My friend, Barb, sent me a link to The Chicken Chick’s directions for a gingerbread chicken coop. I told her I wouldn't do anything that involved unless she came and helped me. She called my bluff.
I’ve never made a gingerbread house before but I thought a chicken coop would be a simple start…silly me.
I’ve never made a gingerbread house before but I thought a chicken coop would be a simple start…silly me.
This was the idea when we started... The Chicken Chick had all kinds of details, like little nest boxes complete with marzipan eggs and roosts made of pretzels sticks, a Purina feed sack behind the door, weather vane, a feeding dish made out of molded candy melts filled with grain and a marzipan chicken taking a dust bath in brown sugar.
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/12/gingerbread-chicken-coop-instructions.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/12/gingerbread-chicken-coop-instructions.html
I found it a challenge just to roll the gingerbread dough panels out to the same thickness.
Before reality set in, I did look for marzipan at the store. Being Christmas time, the baking aisle was pretty well sold out, but I asked anyway. The employee stocking shelves in the baking aisle, was apparently new for the Christmas season. After I’d repeated my request twice he shook his head and said, “I don’t even know what that is. You’d have to ask my supervisor.” I suddenly remembered I had a miniature chicken cookie cutter and decided I really wanted gingerbread chickens, anyway.
Unfortunately, as I was cutting out the little chickens Joel asked for help with the real chickens. I quickly put the cookie sheet in the oven and went outside. When I came back in I couldn’t find the cookie cutter anywhere. I gave up and went on to other things. I found my plastic cookie cutter when I took the pan out of the oven. My cookie cutter now looked more like red wax lips for Halloween than a chicken. No more gingerbread chickens. Barb and I each had a flock of two until I found more chickens in the gingerbread scraps when I was cleaning up.
| Joel has often mentioned how magical the gingerbread house was that his dad made one Christmas. Perhaps very young children are easily impressed. I heard the Norway House on Franklin Ave. has a gingerbread display through January 15th, complete with the Foshay Tower, the Capitol building and the Stone Arch Bridge among other things. http://norwayhouse.org/event/gingerbread-wonderland/ I think I’ll just go eat my chicken coop. |  |
