansel and Gretel...

I've always had a fascination with Gingerbread houses - both from the gingerbread baking and the building and decorating aspects. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to indulge in my creativity this holiday season. Had I been able to do so though, I probably would have attempted a variation of one of the houses found in this book: The Gingerbread Architect - it contains recipes and instructions (and blueprints!) for twelve different gingerbread houses...it all begins with an introduction, a 7-day schedule for the building of your gingerbread home (I had no idea it would take 7-days - but this is also why I didn't get to it this past holiday season) in addition to tips and commentary on the use of the templates, making the dough, assembly, and decoration. While all the houses in this book are 100% edible, there are also some tips on preservation, should you opt for saving your gingerbread house rather than nibbling away at it as did Hansel and Gretel.

House styles represented in the book range from relatively simple projects like the rustic adirondack, classic cape cod, and old west dawson-city houses to the very intricate classic carpenter gothic style house. The book has designs that are suitable for all range of bakers. Simply flipping through the book was a pleasure, seeing all the fine details on the roofs and yards of each of these homes brought a smile to my face - a particular favorite yard decoration were the pink flamingos of the South Beach house.

Now then...since I'm guessing next year may well be just as crazy as things were this year, I'm not sure that I'll be able to take advantage of the great ideas in this book. If, however, you are game to take on the challenge, I will offer it up along with my copy of Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse. Just leave me a comment before January 18th - make sure there's a way to contact you if you should be the lucky winner. Shipping only within the US though, I'm afraid.