Trees

by tanya
(australia)

How do i make gingerbread trees to go with my victorian style gingerbread house?...and how to i make a bridge to go over my river? and how do i make the people so they are standing up? and do u have any photos with decoration ides for this style of house...i want to try to make a perfect one as a gift for chrissy

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Nov 28, 2010
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Rice/Cereal Crispy Trees
by: Carolyn Bowman

Here is a recipe for Trees made from cereal (like rice crispy treat candy)- I started out with cherio cereal but have gone to regular flake type cereal (special K, frosted flakes or rice crispy cereals)
2 Tab. butter (unsalted or lightly salted)
8 large marshmellows
Paste green color (can use liquid green but be careful about to much liquid. Paste color is better - use however much you want to make light to dark green)
1 cup cereal (Double or triple the recipe depending on how many trees you want.)
Melt butter and marshmallows over moderately low heat stiring constantly. Remove and stir in coloring and cereal. Let stand for a few minutes till cool enough to handle. Butter or oil hands and take out cereal glop and shape as a fir tree, large or small - even make short scrub bushes around the fence in a yard or house. You can put them on cones with long pretzel stick for a trunk (royal icing in cone to hold trunk in place)
Sprinkle with powdered sugar with sifter to make like snow. add red hots & candy to make Xmas ornaments or berries on outside trees.

Dec 21, 2009
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Victorian House Decorations
by: Esprit64

First, find a photo of a great tree trunk or go outside and observe a tree's bark. Using a round wooden dowel (or other suitable foundation depending on the size of tree trunk you want), color and roll smallest lines of gum paste. Put one line shape next to the other around the wooden dowel (using royal icing for glue if needed), until the entire tree trunk is covered. Once the tree is inserted into your foundation board, add more gum paste to replicate wonderful roots extending from the base--use tool tips to create effects, smoothing all as you go.

I have dried parsley to make tree tops. Or, I have colored royal icing and used a leaf-decorating tip to create the thousand leaves needed.

Dec 09, 2009
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I forgot your people question
by: Kelly

Most people use fondant or gum paste to create figures like people. You can either make it yourself or buy it at a local craft store (or from this site) and then just model people as you would use playdough or clay. Look at our pages on Fondant and Gum Paste for ideas.

Dec 09, 2009
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Decorating Ideas
by: Kelly

We have loads of decorating ideas on this site. Check out this page for some specific ideas:

gingerbread-house-decorating-ideas.html

and then look around the photo pages for lots more:
pictures-of-gingerbread-houses.html

Now, specifically for your questions: For a bridge made out of gingerbread, you can make a rectangle piece and then drape it over something round that's ovenproof (and greased like a cookie sheet). A loaf pan could work great or an ovenproof bowl. An empty metal can could possibly work too (remove labels and test it first for at least a few minutes in the oven before draping gingerbread over the top). See our gingerbread bowl recipe for another idea (instead of a dome, you would simply use part of the bowl to make an arch). Railings could be added later out of pretzels, candies, and/or cookies.

Trees: One helpful person already mentioned using ice cream cones. For a larger evergreen tree, you can bake gingerbread cookies in the shape of stars (from large down to small) and then stack them one on top of the other from largest up to smallest. Then decorate with icing and candies (for a Christmas tree).

Bushes and shrubs can be made out of bunches of herbs like rosemary or, for larger bushes and shrubs, you can make green-dyed rice crispie treats and then either decorate with icing or rosemary (or other edible plants/herbs).

Good luck and have fun!

Dec 08, 2009
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Trees
by: Anonymous

For trees I use an ice cream cone, they need to be the ones with the pointy bottom and straight sides (waffle cones here in Canada). I then use green royal icing and a leaf tip and cover the cone with them. I have posted Cottage Country Christmas in photos here which has examples of this.

Hope it helps.

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