Gingerbread Exchange Community

I always bake my pieces in November, and I don’t freeze the pieces, I just store them in a cool, dry place. The trick will be keeping them absolutely flat so that they don’t curl/curve. 

When stored properly gingerbread can last for months and months (I’m often still eating off-cuts from the project I made last year as I build the current project!).  The main killer for gingerbread is humidity, therefore an airtight container will usually suffice.

My houses go to our big family gatherings at Christmas (there are more than 40 of us!), where they get “admired”, then at the New Years Eve party the kids get stuck in and break them down.  I love watching them gleefully shred it.  Everyone assumes I will be heartbroken after all that effort, but I’d be sadder if it weren’t enjoyed.  And I know there will always be another one the following year

Some of the best pics I have are of kids with their hands pulling apart the house and their tongues green from eating icing trees 🌲 .  It usually takes them about 20 minutes to demolish and portion out the house for eating.

One year my uncle put on his safety gear and goggles and had a photo shoot of him pretending to take a sledge hammer to it.  So much fun!

What I really want to do is take it to a children’s hospital, especially the paediatric oncology ward, but there are so many regulatoins and restrictoins these days, that I’d have to start a business and have a kitchen safety inspection before I could so it.  So, it keeps going to my family

That house looks huge!  What size cake board did you have to use?  I like your roof of  chocolate cookies.  I’ve used frosted shredded wheat but am going to try fondant for a black slate roof.

It’s great that the kids get to devour it.  My grandchildren usually eat it too, but last year’s castle was tall and we were afraid it wouldn’t survive the drive to their house.  We celebrate Christmas at my house, but I don’t see them for awhile after that.

I’m trying the Silverlake template from this site this year.  I was going to do the Waterford, but it has so many pieces - maybe next year.

What I really want to do is take it to a children’s hospital, especially the paediatric oncology ward, but there are so many regulatoins and restrictoins these days, that I’d have to start a business and have a kitchen safety inspection before I could so it.  So, it keeps going to my family

What a pity.  The gingerbread contest I've entered last year donated the houses not collected to the local pediatrics unit, which made me very happy.  The year before I'd done a giant book that opened to a scene, and I donated it to my local library, which happened to be having a gingerbread house workshop for the children on a Saturday.  It seemed like the perfect place for my gingerbread book!