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Gingerbread Nutcrackers
This year (2021) was my third year competing in the National Gingerbread House Competition at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC, and I’m pleased to say that I got 2nd place with my “Gingerbread Nutcrackers”. At one point during the season, I entertained the idea of packing it all up and throwing in the towel. I’m glad that I was able to power through and finish strong!
As I have with the majority of my other gingerbread creations, I’ve put together a post with as much information on this project as I possibly could. Because of the level of stress I was under and the time crunch, I failed to take as many photos of the small details as I would have liked, but I think I have enough here to make the read worth your while. So, let’s get started.
I began my journey with an idea. I had done a few gingerbread nutcrackers in the past. Like this king nutcracker I did for a charity event a few years ago.
And this rocking horse nutcracker I entered in a competition in Savannah last year.
I wanted to do an entire collection of nutcrackers. Something that would look super realistic and festive. I enjoy making nutcrackers because I have a very unique approach to gingerbread. My mantra is “if I can make it with wood, I can make it with gingerbread”. I was a DIYer before I ever started doing gingerbread, and when I discovered construction grade gingerbread, I realized that I could use many of the same techniques on it that I do when woodworking. Thus, my attraction (obsession) with gingerbread nutcrackers began.
The first thing I did while I was planning this project was hop on Pinterest and create a board for nothing but nutcrackers. I must have pinned 300 different types. Then I started going through them and choosing the ones I wanted to make very carefully. I knew I needed to appeal to every demographic. I always execute my entries with the general public in mind. These pieces stay on display throughout the month of December and thousands of people come from around the country to see them and take pictures. I want to make sure they like what they see. Of course, it’s also a competition and I want my entry to appeal to the judges. Another reason I choose my inspiration wisely.
I was going for somewhere between 10-20 nutcrackers. I ended up with 13 in the end. I had 12 and a gingerfriend mentioned the idea of having a baker’s dozen and how much luck that might bring and I got stuck on that idea. I ended up making a brand new nutcracker within days of the competition. Possibly ill-advised but totally worth it!
Once I had an idea of what nutcrackers I wanted to make, I printed out pictures of them. I tried to get them as close to actual size as I could.
Then, I got to work. Before I baked anything, I checked my scrap piles in the garage. The construction grade gingerbread recipe that I use is so hard and holds up so well to humidity that I keep all my scraps from prior projects in bins in the garage for future use. Obviously, no one is eating these creations. If I were making a house that someone wanted to eat, I would bake everything new and use a different recipe. But this year I used a TON of scraps. The longer they sit and dry out in my garage, the more petrified and hard they get. Nutcrackers were the perfect use for them.
I used a combination of methods for the bodies of the nutcrackers. For some, I went with a hollow body. Mostly the ones that I didn’t want to be too top heavy.
To get the round hollow shape, I baked two pieces of gingerbread over a steel pipe greased with Crisco. I got the pipe from the hardware store.
Then I sanded down the edges of the pieces and glued them together with Tylose Glue. I wrapped the pieces in painters tape to let them dry and sanded them until they were smooth.
Another method I used for some of the bodies was the stacking method. I cut pieces of gingerbread out using round cookie cutters and then I glued them together using tylose glue and sanded them smooth. As you can see from the photo, I like to use two different recipes for this method. One construction grade gingerbread and another that bakes a little softer. It allows for a little more give and easier stacking and gluing.
I used my clamps to keep the gingerbread in place while the glue dried.
I used a similar method for anything that needed a more fluid shape. I used a soft gingerbread that I could stack and carve easily.
Sometimes I would craft it into the shape with just the gingerbread. Other times I would cover it in ginger clay to get the precise details I wanted.
For a few of the bodies that didn’t require a straight and even look, I used a bowl method. I baked the gingerbread in small metal bowls to get half sphere shapes.
Then I sanded the half spheres to get the shape I wanted. Whether it was to cut the tops and bottoms off and smooth them out…
Or to smooth the top down and use them as “skirts”.
In fact, I used the metal bowls for a lot of shapes I needed. I would bake the gingerbread half spheres and sand them down so I could glue them together and get a full sphere.
Then I used those for almost all the heads and a few of the bodies and/or hats.
For the bases, I baked thick pieces of gingerbread in varying sizes. I used either round cookie cutters or I cut them into squares. On many of them, I beveled the edges to give it a cleaner and more realistic look.
For the legs, I rolled gingerbread out into long, thick round strands and baked them. For some, I even baked cinnamon sticks into the center to give it more structure. I always baked them thicker than I wanted them to be because the baking would flatten them on one side. Then, I would sand them down to be round again. To make them as secure as possible, I drilled holes into the bases and glued the legs into the holes.
I used the same method for the arms except that I would cut them in half at an angle and glue them back together using pasta to get the bend I needed. Most of them were 90 degrees.
I essentially broke down each part of the nutcrackers and tried to find or bake a shape that was close enough to what I needed. Then I would use a combination of tools to shape those pieces to perfection. The tools I used the most were my scroll saw, palm sander, sheets of sandpaper in varying grits, metal files, craft knife, Dremel, and drill.
For any small details that I couldn’t get with baked gingerbread, I used either raw gingerbread or ginger clay that I shaped and let dry out.
My crowning achievement was the Wizard of Oz nutcracker.
I crafted the castle and 4 figures with pasta and ginger clay that I colored and hand molded.
I like to use as much gingerbread and ginger clay in my projects as I possibly can. The national competition only requires that 75% of the piece be made of gingerbread, and I don’t know how much the extra use of gingerbread plays into judging but my piece was probably 95% gingerbread this year. In fact, the only nutcracker that wasn’t almost fully painted was the elf nutcracker. I couldn’t figure out how to make his outfit using gingerbread or ginger clay, so I made it out of fondant.
One of my other nutcrackers was riding a rocking horse. I built the horse out of flat pieces of gingerbread that I glued together using tylose glue and bucatini pasta. I drilled holes for the pasta to fit through and act as nails or screws.
In fact, I used the bucatini pasta method a lot on this project. Most of the nutcrackers are pieced together using pasta and tylose glue. It was a much more secure method than just stacking and gluing pieces. Some of the nutcrackers were tall and top heavy. They very easily could have toppled over. One of them actually did on my way to the competition. I had to fix it in the triage area before submitting.
One of the biggest improvements I made on my methods this year was my organization. My gingerbread projects in the past have caused entire rooms in my house to be unusable for months out of the year. When I was on the Food Network’s Haunted Gingerbread Showdown a few years ago I felt like I was drowning because I was so disorganized and frazzled at all times. One of the other competitors said something about a clean workspace being his most important criteria for any project and that stuck with me. I watched as he was able to execute cleanly, quickly, and with purpose. I vowed to make improvements to my process going forward. This year I put all my gingerbread stuff into one cabinet.
I used a plastic bin for each nutcracker to keep all the little pieces together. I put photos of the nutcrackers in with the pieces so I could easily take one out at a time and know exactly what I needed to be working on.
Every few weeks, I would line everything up on the table to see exactly what I had and where my focus needed to be.
The idea was to build every nutcracker I needed and spend the last few weeks painting and decorating them. I ended up only having a few days to paint and decorate them, but it could have been much worse if I hadn’t been methodical about it.
As for the base, I really love what I ended up with, but it was almost a complete and utter disaster. I started by making two batches of gingerbread and coloring the dough 4 different colors: red, green, tan, and brown.
I rolled the dough into long strands and started folding them together. Another method I learned from that same HGS competitor who taught me the value of organization.
Once I had a marbled look I rolled the dough flat and started cutting and placing it together to look like wood grain.
I baked the pieces and used my scroll saw to cut them into planks.
Then I used my Dremel to score the pieces. I cut grooves along some of the lines made from using different dough colors.
Then I made a major mistake. I painted the grooves black.
I wanted to give the wood some dimension, and I thought the “stain” would cover up most of the black. Enough for it to slightly show through. I was SO WRONG. It ended up looking atrocious when I started painting over it.
I totally panicked. It was about a week before the competition and I still had to paint all my nutcrackers. I didn’t have time to be redoing the entire base. I ended up abandoning it in favor of getting other parts of the piece done. Then, in a last ditch effort, I decided to just take my orbital sander to it and see if I could shave off the painted part and start over. And it worked!
In fact, I ended up with very smooth but rustic looking gingerbread wood planks that appeared worn and old. I used a combination of brown and ivory food coloring mixed with vodka to give the base a nice deep color.
I painted the whole thing with 3 coats of edible lacquer.
It was perfect! For something that seemed so completely ruined days earlier, I sure did manage to rescue it.
With the base finally finished, I was able to focus on painting. I had the majority of the nutcrackers finished and ready.
The painting process was tedious, but I kind of enjoyed it. I’d spent most of my time in the garage sanding and shaping gingerbread. It was nice to sit down at the dining room table and focus on a different type of artistry. I used a combination of Wilton gel colors, Americolor paints, and Master Elite powdered colors. I started with the basic colors, trying to make them as bright and festive as possible.
Then I went back through and added a lot of gold trim that made everything really pop.
A few days before the deadline was when I decided to build my 13th nutcracker. I needed more height on the board and a little bit of patriotism.
With a tight timeline, I didn’t overthink the process and produced a pretty legit looking figure in record time. I printed an American flag out on wafer paper and glued it to a stick of pasta that I painted.
All the hair was made with wafer paper as well. I meticulously cut tiny strips and painted them the colors I needed. The paint curled the edges up to give them dimension and volume.
I crafted tiny little details for each nutcracker, adding them to the pieces when they were dry.
I didn’t actually put all the pieces onto the base until the day I was supposed to drop it off. I had no idea how I wanted them arranged.
I ended up arranging by height and which ones I liked the best. Then I used isomalt to glue everything down and transport it to Asheville, about a 3 and half hour drive from my house. It almost made it the whole way without any damage, but on the second speed bump on the road that leads directly to the historic hotel, I heard a crack and the Viking nutcracker snapped at the waist. Big thanks to the gingerfriends who were able to help me fix it in triage and get it submitted for photos.
I was pleasantly surprised by the 2nd place finish and I displayed my red ribbon with immense pride.
A big congratulations to the team who won first place, the “Merry Mischief Bakers”, with their gingerbread carousel. A team of professionals with some mad sculpting skills.
I also took photos of the remaining 8 entries in the Top 10 of the adult category.
I took photos of some of my other favorites as well. Some from every age category.
And my absolute favorite thing from this competition and the main reason I do this blog is the inspiration it provides. I had at least two people come up to me at the competition and tell me their kids used a method they learned from me. This particular piece had reindeer sitting around a table playing cards.
Direct inspiration from my 2018 entry “Reindeer Playing Poker“.
There was also this adorable barn.
The “wood” planks made using a method from this very blog that I wrote about after my episode of Haunted Gingerbread Showdown on Food Network where I made a similar barn.
I almost enjoy seeing my inspiration in other entries more than I like winning – almost.
Finally, I’ll wrap this post up with my favorite entry of the entire competition. This amazing charcuterie board made by a teen. So freaking clever!
If you made it this far, thank you. I truly do enjoy sharing my methods with others and I hope they help others learn new things and gain more confidence. Gingerbread is more than just a cookie. It’s an obsession. One that I will continue to pursue. I have a yellow ribbon and a red ribbon from the National Gingerbread House Competition and I would absolutely love to complete the set with a big fat blue ribbon – no matter how long it takes.
I am an Amazon affiliate. If you click on any links in this post and buy something from Amazon, I get paid a very small commission at no cost to you. It helps support my gingerbread hobby and allows me to keep providing useful information to those who want it.
Additional Gingerbread and Edible Art Posts to Check Out:
Gingerbread Reindeer Playing Poker
Gingerbread House Construction Tips
Wonderful blog, incredible tips and tricks, and beautiful piece of art! Congratulations and thanks for sharing your knowledge!
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