VFC 2021 Virtual Gingerbread Exhibit
This year the VFC’s Annual Gingerbread House Competition and Exhibit went virtual! Vermonters baked at home and sent us photos of their amazing Gingerbread creations.
The 2021 Theme: "Favorite Children’s Books"
This year we invited Vermonters to bake us on a voyage to Where the Wild Things Are or roll out the yellow brick road and pave it to the Emerald City with cinnamon and spice.
Vote for the People’s Choice Award!
Our wonderful panel of volunteer judges will announce winners in each category on Monday, December 20, but this is your chance to vote! Click on the floating yellow “thumbs up” symbol in the bottom-right of this page to cast your vote.
Only one vote per email per day is allowed! Extra votes will be disqualified. Be sure to spread the word to family and friends!
The winner of the People’s Choice Award will be announced on Thursday, December 30. Good luck to all!
1 - Alison Parker, Asher & Caleb Smith - Peter Rabbit and friends
WINNER: BEST IN CATEGORY
Lincoln, VT
Category: Families 11 & Under
Book: Peter Rabbit and Friends by Beatrix Potter
Hear Caleb and Asher talk about their house:
2- Chrystal LITTLE - Alice in Wonderland
Vergennes, VT
Category: Adult-Amateur
Book: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
I have always been a fan of Alice in Wonderland and all its renditions. I chose to make the 'chess board' out of white chocolate and painted the black squares with edible charcoal dissolved in vodka so it would quickly evaporate. Aside from that I used graham crackers, royal icing, edible markers, ice cream cones, various gummy candies, pretzels, hard candies, wintergreen gum, M&M’s, and pull-and peel-licorice. I chose to create a concept art piece with images from my from of favorite childhood AND adult stories. This includes the teapot and tea cup as well as the Mad Hatter’s hat on the roof, the White Rabbit coming out of the hole, the caterpillar and flamingo, concoctions on tables and the key and door with the golden doorknob. In total this was about a 13 hours to complete. This is something my daughters and I (and my mother) do every year regardless of this competition but the addition of a theme has been fun for us.
3- Emma Craven-Matthews - Pâtisserie Laurel
WINNER: BEST IN CATEGORY
Middlebury, VT
Category: Adult-Amateur
Book: Many books! See description.
We were inspired by memorable scenes of baking and shops full of irresistible items fresh out of the oven in many books from both our childhoods: Mama’s Perfect Present, A Little Princess, Bunny Cakes, The Duchess Bakes a Cake, The Mother-Daughter Book Club, and A Spree in Paree (and also by some nostalgia for the idea of flying off to a beautiful city and eating a macaron there). The Pâtisserie is named after our shared middle name.
The macaron flavors include pistachio-chocolate, strawberries and cream, tangerine-mango, raspberry-cassis, coconut-lime, and chocolate-orange. Elsewhere in the Patisserie, you'll find a Champagne macaron...
4 - Faith, Abigail, Campbell, and Georgia Gong - Julia's House for Lost Creatures
Lincoln, VT
Category: Families 11 & Under
Book: Julia's House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke
We love Ben Hatke's picture book series, "Julia's House for Lost Creatures," so we made Julia's house (and included Julia and some of her creatures). We used gingerbread, royal icing, sugar cookies, pretzels, gingersnaps, Swedish fish, candy canes, and gum.
Hear Campbell and Abigail talk about their house:
5- Judith Doria - ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
Vergennes, VT
Category: Adult-Amateur
Book: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas was a favorite childhood book that I thought would be fun to show in gingerbread. I drew the big sweeping gingerbread tree to make it more dramatic. The Santa, roof top deer, and sleigh are hand drawn with melted chocolate, as is the snowman. The sugar cookie green trees are hand drawn as well. The sled on the ground is made with gum drop type squares and fruit roll ups shaped over them.
6- Kaitlyn little - 🎵Hot! Hot! Hot! We Got It!🎶
Vergennes, VT
Category: Adult-Amateur
Book: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
I am 18 and my family has made our gingerbread houses from scratch for years. This years theme had me struggle if a lot. I loved a lot of books when I was younger but also wanted a challenge this year. I was between The Nutcracker and The Polar Express. As you can see I went with the latter because it would challenge me construction wise and The Polar Express is one of my favorite Christmas stories (book and movie wise). The name was also a little hard (because I’m bad at naming things 😹). But I went with 🎵"Hot! Hot! Hot! We Got This!"🎶 because it is a quote from my favorite song in the movie version and I love hot chocolate.
Materials: Graham Crackers - structure; Royal Icing - snow, structure glue, tree, and train colorings; Sprinkles- windows, silver train details, and tree; Licorice - window trimming, bell strap, and train caboose, Oreos- train engine (round part); Chocolate- bell; Ice-cream Cone - tree; Candy- tree star, coal, and train decorations; M&M's- tree ornaments.
7 - Mary/Maddie Douglas/Crowne - Santa…there’s no such thing as a Gruffalo!
WINNER: BEST IN CATEGORY
Weybridge, VT
Category: Families 12 & Over
Book: The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
8 - Mary Johnson Children's Center Dawntreaders - The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear
WINNER: BEST IN CATEGORY
Middlebury, VT
Category: Organization
Book: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
We had so much fun making this creation with our two-year-olds! One of our students' favorite story books is The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood. It has been a favorite at the center for years. Our kids created the scene in which the mouse locks up the red ripe strawberry so it cannot be eaten by the big hungry bear. All materials are gingerbread (and icing and candy) except the strawberry which is strawberry cake baked in two half circle shapes and assembled with royal icing. Our kids had a hand in making all pieces of their creation, but teachers helped with some cutting and the details of frosting the little mouse. This group especially loves baking so this project fit right in with their current interests in the classroom. They loved mixing, rolling, decorating, and tasting! They made many connections to the book along the way. It was an exciting way to bring this book to life!
9 - Melissa Kin - The Chocolate Falls
WINNER: BEST IN CATEGORY
Middlebury, VT
Category: Youth
Book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate factory has been a constant favorite (the book...and the movie) in our house. An evergreen classic we constantly come back to. We used fondant, gingerbread, royal icing and ALL of the candy was leftover from Halloween!!!
10- Michelle & Douglas Black - Snoopy and his Sopwith Camel
WINNER: BEST IN THEME
Cornwall, VT
Category: Adult-Amateur
Book: Snoopy and his Sopwith Camel, Charles M. Schulz
We both loved Peanuts while growing up, and among both of our favorite themes was Snoopy engaged in his most imaginative play: “Here’s the World War I flying ace and his Sopwith Camel on another dawn mission to find the Red Baron….”
11 - Susan Ahl - Mike & Maryanne
Jamaica, VT
Category: Adult-Amateur
Book: Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
My boys are 24 & 16 now, and they loved Mike Mulligan during story time when they were little. Building gingerbread houses was never part of my holiday traditions, and this year those traditions look different as family dynamics change and grow! I decided entering this contest would be a fun way to challenge my creativity and also honor the many hours of stories I've shared with my kids. I baked gingerbread from scratch and cut the shapes I needed free-hand. I pieced it together using royal icing and used buttercream with sprinkles and picture icing to add color and texture. The design and colors are simple, but I've discovered that building a steam shovel from cookies and frosting is a little ambitious! I had a ball with this, and my kids loved seeing the photos. They'll get to see it in person this week when we're all together. Thanks so much for a fun opportunity!
12 - Sue & Stu Johnson & Ben Cadoret - The Wizard of Oz
Cornwall, VT
Category: Adult-Amateur
Book: The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
We chose the Wizard of Oz because we love the story. We used candies, fondant, marzipan, gingerbread, royal icing, pasta and many more items. We learned that the characters need to be made a few days ahead before putting them in the scene so they have time to harden properly and stand up straight. We came up with an interesting method for making the tree. We enjoyed the project.
