Kids Cuisine

Who started this whimsical tradition of building houses out of candy? Was it a baker with leftover dough from making gingerbread men? Perhaps remnants from the classic story about Hansel & Gretel? Did you as a child make them? All I remember is making Christmas trees out of a tall styrofoam cone, lots of toothpicks, and a bowl of colored, sugared gum drops.

My sons have made gingerbread houses, one way or another, year after year. Whether in the classroom with milk cartons and graham crackers (and big tubs of candy and piles of make-shift, sticky, get-in-your hair frosting), or at home with the standard Costco, Trader Joe’s or Williams-Sonoma Gingerbread House Kits. It just wouldn’t be Christmas wihtout the annual mortaring of custom-built cookie and candy homes.

This year was no exception, and the quaint cabins already adorn a nearby table. A worthwhile albeit messy adventure for families, parents can expect to clean up for longer than it takes for these little gingerbread gems to be built. But if you don’t mind the sugary mess, gingerbread house making provides a solid holiday memory, playing with candy, creative design opportunities, some form of architecture lesson, and above all, provides the quintessential activity.

I have even heard of people throwing gingerbread house parties, though I myself couldn’t afford the requisite clean-up crew to come and suck the icing out of my carpet. And really, I don’t want to be responsible for supporting the digestion of colored dyes, oodles of sugar, and fingers-in-the-mouth that come with making candied cabins. That might be a cop-out for a full-party (yet effective); for now I will stick to (note pun) providing an annual architecture event for my own children—candy canes, sugary rooftops, and all.

And don’t forget to add the Christmas music, warm up some cider or hot chocolate, and take loads of photos; it will be the topper to a memorable gingerbread building event.
Gingerbread recipes:
http://www.gingerbreadlane.com/recipe.html
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/special/specialfeature/holiday_cookies_ms/
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/103229

For more info:
Wikipedia on Gingerbread: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingerbread
Wikipedia on Hansel & Gretel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_and_Gretel
The Gingerbread Factory: http://www.gingerbreadfactory.com/index.htm