Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Gingerbread Church with Stained Glass

Lisa had a great method for making a stained glass effect on gingerbread houses, so we decided to make a church.

Our gingerbread is a standard recipe from a Jean Paré cook book. This was my first time making gingerbread, and also my first time realizing that most of the tastes I associate with gingerbread are actually from the molasses.

For the stained glass, we bought hard candies and crushed them to make coloured sugars. After the gingerbread was baked off, we set the cookies on parchment, then filled the window-holes with the coloured sugar. After baking for a few minutes, the sugar melts, and once it cools it resembles glass.

Just as the windows come out of the oven, the melted sugar can be manipulated with a toothpick to create designs.

Our gingerbread is bound with classic royal icing.

The roof is made of slivered almonds.


Gingerbread church blueprints
Cutting the gingerbread
The baked gingerbread, cooling on a rack
The crushed candies
The windows, filled with coloured, powdered sugar
The rear window, filled with coloured, powdered sugar
The rear window after baking and manipulating with a toothpick
Making the royal icing
A front-view of the finished gingerbread church
A rear-view of the finished gingerbread church
Posted by at 8:00 AM
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4 comments:

  1. Kevin KossowanDecember 15, 2010 at 9:07 AM

    Awesome. My girls admired the photos. Love the roof and the snow.

    I was at The Duchess yesterday for a meeting, and they have a gingerbread Notre Dame cathedral replica that's got to be 6' long and 3' tall. Impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Allan SuddabyDecember 15, 2010 at 10:09 AM

    Cool. I've heard great things about Duchess, but I haven't been there yet. I'll have to go check it out (and take gingerbread notes).

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  3. A Canadian FoodieDecember 15, 2010 at 3:12 PM

    You must get to Duchess, Allan! No excuses! This is a fantastic Christmas project! Years ago, as an elementary school teacher, every Christmas I would have a Craft Making and Sale day with my students. Of course, so many parents were needed at each station. The students would earn their two dollars with me before the event, and then "buy" tickets to the tables of the crafts they wanted to make and take home for gifts. One of my favourites - as it thrilled the students so much - was the stained glass cookie table... we would do just what you did - but I didn't know you could manipulate a pattern with a toothpick. The students were too young for that, anyway - but this post has brought back many warm memories for me. Great windows. You can now put one of those electric mini candles inside that don't generate heat and enjoy the glow!
    :)
    Valerie

    ReplyDelete
  4. mcchanDecember 15, 2010 at 11:06 PM

    this is quite from the bunker-castle with a moat I was expecting ! :)

    ReplyDelete

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