After a super successful Haunted House Building Workshop with my family in October, I knew that we’d be back in December for the Gingerbread House Workshop…

Note: If you are in the Disneyland area, you still have time to register for the December 17th & 18th (THIS WEEKEND) Gingerbread House Workshops. Call Bruno Duarte asap at 714.776.5200 from 10am-4pm Monday-Friday. These workshops WILL SELL OUT.

Since this was not our first gingerbread rodeo, we were overly prepared for this workshop (after being under prepared at Halloween).  I had stocked up on supplies from Michael’s Arts & Crafts as well as Target. We knew going in that we were going to be making a serious masterpiece!

Atmosphere and Haunted House Prep

Arriving right on time, we had just a few minutes to get organized and check out the set up. The room was once again arranged with large tables and reserved seating. We also had fun jingle bell necklaces waiting for us on our chairs!

Our place settings included the Gingerbread House pieces and a gingerbread man, tree, and snowman along with a bag of white frosting. Cups of candy included jellybeans, gum drops, gummy bears, mini jawbreaker type candies, colorful disc shaped candies, peppermints, and a Peeps Christmas tree.

This time around, we brought SO much extra candy that there was no need regulate my boys on eating the decor.  So I let them dig right in.  They were instantly munching on M & M’s, Nerds, Twizzlers, mini marshmallows, Chewy Sprees, and more.  All while drinking the unlimited soda and wearing the chef hats that were given to all of the children in attendance.  Can you say SUGAR HIGH?

There was also a special lunch menu, and of course we couldn’t make a gingerbread house without a side of tasty french fries!

Gingerbread House Construction

Our instructor was head Executive Chef Darrin Finkel.  He gave us verbal instruction while his pastry chef assistant demonstrated how to construct our house.  Chef Darrin also walked around to make sure we were doing everything correctly!

The next step involved putting on the roof, so Chef Darrin himself came table to table to make sure we were doing it correctly.

At this point, it was time to let our house “dry” for 10 minutes. But, to keep things super fun, it was time for a special visitor: Santa!  Santa was great, he took the time to visit everyone and chat with both adults and children.

After chatting with Santa for a bit, we were ready to get going on our decor.  Our decorating supplies were calling my name, and I knew I wanted to use my cute gingerbread men from Michael’s Arts & Crafts and my Chewy red & green Sprees to get going on our roof!

As soon as we finished the roof, the problems began.  My candy choices were too heavy and the roof kept slipping down! Such a bummer.  Luckily, Chef Darrin was there to help us out and assisted in a little frosting fix.

Our roof continued to slip. We took turns holding it, it would stay for a bit, and then would start to slide again.  While trying to come up with a solution to our problem, we continued to decorate our house adding some gumball siding, a mini candy can border, Santa at the front door, and a Christmas tree in our “yard.”

At this point my husband had the grand idea to make some peppermint pillars to hold up our roof, so I unwrapped while he glued them together with frosting. I also started to add a snow-covered ground using mini marshmallows!

Final Product

The peppermint pillars worked and we finished up our decorations.  I love the way our Gingerbread house turned out!

Participant Gingerbread Houses

Everyone at the workshop did such a great job on their gingerbread houses, so I just had to take some photos to share!

Overall

Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen puts on a great holiday event.  We had so much fun being creative and checking out all of the other Gingerbread Houses in the room.  The staff was attentive and went above and beyond to make the afternoon fun for everyone.  I am so excited to add both this and the Haunted Gingerbread House Workshop to my annual family traditions!

If you are in the Disneyland area, you still have time to register for the December 17th & 18th (THIS Weekend) Gingerbread House Workshop. Call Bruno Duarte at 714.776.5200 from 10am-4pm on Monday-Friday to make your reservation.

Cost is $48 for one house, supplies, 2 seats, and unlimited non-alcoholic drinks.  More than two people in your group?  For $12 each you can purchase extra seats (includes drinks as well).

*One a side note, our roof slid off on the way home.  But guess what? I got out the glue gun and fixed it up just right.  Now that there’s glue involved, we won’t be eating our gingerbread house, be we will be enjoying its beauty through Christmas!

Heather Sievers is the Disney Food Blog’s Dining in Disneyland columnist. See more of her columns here!