At work, instead of an expensive Christmas party, our company's having a gathering and a "duel"---we'll be battling baked goods and gingerbread houses! My entry for the former will be my Oreo-cream cheese bonbons:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
4 cups crushed Oreo® cookies
2 cups chocolate baking chips
1 tbsp. shortening
Directions:
On high speed of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add cookies and beat until well combined. Refrigerate 2 hours until chilled enough to roll. Roll dough into 1" balls. Over double boiler, melt chips and shortening until smooth. Dip balls into mixture and thoroughly coat. Place on wax paper to harden. Store in refrigerator.
And I've been working most of the weekend on my gingerbread house for the competition! I sure hope it stays together; the round hut is looking a little weak on day two, but it's been shored-up so maybe it will last. (Or I could make a new base for it Tuesday night!) Judging is on Weds and Thurs, I think. Any gingerbread house is enter-able, but a World Vision-themed one is suggested, so I went for an African scene with items from our Gift Catalog! And yes, this is a shameless plug; the catalog is my main project every year, so every gift you give in honor of your loved ones from the catalog is more job security for me! Not to mention it really helps little gingerbread people around the world. :P
Fortunately I had the presence of mind to photo as I went along. I started by making a base for the scene. I wanted something sturdy that I could stick things "into" - and after seeing a gingerbread house kit at the store using rice krispie treats, I knew just what to do! I rolled out cocoa-infused rice krispie dough (?) into a long rectangle! It's on a piece of cardboard, and the whole thing is edged with rawhide dog treats. (They ARE edible---just not by humans!) I liked how they really lined the thing with a clear edge; the krispies were a little mushy!
Next was the main hut; I wanted a round house, so I rolled out a piece of gingerbread dough, cut it to the size of a piece of chipboard I used as a model. I tapped brick lines into it before baking, though most of that did go away. After it had been baked I lifted it carefully and rested it on a round can of the right diameter while it cooled; the dough cracked a little but looked more authentic, so I didn't worry about that too much. (Mistake!) Once cool, I cut holes for pretzel windows, using frosting as caulking. I secured the home by placing it on the base, tossing a little flour inside so I knew how large to make the ground beneath it; I removed the house and frosted a circle a little bigger than the house, and stuck the house to it. The frosting sticking out under the outside is covered with sunflower seed kernels.
I had to make the hut a home (ha). Even though no one can see it once done. The fire is made with tootsie rolls for wood, surrounded by Capn Crunch cereal, the beds are wafer cookies (I added pillows made of white chocolate chunks after the pic), and the chairs are caramels. The floor was dusted with some cocoa powder.
Next the roof. This was the hardest part! I cut a circle using a plate, both from cardboard and from the dough. While the dough baked, I cut a slit in the cardboard, and snugged it to make a cone-shape. When the dough was done, I sliced a triangle out of it and wrapped it on my cone (which was also on top of a bowl to give it a little height) and let it cool on that. I never did work out how the cone could retain shape without support, so the cardboard form is the only non-edible portion of my scene. To add the thatching, I made a frosting drizzle and added coconut----coconut mixed with some ginger to color it!
And the roof was secured to the hut walls using frosting. I let a little extra cocoa spill out of the home across the scene. Yes, they have dirt issues in Africa!
Next I built a little animal pen out of wafer cookies, using frosting for the grout. I let it be all messy, it added a little authenticity to it! One window is on the other side, and the roof was made from more rawhide dog treats.
You can see here the beginnings of a potential collapse of the round house. Eeep! I secured some of these cracks with frosting, and added some rawhide poles inside to bear a little of the roof's weight. I'm totally empathising with people in Africa trying to get their homes to hold up under stress!! The animal pen was secured to the base using the same method as for the house, and is also surrounded by sunflower kernels to cover excess frosting.
And yes, that's Betty Crocker frosting you see in the background. I had some several-year-old cans of leftover frosting in the fridge, I had been saving them for SOMEthing and now I knew what. It's not tasty but with a little water added I was able to make browns out of the little white and chocolate frostings I had!
Next I added fencing. Pretzel sticks! They sit nice and securely in the rice krispie base.
I took some time to frost all the people and animals, which you'll see shortly! These next photos were taken in better light on a different counter. First, the rear view:
And from one side....
And the front! Look at all the happy people and critters!
First, meet the lady of the house, Nyasha. She's wearing the lastest in frosting fashion, using many kinds of sprinkles to add patterns and decoration! Yes, I got the tweezers out for this one!
(She and her husband and animals stand up by leaning on pretzels.)
Next is her happy husband, Chrispine, and a good provider! See? He works at World Vision and is dressed smartly in a company t-shirt. He's even wearing matching orange shorts!
Now let's meet their prized animals...livestock! First is their favorite animal, their dairy goat Gertie! Their goat provides them with milk for nutrition, extra income at the market as they sell milk, and since it's a girl goat, they'll get some offspring that will help their little cookie family for a long time to come.
And here we have Chuma the chick in brightly colored array! Chuma gives the family a future full of eggs to sell in the market as well as to eat, and they also will end up with more chickens and some to sell as well. Plus Chuma is just so cute and fuzzy!
Pallu the pig is peeking out from inside the animal pen; unfortunately Pallu's destiny is to make a yummy Christmas dinner for the family, but not before making more little piggies to sell at market and to raise for next year's holiday feast! Cory the cow will be providing the family with milk, with calves, and eventually with hamburgers! Mooooooooooo.......don't tell Pallu and Cory about their destinies, they're happy so far!
So here's my little scene all packed up to go to the competition later in the week. I'll be checking in on the hut's status to see how it holds up....if I have time Tues night I may rebuild it just to be sure, but if this holds, it might be good enough for the judging, we'll see!
Wish me luck in both contests!! The only prize up for grabs is braggin' rights....winners will be posted on our intranet, and I'd love to see my name up in lights for a few minutes, LOL!
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And a little something fun...I just picked up these Cuttlebug dies for a song, and pictured them immediately all dressed up with wiggly eyes! A little bling on the giraffe's spots, some colored paper piecing for the lion and the monkey. And of course these are on ovals cut by my new Nestabilities...I'm learning how to use 'em! Hopefully I'll post some cards tomorrow using these little babies:
