Having a retail shop always requires some ingenuity to come up with interesting holiday windows. Gingerbread houses have graced ours for many years. Not every year. That was the plan one time, but the frustration and pressure was just too much. Building with gingerbread is not always easy! This year I really wimped out and made a very small house with a very simple design and only made one exception…chocolate!
I looked up a recipe on the internet and found this one at Simply Recipes. I substituted a few tablespoons of cocoa for an equal amount of flour. It gave a rich dark chocolate look and essence to the house. After all, the smell of gingerbread is one of the prime reasons to make this, in my opinion.

A trip to the local candy store revealed all the fun nonpareils that covered the roof and defined the doors and windows. The usual egg white and confectioners sugar icing was enhanced with more cocoa powder to darken the color and make it less noticeable. I’m a pretty sloppy mason when it comes to gluing together the house.

This little house made its debut at the Chocolate Festival, but has found its true home in the window of The Great Galena Peddlery to ride out the holiday season.
Gingerbread houses have been popular for Christmas celebrations since Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm in the 19th century. The German guild of Nuremberg was the most famous for producing elaborately detailed lebkuchen, or spice cookies. Gingerbread was brought to the US by Swiss Catholic monks in the middle of the 1800’s. The monks in Indiana made cookies and houses to deliver to the sick and shut-ins at Christmas. The tradition has continued and is still popular today.

Kid Approved Activity!!