The witch's house that Hansel and Gretel encountered in the woods was a candy lover's dream but it became famous for being made of gingerbread 100 years after the fairy tale was made into an opera.
The making of gingerbread houses became a Christmas tradition after the popularity of the 1893 opera by composer Engelbert Humperdinck based on the Grimm brothers' German fairy tale collection published in 1812.
Anyone who has bought a gingerbread house-making kit could say that putting one of structures together isn't exactly child's play, but Gardnerville resident Barbara Boeving has given tips to thousands of people on how to be make the holiday activity more successful.
And the best part about Boeving's gingerbread houses is that they taste as good as they look.
"The German tradition is to pick your favorite pieces of candy off the house and eat it on New Year's Day," she said. "People want to save gingerbread houses in the garage for the next year but the weather and mice get to them."
Boeving spoke about the history of gingerbread and gave a demonstration to about 20 fellow members of the Gardnerville Women's Literary Club at her home Dec. 10.
She said the history of gingerbread goes back about a thousand years but by the 15th century the ingredients were so expensive that only kings could afford it.
"The Germans created the guilds that sold the cookies which were made from molds and sold at fairs," she said. "The Hansel and Gretel story made gingerbread famous."
Boeving's husband, Hans Boeving, came to Gardnerville from Germany when he was 11 years old.
"When our son was born, I wanted to give him something from his background and I've been doing it ever since," Barbara Boeving said.
She made gingerbread men for her children's classmates, researched gingerbread recipes and has instructed about 4,000 people in cake decorating and gingerbread classes.
Boeving tested more than 100 recipes to come up with the best gingerbread for making cookies and houses. She said the icing is the key to success when it comes to decorating gingerbread men or houses.
Some of the pointers Boeving gives about making sure gingerbread ornaments don't break and end up on the floor is to cut a cardboard circle and string it along with the cookie to hang on the tree.
She said that gingerbread kits don't always include a base big enough for a house.
"There's no room for a yard and the board gets heavy and bends. Use two or three cardboards, make it big enough for a yard, put feet on it, put a ribbon around the board to hide the feet."
Some of Boevings recommendations for gingerbread houses are sugar cube fireplaces with gumdrop flames, blue gel icing for ponds, cinnamon sticks for logs and malt wafer roofs. Skittles, Tootsie Rolls, Tic Tacs and M&Ms all work well but remember that chocolate melts and candy cane colors run on the icing.
"The final mistake people make is to say 'don't touch it,'" Boeving said. "Why not surprise your kids and tell them to go ahead and eat it?"
