If there’s one food that embodies Christmas to perfection, it’s gingerbread. Bake it, and your entire house smells like a holiday. Nibble it, and you’re transported to Christmas past. But what elevates gingerbread above a mere seasonal treat is its decorative quality. Turn it into ornaments and gifts, and every tree or tabletop it touches seems joyous. Even its monkish hue, which may not look very festive, is a warm and amiable backdrop for whimsical shapes and fanciful icing in any color you like.
The gingerbread cookie was the favorite Christmas treat of early-American children. It became popular because it was inexpensive to make and resilient enough to withstand the vagaries of wood- and coal-fired ovens. Gingerbread enthusiasts, however, like to point out that gingerbread became beloved for its taste—that inimitable combination of molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg—and for the fun it provides.
Gingerbread’s delights were evident as far back as the early Christian era, when ancient Romans baked it in portable ovens. The confection was so desirable during the reign of Elizabeth that the royal family employed its own gingerbread baker. Gingerbread became synonymous with extravagant decoration; cut into shapes or baked in wooden molds, it was iced with sugar and gilded. Gingerbread also proved to be a near-perfect construction medium, ideal for building elaborate edifices.
Creating a gingerbread house or Christmas-tree decorations can be so enjoyable, you may want to make it a part of your holiday activities each year. The fun begins with the planning. You can render, in miniature, your favorite cottage or skyscraper, or perhaps a facade of your house—or the house of your dreams. Or you might consult an architecture or history book for more ideas. Stars, butterflies, and snowflakes make enchanting decorations, too. Gingerbread is so adaptable—almost anything you like can be interpreted with golden-brown dough and royal icing, from barnyard animals to Faberge eggs.
Even as a building material, gingerbread abounds with sensual delights. There’s the pleasure of rolling the dough and cutting out designs. There’s comfort and delight in the scent of baking gingerbread, redolent of spices, as it wafts from the oven and fills the kitchen and house. Making gingerbread is an engaging holiday project for any child old enough to manipulate a cookie cutter or squeeze a pastry bag with some degree of precision. And decorating cookies is a splendid exercise in self-expression, especially because icing is so forgiving; if you make a mistake, just wipe it off before it dries, and try again. Gingerbread cookies and constructions can be elegantly simple or astonishingly complex, and each has its own reward. But gingerbread, of course, is meant to be eaten, so be sure to make an extra batch or two. You will recall that heavenly flavor each time you admire your gingerbread house or gaze at the colorful cookies glistening on the tree.
©2007, Kathy Burns-Millyard