The art of gingerbread

Festival creations take cue from Jon Crane

By Marinell Scott Thornburg, Journal staff | Friday, November 21, 2008

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Lynnette Barse is a creative cook who doesn’t bat an eye at constructing a 2-foot mummy out of Rice Krispie treats and decorating it with an edible spider web piped out of melted almond bark for a Halloween party.

“I love to get creative with food,” said Barse. But she never thought she would become known for her fanciful gingerbread creations.

Her award-winning creativity will be on display at this weekend’s Festival of Trees, which will feature gingerbread houses inspired by the paintings of Hill City artist Jon Crane.

Barse, a clinical psychologist at Behavior Management Systems, had never made a gingerbread house or even decorated cakes or cookies, for that matter, when she was approached about making a gingerbread house for  the first Festival of Trees 11 years ago.

 “Management came to staff and said, ‘We would like to do trees, wreaths and a gingerbread village, and we would like for staff to volunteer to make gingerbread houses,’” she said.

Just one person on staff knew how to make a gingerbread house, “and she taught the rest of us,” said Barse, who was not at all intimidated by the fanciful decorating that gives a gingerbread house its charm.

Throughout the years, the gingerbread village at the festival has showcased architectural structures from the 1800s and early 1900s, such as the Hotel Alex Johnson, various courthouses and downtown landmarks such as the Buell Building.

For the festival, Barse is recreating Crane’s “Reflections of Fall,” a grist mill in southern West Virginia. Other gingerbread versions of Crane’s paintings — including “Country Hospitality,” “Old Number 7” and “Winter’s Glow” — also will be on display.

The ability to construct a complicated rendition of a building in gingerbread comes from the ability to look at a photograph, visualize the end result, then back up and dissect the process.

“I look at a picture, and go from there. I take it from 2-D and make it 3-D, as close to resembling that picture as necessary. I can visualize it in my mind’s eye,” Barse said.

In order to construct the ultimate gingerbread house, one must slave over a complicated gingerbread recipe, right? Not so, said Barse.

“I use a box mix from the store,” she said, chuckling.

However, she is a stickler for the construction. “The dimensions need to be perfect,” Barse explained, as the structure itself needs to fit together snugly. 

She first makes a model of the house out of cardboard, tapes it together, then takes it apart. “It has all the pieces, including windows, cut out,” she said.

She then bakes it, lets it cool and harden, then trims the baked pieces using the pattern. This ensures any rising and swelling of baked dough will not affect the way the pieces fit.

Each step of the way, Barse is visualizing the finished structure.

“For the windows, after I bake it, as the timer goes off, I have lemon drops crushed up, and I put those on and bake it again for 4 minutes so that makes your windows. It gives you the warm glow when you light it,” she said. 

Making something as intricate as a gingerbread house is not something you can pull together at the last minute, Barse said. So, just how many hours does it take her?

“It’s lengthy. I cannot even give you an answer,” she said, thinking back to September when she chose which Jon Crane painting she would be working from.

The weekend before Halloween, “I spent the whole weekend looking for a working fountain, but I could not find a substance that was guaranteed would not soak through. I wanted to make the waterwheel move with a music box, but the music boxes I could find only went counterclockwise. I wanted them to go clockwise.”

It’s that kind of attention to detail and exhausting use of time that made the recent blizzard a godsend for Barse. Chatting from home while the winds howled and the snow piled up, she described the roofing job she was working on.

 “I’ve got my house done. It’s probably standing about 14 to 15 inches high, with the waterwheel on. I’ve got the pieces of roof cut. I took Wheat Thins and cut them into fourths, very carefully with a serrated knife,” she said.

Later, she would add the details to the construction: A pastry bag with different decorating tips is used to pipe on royal icing.

“I try to make mine look as real as possible,” Barse said. “I don’t use a lot of candy-looking things.”

Graham crackers become a walkway; Rice Krispie treats make a sturdy yet lightweight base for hills and building foundations. Shredded wheat makes for a cozy cottage roof.

“Each time I try to do something different,” Barse said, “to stretch my own limits.”

If you go

What: 11th annual Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for Behavior Management Systems, featuring dozens of decorated trees, wreaths and gingerbread houses on display, along with the  North Pole Playland, Santa, cookie decorating, the Iceberg Walk (for cakes), Christmas music, dance performers, luge ride and inflatables for children.

When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22

Where: Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

Admission: $2 for adults or $1 for children, plus a can of food. There is an additional charge for North Pole Playland games.

A preview party and auction will be Friday, Nov. 21 (5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. social hour and dinner; 7 p.m. program and festival auction). For tickets, call 343-7262.

Contact Marinell Scott Thornburg at marinell.thornburg@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8280.