Education on centre: Students make art good enough to eat

It was hard not to break a piece of cookie or candy off a gingerbread house to eat.

But baking 101 interim teacher Julie Simmons reminded me that the cookie-made houses “were sitting around for a while.”

Homemade cookies were a good substitute.

Twenty-one students in the intro to baking class at State College Area High School participated in a class project that allowed them to create their own gingerbread houses and put them on display at the school’s North Building.

The class meets every other day, and the project started about three weeks ago.

“Their attention to detail really amazes me,” Simmons said.

Freshman Kathryn Salada said she and her peers had to work through class curriculum for their project.

It included finding inspiration from 10 pictures found online and using a recipe learned in class to make the cookie dough for some of the gingerbread house.

Students spent about $30 on candy and supplies to complete the project.

But Freshman Tori Robinson’s gingerbread house was a little different than the others.

She made a gingerbread church.

“It took a lot of time, but it was interesting coming up with the idea,” Robinson said.

Robinson said she’s part of a church group that meets on Wednesdays.

“It’s a lot of fun, and I figured I should make my gingerbread house a church because of that,” she said.

The roof shingles were made from Necco Wafers, and she made what appeared to be stained-glass windows from Jolly Ranchers she melted and then let cool.

A steeple with a candy-made cross was also part of the gingerbread church.

But the more weight that was put on the top of the house, the harder it was to stabilize.

Robinson said she went through a trial-and-error process before figuring out how to make sure the roof didn’t collapse when the steeple was erected.

Freshman Erica Feese didn’t have as good of luck.

She made a gingerbread house with a flat roof, but it collapsed. Feese then used frosting and graham cracker-like cookie to stabilize the roof from the inside.

But made fancy or not, Simmons said creating gingerbread houses was a way to celebrate the holidays with a culinary project.

“It’s a unique project that allows them to express their creative side,” she said.

Making gingerbread houses is a tradition in the class that’s been going on for more than 30 years.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 12:19 AM with the headline "Education on centre: Students make art good enough to eat."