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Show tatmtipaa W3SE by KATHI.r.I:.N 1bntot ) Earl PURVIS Make Your Own fcut-n- A f gingerbread house designer Deni Cole shows how Award-winni- ng t Dim Giles house, Christmas tome in August. Tli.it' when she pulls out cookie cutters, cardlxiard patterns, atul stack of candy boxn to begin work on her annual gingerbread creation. Gingerbread liouse' Oh no, not mere liousev Cole builds Tudor house. Mansion. Stage vts. Gimplete worlds of gingerbread and sugar, where gum paste elves drive candy trams and cone evergreens dot tlic yards. "You have to be a kid when you make gingerbread," she say with a warm grin that make her eyes crinkle. "It brings out tlte child in all of us." G)lc, 48, of Wcavervillc, a west- Gimlina town of 2, II 6, ern 1 1 1 makes competition-leve- l gingerbread Ivxtsc. Sir entered tlr annual gingerbread competition in nearby Aslwillc, N.C., five times in six years, winning I ler Ivxises liavc Ixcn first, second, arvl third indeed 'Jl f ' 1 prir. on television's Gud Snrmng, Amenta and in magazines such as Southern Lit g. Tins is, after all, a woman w ho once made a gingerbread version of the Mixhcr Gcxisc rliynr, Then Wat an Old Who Lived in a SI, complete with 42 children Woman (made from it mg) in tlr windows. This creation, sir says, is lrr favorite to far. But for beginning gin- gerbread bakers, she scaled back to show how to create a Danl Cot scat back from bar regular gingerbread mansion and stag tats to craau a basic founwaM datlgn. basic design a simple house with a she a child rtvif, "It's pattern," say. "They steep like lots of surface for candy." four-walle- d Gingerbread dinigli arc very forgiving, GJe says. iiuart stainless steel bowl the can slxiru-nmand honey. tlic on (Hit right stovetop to melt Sir usually uses rye flour for tlr color, texture, ami Site stans with a 1 g flour i fine, she content, but She avoids bread because makes stretchy it flour, says, wlu-shrink bake. that doughs they n Sir adds extra spices to make the scent linger. Sometimes sir even dris oil of cinnamon down chimneys for that extra Christmas tmich. Gdc's Iwckground is in commercial fix! service, but she left a fast food management job for oir wlrre she makes custom cakes for an bakery. "I just re dec ided to make a living doing wliat I do Irst," sir Tlr cake decorator lundles tlr detail work such as company logos and personalized cakes. says. The best part Mixing tlr dixagh is tlr toughest putt of gingerbread . "I work up a swear," GJe admirs. Sir mils out a large piece of dough and moves it to a lacking slret sprayed with cocking spray. TIrn she uses a urdlxxird template and a pizza wlrcl to cut txit walls, trimming most of tlr excess, Isut leaving a lialf-int-h border. Same thing for tlr divers and windows she curs them out, but leaves the dough in place. After baking, she removes the pieces cjuickly, before they ccxd and stick. Glass" window arc easy: Cole plates red in the lx atom ones (for a fireplace glow) and yellow Halls cough drops in tlr upper floors. After Life-sav- H.onhnutJ on Pop Pag 1 6 American Profile HI |