The Murder at Gingerbread Grange: a Miss Necco Mystery Pastiche

For those who were unaware of it, a mysterious homicide recently occurred at Gingerbread Grange, our  seasonal fantasy country house. While the Picky Eater and her parents were briefly detained as persons of interest, Inspector Raisinet of the local constabulary was unable to satisfactorily weave the myriad of confusing clues and red herrings into a coherent case against them.

The facts of the case are these:

In the wee hours of a day in late December, while all the residents of Gingerbread Grange were absent - the Chemist out dancing the night away, the Cook on an emergency run to a 24-hour grocery for powdered sugar, and the Maker ensconced in the bowels of the house employing his extensive collection of mechanical snakes in an attempt to clear the cookie frosting from the sewer line.

When the Maker emerged after several hours of futile efforts, he found a stranger lying in the yard, dead as a doornail - impaled by a candy corn through the heart!

The man's name was Mr. Biscotto, and for several reasons he had become anathema to the family. They believed that he was more than likely the culprit in several unfortunate tragedies which had rocked the family in recent weeks-

the loss of a precious recipe, a secret formula, and a dispute concerning a laser patent.

While the police were able to identify a number of clues- A puddle of melted butter on the candy stone path, short-circuited headlights on the rented vintage VW bug parked next to the Grange, the purloined Nancy Drew recipe in Mr. Biscotto’s pocket, Mr. Biscotto’s nefarious activities as a patent thief – there were many unanswered questions – For instance, was the moose a laser gingerbread cutout decoy? 

Further research into his background by an informant to the constabulary revealed these shocking details concerning Mr. Biscotto:

"I  contacted one of the world's greatest drummers and amateur private detective, one Ginger Baker. He ran a background check on your Mr. Biscotto...real name, Anthony Biscotti, aka Naughty Tony Biscotti. As it turns out, Naughty Biscotti had quite a way with the ladies. Late night cupboard rendezvous with everyone from Betty Crocker to Dolly Madison. He made one mistake during his final tryst with...Mrs. Butterworth. Mr. Butterworth found out. You really never see the old boy around the kitchen. He maintains a very low profile and, unfortunately, is insanely jealous. The butter puddle tells all, as he was wounded during his fatal scuffle with Naughty Biscotti. If Inspector Raisenet aspires to any grapeness at all, he should bring in Mr. Butterworth for questioning and check his cholesterol type against that found in the puddle. He just might find something that will stick to Butterworth."

Into the breech steps Miss Necco, a cookie doppelganger of Agatha Christie's wonderful Miss Marple. A favorite author with the female members of our household, we are much indebted to Dame Christie for inspiring this set piece.

Despite the informant's Mrs. Butterworth allegations, Miss Necco's remains confident in her analysis and solution to the mystery:

“I was reminded of a terrible accident that occurred sometime back to a knitting acquaintance of mine in my village, Prune-on-Hudson. The poor woman tripped on her front step and impaled herself on her knitting needle. Fortunately, she had the good sense not to try to pull it out, and they got her to the infirmary in good time and the doctors were able to repair her injury.

The culprits in this crime wanted us to believe that that was what happened here. The man “stabbed through the heart” with a candy corn. But, here and there, the clues began to evince a pattern to me, and, yes, I do believe that I am correct.

I was first struck by the detail that all members of the household were absent or indisposed when the murder took place. With so many valuable secrets floating around the Gingerbread Grange it seemed most unsuitable that no one was left on guard. I had to conclude that Mr. Biscotto was meant to think that he could enter the house and pilfer it. What he didn’t know was that a most devious ambush was in store for him.

As he snuck up to the house, intending to use the candy corn to break and enter the Grange, he tripped a hidden alarm secreted in the path and was blinded by a laser beamed from the headlights of the old car which was, of course, why they appeared to be burnt out. Sightless and befuddled, he stumbled in the puddle of butter, slipped, and fell onto his sword, as it were.

So, it was a combination of the hidden security apparatus at the Gingerbread Grange and Mr. Biscotto’s own wicked intentions that brought about his demise.

As to the overly ingenious residents of the Gingerbread Grange, I do hope that they decide that their home would be better suited to more mundane purposes, and that they remove themselves from the premises at their earliest convenience, before dear doltish Inspector Raisinet manages to put more than two and two together and notices the many instances of triangulation in this case.

With that, I do think that it is time for me to get back to my cottage and make sure that that my silly housemaid Elsie hasn’t run off with the butcher’s assistant. You have no idea what intrigue and illicit romance can go on in a small village beneath the nose of even the most observant old spinster!”

In the Kitchens at Hogwarts

Young witch hard at work on her O.W.L. examinations.
Note the shrunken mandrake's head.

The Picky Eater and I have a long and most pleasant association with that esteemed wizarding institution The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, she as a prefect and Head Girl in her year, and I as an instructor at our annual Hogwarts short course. During the week-long course life takes on the soothing routine found in schools where the students are happy and excited to attend, the staff are benignly voluble, and the food is excellent. While life at the "real" Hogwarts may be filled with drama, strife, and uncertainty, it's all good fun, lots of wizardry crafts & potions, quidditch matches, and scrumptious snacks for elevenses during the Short Course.

In the stead of Mssrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, we offer not a Marauders' Map, but the makings of the aforementioned elevenses and a bevy of potions which would even satisfy Prof. Snape. After a long morning of classwork in Charms, Divination, Herbology, or Ancient Runes and a brisk quidditch practice, young witches and wizards are ready to tuck in. Elevenses always includes a bracing cup of tea or cocoa, toasted English muffins, crumpets or scones with butter, lemon curd and jelly, and Hagrid's famous Rockcakes. (Although we can assure you that these cakes are quite delicious and most decidedly not the jawbreakers that Hagrid bakes!) Pass the recipes on to your house elves, or in an elve-less household like Mrs. Weasley's, make them yourself.

While acceptable English muffins (and even crumpets) can be conveniently procured from your local purveyor, store-bought scones pale in comparison to those conjured up in the Hogwarts kitchen, best baked and served the same day.

Scones with lemon curd & crumpets with raspberry-lavender preserves.

Tea Scones
Using cake flour gives these scones a tender crumb; but you will also have excellent results with unbleached flour. Makes 8 generous sized scones. *See the note about cutting smaller ones.

2 c. cake or unbleached flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tb baking powder
1/4 t. salt
6 Tb chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
1/2 c. cold whole milk

Preheat the oven to 400°.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly sprinkle it with flour.

Combine the  flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it with your fingertips until the mixture is like course meal.

Beat the egg and milk together in a bowl. Pour over the dry ingredients, and combine with a fork. Gather the dough into a ball.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface and shape into an 8” round about 3/4” thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet. Cut the dough to make 8 equal wedges and separate them on the cookie sheet. *Alternately, you can use a simply shaped cookie cutter, like a heart, to cut out smaller individual scones.

Scone dough cut in wedges before separating.

Bake about 15 minutes, until the scones are firm to the touch in the center, and golden brown. Smaller scones may have a shorter baking time. Start checking at about 10 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature.  Recipe adapted from the May 1998 issue of Bon Appetit.

Lemon Curd 
Just keep stirring! If you work hard enough you won't need to strain out any pesky lumps. Worth the effort.

3 large eggs
1/2 - 3/4 c. sugar (use less for more tartness)
1/4 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 Tb unsalted butter
2 Tb grated lemon zest

In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, whisk the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the other ingredients and cook over medium heat, whisking continuously, until the mixture resembles slightly whipped cream.

Remove from the heat, cover, and stir the lemon curd frequently as it cools. When cool, strain (if necessary) and store in the refrigerator for up to four days.
Makes 1 ½ cups.  Adapted from The Village Baker’s Wife by Gayle Ortiz.

Rockcakes iced & cooling.

Hagrid's Rockcakes
Spicy, tender and guaranteed not to break any teeth. It's easy to eat four or five of these hardy drop cookies in the blink of an eye (or the swish of a wand.) They freeze nicely if well wrapped.
Makes 3 dozen cookies.

1 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
3 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. cloves
1 c. nuts, chopped
1 c. raisins

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift the dry ingredients together, and stir into the butter mixture. Then stir in the nuts and raisins.

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough on greased (or parchment papered) cookie sheets about 2” apart. Bake 8-10 minutes, until golden around the edges. These cookies are better slightly underdone.

While still hot, gently brush the cookies with this glaze:
Vanilla Glaze
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 Tb. soft butter
2 Tb plus 2 t. light cream
1 t. vanilla
pinch of salt

Mix ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. The mixture should be the consistency of mayonnaise. Cover when not in use.

Edible Potions
Potions Class, in the absence of Snape, offers a splendid opportunity for young witches & wizards to devise their own snacks and potables. We offer two examples of exemplary potion lessons- the "Eat-Your-Veggies Potion" based on a favorite recipe of Mrs. Wesley's from the tome Charm Your Own Cheese, and a simple draught known as the "Babbling Beverage."

In concocting both potions, insist that the results be totally tasty and edible, forewarning students that they will be eating and drinking them as their elevenses snack. If your class is divided into houses (we like to name our houses Unicorn, Dragon, Phoenix, and Hippogriff to avoid disappointment) members of each house can work cooperatively on their own batch of potion. Trust me, you won't want, or need, any more!

Eat-Your-Veggies Potion
Potion base:
1 cup sour cream
1 cup yogurt

Stir the potion base ingredients together and distribute a portion to each house or wizard in a small bowl or cauldron.
Add any desired combination of these herbs and flavorings to taste. Encourage young scholars to be prudent when flavoring their potions- adding components in small doses until a pleasurable balance is attained.

• Fresh and/or herbs: Parsley, cilantro, basil, thyme, oregano, tarragon                                             Make sure that the fresh herbs have been washed. They can be chopped fine with a knife or chopper or, more safely, snipped with a clean pair of scissors.
• Soy sauce
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Balsamic vinegar
• Worcestershire sauce
• Mustard- yellow or Dijon
• Hot sauce

Serve with crackers, breadsticks, and crudites- sliced carrots, celery sticks, bell pepper, cucumber, etc. Encourage witches and wizards to try potions made by other houses.

Babbling Beverage

Be sure to warn your students that overindulgence may result in the dreaded motor mouth syndrome

Beverage base:

Offer a reasonable assortment of the following: Ginger ale, 7-up, apple juice, sparkling water.

Measure 2-3 cups of mixed-as-desired beverage base into a large cauldron or pitcher.

Add some or all of these additions to make a tasty brew:

• Spoonfuls of undiluted frozen juice concentrate- orange or lemonade
• Flavored Kool aid mix (various, blue is always nice)
• Spices & flavorings- vanilla, almond extract, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg

Add ice and ladle into cups. Enjoy and try not to babble uncontrollably.

A Visit to Hogsmeade- 

Young witches and wizards delight in their weekend visits to Hogsmeade, and are more than happy to pitch in and help Mr. Honeyduke replenish his stores. After a spell spent making magical candies, nothing is better than quaffing a tankard of pumpkin juice or butter beer at Madam Rosmerta's esteemed establishment, The Three Broomsticks.

It is possible for students to assist Mr. Honeyduke by making two of his best sellers- chocolate frogs and chocolate wands.

Chocolate Frogs & Wands

24 oz bag of chocolate chips

Gummi frogs

Bag of pretzel "Rods"

Colored cake decorating sprinkles

Double boiler

Inexpensive/disposable paint brushes

Parchment or wax paper

Melt the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Alternately, melt and transfer to a small crockpot for safer house elf working conditions.

Use the paintbrushes to coat the frogs with melted chocolate. Set on a piece of wax or parchment paper to cool.

Dip about half the length of the pretzel rods in the melted chocolate to coat. Hold vertically over melted chocolate to allow the excess to drip back into the pan. While the chocolate is still soft, hold the wand over wax/parchment paper or a plate and coat with the sprinkles. Cool until chocolate is hard on paper.

Pumpkin Juice

Icy cold, this is the young wizard's thirst quencher of choice.

Makes 4-6 servings

32 oz. bottle of apple juice

14 oz. can of canned pumpkin

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

optional: 1/4 cup honey

Measure about 1 cup of apple juice into a 2 qt pitcher, bowl or cauldron. Gradually beat in the canned pumpkin and about half of the honey, along with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Once the mixture is smooth, gradually add the remainder of the apple juice until well mixed. Taste and add additional spices and honey to taste. Serve over ice if desired. 

Butter Beer
The exact recipe for Butter Beer is a closely held secret, and much controversy surrounds it among its aficionados. Young witches and wizards seem happy to drink any of its many iterations.

For 4-6 servings

2 12 oz. bottles of cream soda (note: there appear to be many new gourmet varieties available which are less sickeningly sweet than the high volume manufacturers, and they will produce a much more palatable product)

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup caramel sauce (homemade** or store bought)

Chill the cream soda. Whip the cream in a clean bowl with either a hand or electric beater until it forms sturdy but not stiff peaks. (Note: young wizards may enjoy the novelty of operating a Muggle egg beater.) Gently stir in the caramel sauce, trying not to deflate the cream.

Fill a tall wine or beer glass with 4-6 oz. cream soda and add several large dollops of the caramel whipped cream. Clink glasses and enjoy.

Quick Butter Beer

Alternately, for a quicker brew, pour a quantity of cream soda over several scoops of butter caramel ice cream in a tall glass. Stir together gently and enjoy.

**Homemade Caramel Sauce

Quite a wizardly concoction in and of itself. Watch plain sugar and water transform themselves into nectar of the gods.

Makes 1 cup.

1 c. granulated sugar 

1/3 c. water 

An additional 1/3 to 1⁄2 c. water 

1 c. heavy cream

Boil the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small heavy saucepan, swirling until the sugar is dissolved. Put a lid on the pan and boil slowly until the sugar bubbles thicken considerably.

Uncover and boil without stirring until the syrup begins to caramelize. Swirl the pan until the syrup is walnut brown. Remove from the heat, and continue to swirl. Avert your face and pour in the additional water.

Simmer, stirring frequently, until the caramel has melted into the water. Boil the mixture until it is a light syrup. Add the cream, blend in thoroughly, and boil, stirring, for 2-3 minutes to reduce the cream slightly. Serve warm or cold. 

Adapted from Julia and More Company by Julia Child.

Hogwarts in Gingerbread

Many young wizards and witches of our acquaintance enjoy rendering gingerbread house versions of Hogwarts. Shown below is a splendid rendition by our young friend Frank.

Can you spot Nagini, the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid & Nearly Headless Nick?

Of Castles, Gingerbread & Wizardry

A castle from the Age of Princesses

I have been taken to task by the Picky Eater because I omitted too many of the fabulous gingerbread castles that have been constructed on our watch. So, without further ado, a second gallery of amazing edifices. Be sure to take your time and savor the tiny details.

The entrance to Redwall castle

Portrait of Martin the Brave

Last, but hardly least, is our friend Frank's truly spectacular Hogwarts Castle from 2010. See if you can find Nagini the snake, Nearly Headless Nick, and Hagrid's giant spider friend Aragog.

Hagrid guards the castle entrance

Quidditch, anyone?

Our Gingerbread House Gallery

Here are some of our gingerbread building efforts. I'm sure that you will be impressed- I always am!

And I hope that these will inspire your own innovative gingerbread house design. Remember, if all else fails, keep adding candy and you can't go wrong!

The Marc Chagall Flying Cottage

Flying Cottage with Family on the Roof

Frank's Soccer Stadium. Looks like the red shirts are ahead!

The Picky Eater's homage to Frank Lloyd Wright

A bird's eye view of the FLW house

L'Ecole de Danse, designed and executed by the Picky Danseuse

UC Davis Chem Building 194 

Frank's Football Stadium with bleacher seats and scoreboard

Sophia's Sugar Shack

Japanese Manka (farmhouse)- traditional side

Japanese Manka- Harajuku side (blurry photo due to house vibration)

Owl House

Don Quixote's lonely windmill

Tis the Season- for Gingerbread Houses!!

The Picky Eater- already a skilled decorator at age 4.

The Picky Eater has been building gingerbread houses since she was old enough to eat a jelly bean. Her many wonderful handcrafted edifices include the Ballet Studio, Science Building 194 at UC Davis, a Redwall castle, and the variation on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling River. Her mother is no slouch in the gingerbread house department either- there have been the Japanese farmhouse, the Marc Chagall hovel, Three Bears at the Beach, the Hot Pepper Taco Stand, Don Quixote’s Windmill, and various other oddities over the years. We even featured a collection of our houses on our holiday card in 2008 (with apologies to Vincent VanGogh!)

Frank's first house at age 5

Even before the Picky Eater was born there was annual gingerbread house making with our friends Kathy, Lindsay, and Virginia Terry. We still chuckle about our first year, when at age two, Virginia was overwhelmed by the candy, chaos, and activity, and had to go to bed. (Virginia  is now twenty-eight.) Back in those days the construction took place at the Terry's house and inevitably it would be raining by the time came for our houses to go home- have you ever tried to carry a gingerbread house through the rain? Not one of life's great pleasures. I am well known for being insistent and over zealous when it comes to gingerbread houses. Pre 9-11 Dr. Hal's East Coast niece and nephew were visiting. Learning that they had never decorated gingerbread houses, we launched in the day before they left to fly home, and I insisted that their parents carry them on the plane, each in its own cardboard box. I can only hope that they ditched them before boarding, but to this day have been afraid to ask! Since the Picky Eater went to college we have enlisted a new generation of cookie house makers- Frank (age 9), Sophia (age 6), and Isabella (age 5).

Over the years we have honed our technique for maximum efficacy. These are some tips,  gleaned from our years of experience:
Cut & bake your house pieces the day before. After cooling, cover tightly on a cookie sheet or tray with aluminum foil.
Roll out, cut, and bake the dough on a sheet of parchment paper.
Use disposable pastry tubes and have one for each decorator.
Gingerbread House Dough
This recipe makes a stiff, forgiving dough that can tolerate lots of rolling and re-rolling out and still tastes good. I usually make 1 batch of dough per person, plus one extra.

1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
4 eggs
1/4 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1 t. cloves
2 t. ginger
5 c. flour

A heavy-duty electric mixer is a must to make this amount of dough. If using a hand-held mixer, halve the size of your batch.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and seasonings, and continue beating about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in as much flour (use the mixer, not by hand!) as you can. Turn the dough out on a board and knead in any remaining flour, to make a very stiff dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 24 hours.

Baking the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Roll half the dough out 1/4” thick on a floured board or parchment paper. Keep remainder of dough refrigerated. Cut out cookie shapes or house pieces. Transfer to a buttered and floured cookie sheet or slide parchment paper onto a cookie sheet.

Bake 12-18 minutes, until the cookies feel dry and firm to the touch. Cool on a rack.  (recipe from From Julia Child’s Kitchen.)

If constructing a house, use this icing as your cement:

Royal Icing
4 egg whites
1/2 t. lemon juice
1/4 t. cream of tartar
8 c. powdered sugar
1 Tb vanilla

With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, lemon juice, salt, cream of tartar, and 2 c. powdered sugar  until you have a thick white paste. Add the flavoring, and gradually the rest of the powdered sugar, beating. Continue beating until the frosting is thick, smooth, and stands in peaks. ( From Julia Child’s Kitchen.)

This icing should be stiff enough to hold your houses pieces together after just a few minutes.
Here’s a good icing for “eating” cookies:

Cookie Icing
1 c. butter, softened
pinch of salt
6 c. powdered sugar
2 Tb milk or cream
1 Tb vanilla

Cream the butter and salt together in a bowl. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar and the milk. Add the vanilla. Continue beating until the icing is very fluffy.

Icing should be smooth and stiff enough to spread. Tastes great topped with cookie sprinkles.
Makes 3 cups. (From Marion Cunningham's The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.)

House Construction

We usually do this as a 1-3 day process. Day 1: Make cookie dough, Day 2: Cut and bake pieces. Day 3: Make icing, assemble, and decorate houses. Can also be done in 2 days. THE DOUGH MUST BE MADE ONE DAY AHEAD!!
Baking the House Pieces
Supplies:
1 batch gingerbread dough (per house)
Baking parchment paper
flour
rolling pin
cookie sheets
cookie cutters
table knife
spatula

Preheat oven to 350°.
1. Form half of a  batch of dough into a thick pancake, and roll out on parchment paper until ¼” thick, using flour under and on top of dough to prevent sticking.
2. Lay as many pattern pieces as will fit on the dough. Cut out using a table knife. When cutting, make short, choppy overlapping strokes. Cutting in one smooth motion pulls on the dough. Don’t forget to cut out doors and windows – we sometimes use miniature cookie cutters.
3. When cutting and baking pattern pieces, your goal is to distort them as little as possible. The more distorted they are, the more difficult it will be to assemble your house.
4. Pull away the excess dough from around the pattern pieces, and gather it into a smooth ball. The excess dough should be refrigerated for at least 20 minutes, and can then be rolled out again for more pattern pieces or cookies.
5. Slide the parchment paper sheet holding the pattern pieces onto a cookie sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 12-20 minutes, until the dough seems firm, dry and the edges are barely brown. Large pieces will need to bake longer; you may need to remove them from the oven as they finish baking.
6. Let pieces cool on the parchment paper for about 10 minutes, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. House pieces must be almost completely cool before they can be assembled.

Assembling Your House
Supplies:
Plate, tray or cardboard base
Pastry bags (I use disposable plastic ones; we like to have one for each person)
Simple icing tips (one for each bag)
Royal icing (about ½ batch per house)
Extra cookies for decoration
Vast array of candies & sprinkles: jelly beans, gumdrops, Necco wafers, peppermint sticks, Gummi anythings, etc. etc. The bigger variety the better!

1. Make a couple of batches of royal icing while your house pieces cool. The icing should be on the stiff side so that it will harden quickly to avoid having your house collapse. Cut the bottom of your pastry bag, and insert a tip from the inside. Use a spatula to load up the bag with icing, forcing it to the bottom of the bag. Closing the top of the bag with a rubber band keeps the icing from squeezing out.
2. Also choose a base: it can be a flat plate, tray, etc. We cover large squares of corrugated (box) cardboard with aluminum foil. This type of base allows you to add snow, icebergs, trees and animals, etc.
3. Decide where on your plate or tray you will position your house; making sure that you allow enough space on all sides.
4. It works best if people work in pairs when putting a house together – that way one pair of hands can hold while the other assembles.
5. If making a house with a cookie rectangle base, glue the base down with a bit of icing. Whether using one or not, proceed to construct your house in this manner:
a. Run a line of icing along the bottom edge of the house front and stand it up where you want it. (Attach it to the long edge of your base, if using one.) Hold in place.
b. If your house has sides, run icing along the back of the house front next to the outside edges. Run a line of icing along the bottom edge of each side, and attach them to the front, gently pressing the edges into the icing and the bottom onto your base. Hold in place for a couple of minutes, until the icing is firm.
c. Attach the back by running icing along the bottom edge and inside edges and attach to the sides. Hold in place.
d. Raising the roof is probably the most challenging aspect of this. Run generous lines of icing along each edge with the roof pieces will touch on the house front, back, and sides. Also apply a generous line of icing to the top edge of one roof piece.
e. Quickly position both roof pieces, matching front edges and pushing the roof pieces together at the crest of the roof. Hold in place until you are ABSOLUTELY sure they are secure.
f. The hard part is done!! Now, enjoy decorating your house and landscape the yard with icing, cookies, candies, and sprinkles.
g. Nibbling is inevitable. Take lots of photos, then delight in playing Hansel or Gretel and breaking off bits of your house to eat whenever it strikes your fancy.