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.
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 90ยบ 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!
