Gingerbread Nativity {Tutorial}

I made this Gingerbread Nativity Scene last Christmas and have had a few requests for a tutorial, so here it is! If you have never made anything like this before, please be sure to read through the WHOLE tutorial before you start making it yourself.

The Pattern Pieces

Click on the image or link to download the PDF for each page of the pattern. Each page is one A4 page - the Nativity Scene I made last year was bigger than the pattern given (I scaled it down so that the biggest piece fit the A4 page), so feel free to scale it up a bit. Cut all the pieces out along the thick lines.

Page 1 PDF

Page 2 PDF

Page 3 PDF

Page 4 PDF

Page 5 PDF

The Dough

Use my Gingerbread dough recipe, found HERE. I believe I made double the recipe, but please forgive me if I'm wrong - it was a year ago! Add a little bit extra flour to the dough so that it makes a sturdier dough. Roll out the dough to 1/4" or 6mm and carefully cut out all the pieces - following the thick lines on the pattern pieces (the ones you cut the pieces out on).

Space the dough pieces onto baking trays lined with baking paper/silpat/teflon sheets, leaving about an inch space between pieces. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Bake according to the recipe, one tray at a time, until they are nicely browned - you want crunchy gingerbread, not chewy (but also not burned)!

As each tray of gingerbread pieces comes out of the oven, transfer them onto a chopping board, lay the pattern pieces over the corresponding gingerbread pieces and trim all the straight edges with a sharp non-serrated knife so that they once again match the pattern pieces (for Mary & Joseph, the manger, sheep and trees, that would just be the bottom edge; don't worry about trying to trim around the star). At this point you can trace the details from the pattern pieces onto the still hot gingerbread - just place the pattern piece on top of the gingerbread and trace over with a toothpick, leaving light grooves in the gingerbread, which you can then follow, later, when icing.

Leave the pieces on a flat surface to cool (not a cooling rack), until they are completely cool to the touch, then move to cooling racks and leave overnight. If the pieces still feel a bit soft the next day, return to the oven at a low temperature for a while to dry them out until they are nice and firm. If you try to assemble the Nativity Scene with 'chewy' gingerbread, it will sag and break.

Decorate

Make up a batch of white royal icing - I love Sweetopia's Recipe! Decorate each piece of gingerbread, using the details on the pattern pieces, and my Nativity Scene as guidance. Have fun, try out different patterns and textures :) The whole thing could be iced in full colour too!

For the Background piece (the piece with the doves and donkey on it), first ice the arch, let it dry, then add the animal's  silhouettes and rafter. Finally, go over the rafter again, outline the arch and add details to the animals.

On many of my pieces, I iced a base of white first, then added detail once the base had dried.

Assembly

Using royal icing, attach 'Stand' pieces to the back of the Background piece and the trees. Prop them up at 90º and make sure they are flush with the bottoms of the pieces. Leave to set.

Once set, attach the Background piece to the oval Base piece, using royal icing - set it as far back on the Base as possible, and slightly to the left of centre. Leave to set.

Next, attach the Star piece, gluing it onto the background with royal icing. Leave to set.

Add the Roof and Mary & Joseph. The roof will need holding in place for a while, until the royal icing has set enough to support it. Attach Baby Jesus to Mary & Joseph.

Attach the trees to the Base, so that they are in the foreground. Leave to set.

Attach the sheep to the base and the trees.

Your Nativity Scene is now done. I hope you had fun!

Flying Pig Cookies {tutorial}

Last weekend our ward participated in our local Stake Roadshow, the theme this year being "Don't Stop Believing." Our script writers came up with the story of a little girl who believed that her pig could fly, and no matter how many people told her how ridiculous that was, she did not stop believing in her little pig and went on to show the world, on a live TV talent show, that he could indeed fly. We had a wonderful time putting our little production together, and it really paid off because not only did we win (joint with another ward), but we also took home half of all the other awards, including best theme/content, best music, best scenery, best pre-show act and my daughter won best actress!

As a thank you to all the cast and crew involved (as I was the director), I decided to make them all some flying pig cookies. And here is how to do it.

Prepare a batch of Gingerbread Cookie Dough, then cut out little flying pig cookie shapes using two different cutters - a pig and an angel's wing. The wing is a very simple shape and could be cut by hand if you don't have an appropriate wing cutter to hand.

I decided that I didn't like the shape of the angel's wing, so I cut it off to a point.

Bake the cookies and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, mix up some pink and white 20 second royal icing and get it into piping bags or bottles. Once the cookies are completely cold, you can begin icing them.

1. Start with the pink icing and a size 3 tip. First outline the pig (1a), going around and missing out the wing area, and immediately fill in (1b). Use a toothpick to pull the icing into corners and tap the cookie firmly on the counter a few times to get a smooth finish. Repeat for all the cookies and leave to set until the icing no longer looks shiny (if you are doing quite a lot of cookies, by the time you have completed this step, the first ones will be set enough to proceed with the next step.)
2. Outline the wing area with the white icing using a size 2 tip (2a), then fill in (2b). Allow the icing to set as before.
3. Using a size 2 tip and the pink icing, outline the pig's body, completely avoiding the wing. Add details, including a snout, ears and a curly tail.
4. Now outline the wing with the white icing and size 2 tip. Add eyes with an edible marker.

Package in a cellophane bag and tie with butchers twine or a ribbon.

Iced Rose Cookies {Tutorial}

As promised, a tutorial to make your own sweet rose cookies like the ones I made here. I used pretty much the same steps to produce 2 different effects - a flat rose and a raised rose.

You will need:

• Light pink flood icing with a size 2 tip
• Medium pink flood icing with a size 2 tip
• Red (or dark pink) piping icing with a size 1 tip

For the 'flat rose' I used the wet-on-wet technique. Start by outlining and filling with the light pink icing. I freehand the outline, generally sticking to the rule of having 5 petals, 2 large ones and 3 small, the more irregular the better. Then immediately begin piping on the red details.

Start with a spiral in the middle, then start adding petals, finishing off the last petals right on the edge of the light pink base. You want to work quite quickly so that the icing sinks in to the base colour. I prefer to use piping icing at this step because it gives better definition to the lines, but you can use 20 second or even flood icing if you prefer - the more runny the icing, the wider and less defined the lines will be, but they will sink in to the wet base more easily.

Finally add dimension by piping on the medium pink icing into the smaller petals...

...and to the outside edges of the larger petals.

Tap the cookie gently to settle all the icing into the base so that the surface of the icing is nearly flat.

Set aside to dry. Done.

For the 'raised rose', pipe the light pink icing as before, but then allow it to dry before continuing. After about an hour it should be set enough to begin icing the red detail. Again, start in the centre with a spiral, then add petals.

Then add the medium pink to the smaller petals and the outside edges of the larger petals.

Use a toothpick to pull the icing in to the little corners.

And set aside to dry.

As you can see, you get two very different effects. Which do you like better?