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| Brittany Fisher (left) and Princess McCallister (right) make all the gingerbread magic happen. |
Our bakery chefs have been at it again, and yes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year again: the gingerbread house is back at French Lick Springs Hotel.
A round of applause for Princess McCallister and Brittany
Fisher, our two creative hotel bakery chefs behind the bulk of this project. They
shared a few little behind-the-scenes crumbs with us – including how they’re
somehow nose-blind to the pungent gingerbread scent by now, and the story behind
the snowman who’s made from 100 pounds of Rice Krispies treats…..
The gingerbread house is actually a “side” project
that started back in August, and gets worked on bit by bit during their free
time.
Brittany: “Free time” is kind of a loose term. Occasionally we’d
have just a little bit of time to work on gingerbread at the end of our shift.
And then all the sudden, it was, like, time.
Princess: Sleep has been a luxury.
Brittany: Yes. A lot of this
has been cramming and just doing the best we can, because we’ve been so busy –
we’ve had the big groups of 600 in.
You say that you don’t notice the gingerbread smell when you’re around the house. How is that possible?!
Princess: Right now I can’t smell it.
Brittany: Right. I don’t either.
Princess: If you blindfolded me, I probably still wouldn’t
be able to smell it. I feel like because we’ve been inhaling it for 6 months
out of the year, we’re just immune to the smell of ginger at this point.
Brittany: If a fresh batch comes
out and I’m right next to it, I smell it. But that’s about it.
Princess: I made most of the batches of gingerbread this year and I put extra ginger in there, just because I couldn’t smell it. Altogether there’s about 7 pounds of powdered ginger, which is a lot of ginger.
Personal feelings on gingerbread? Fan of
it, or no?
Princess: I don’t like it. (laughs)
Brittany: I don’t really care
for it. It’s OK, but….
Princess: I would not eat a gingerbread cookie. I mean, it’s
fun. I think it’s really great for kids and I plan on building smaller versions
with my nieces this holiday. But me personally, I can do without it.
What’s your go-to holiday treat then?
Princess: Rice Krispies treats. I like it because you can
play with the recipe. I like to put extra marshmallows in it. Marshmallows are
like cold weather food. Marshmallows and winter go together for me.
Brittany: I like persimmon
pudding a lot. I think that’s my favorite holiday dessert.
Favorite feature of this year’s house, or part you’re most
proud of?
Princess: I think my favorite are the gingerbread people
standing out front. It was the very last that I did for the house, and it was
fun to do.
(* Fun fact: this would make 700-800 individual Rice
Krispies treats!)
Princess: I had not met Ed. I had started at the resort in November
of last year, and it just so happened that he was interested in coming back to
work. Brittany started telling me about him, and then literally we had heard
that he had passed that same day. I just kept hearing all these great stories
to the point where it felt like I knew him. He just seemed like this wonderful
human being who was just lovely to be around. When we started talking about the
gingerbread house, we said we should dedicate this to him in some small way,
just because, you know, they say you die twice; the last time is when someone
mentions your name for the last time. We don’t want his name to ever be
forgotten, because he worked here for a lot, a lot of years. When we thought of
doing the snowman, it was like, why not name him Ed, give him an apron and a hat
and a little side of the house? Part of his legacy.
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| A shake of powdered sugar is one of the last finishing touches. |
Do you ever go look at the gingerbread house once it’s
on display, see what guests are saying about it?
Princess: No. (laughs) I know that people will try to touch it, and that makes me anxious, so I just decided to have it perfect it my memory and leave it there until it’s time to take it down.
Brittany: I hear some really
nice comments. Every once in a while somebody will say they don’t believe it’s
real, and I’ll get the courage to be like, “actually it’s real, I helped make
this!” It feels good to actually see somebody impressed and really appreciative
of the time that you put into it, and grateful that it’s something that they
can come back here every year to see, and something that they just know it’ll
be there at the holidays.
Another successful year in the books. This year’s
gingerbread house looks (and smells) wonderful as usual!
Princess: It’s fun for us to push our pastry limits, what we can do. It’s nice when people can appreciate the work we put into it. I already have ideas for next year, all kinds of ideas and things that I would like to try. I’m excited already for next year.