December 7, 2009
Photo gallery: Purdue Memorial Union's gingerbread house
 |
Nothing says Christmas quite like an edible house.
That is the philosophy of Purdue Memorial Union's Dining Services, which began constructing gingerbread houses in 2002. The giant, walk-in homes are displayed prominently next to the Christmas tree in the Union's Great Hall as part of Holidays at the Union, which takes place this week. A photo gallery featuring the construction of this year's house is available here.
The PMU maintenance department constructs and dismantles the house, which is made out of plywood. After the house is built, the gingerbread, which takes the bakery department about two weeks to make, is adhered to the plywood with royal icing. A graham cracker roof is tiled on top, and then the designers are free to have fun.
"At this point decorating is the task," says executive chef Bruce Haumesser. "Candy is put into place, along with any other decorating creativeness that evolves. Powder sugar the roof to look like snow, cotton in the chimney to look like smoke and voila, a gingerbread house."
The bakery department, along with Dining Services, makes all of the gingerbread and supplies the decorations.
From 2002 to 2008, the basic structure of the houses remained the same. Each was 6 feet wide, 9 feet deep and 9 feet high.
This holiday season will feature an entirely new design. The house size has not yet been determined, but Haumesser says it won't be quite as tall and will be a bit wider. There will be two additional rooms to go along with the two gingerbread people, and the house itself should resemble a chalet.
"I have in my office a picture of every year's house from conception, and it is always interesting to see what we manage to accomplish each year," says Haumesser. "You really never know what you are going to come up with until you are finished. That's what makes it fun."
More on Holidays at the Union can be found here.
CAPTION: Cheri Vaughn, PMU bakery supervisor, applies royal icing to the roof of the gingerbread house in order to affix the graham cracker roof tiles.