The phrase “Bigger than Texas” took on a whole new meaning for me when I spotted this full-sized house made from gingerbread in my Facebook feed.
Traditions Club and St Joseph Health System of Bryan, Texas, have spent the year working to beat the Guinness World Record for the World's Largest Gingerbread House.
The result is a structure that's more than 6m high and 18m long, which packs a whopping 35,823,400 calories.
The structure has a wood base, but has been topped with more than 800kg of butter, 7,200 eggs, 1360kg of sugar and 3265kg of flour. Then more than 22,000 pieces of candy were added to its facade.
Visitors can even tour the house and get their photo taken with Santa there for a small fee, with proceeds going to a local hospital. More than $150,000 has already been donated to the trauma centre.
Yep, officially gob-smacked.
Have you ever successfully made a gingerbread house? My sole attempt a few years ago with an IKEA kit collapsed in a sugary heap.
With their jellybean-shingled roofs, licorice chimneys and royal icing details, there's nothing cuter around the holidays than gingerbread houses. But these masterful creations are a world away from the pre-fab kits we all grew up assembling. Prepare to be amazed by these 26 incredible gingerbread houses (that we'd never, ever make)
Sweetly Spanish
Some of the most breathtaking gingerbread houses we found were the contest winning entries from San Diego's Gingerbread City with proceeds going to the Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego. This adorable Spanish-tiled rancho home complete with serenading mariachi band and lovely senorita is pure Southern California.
Move-In Ready
It took the Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls over 300 hours and countless pounds of gingerbread to craft a stunning two-story, life size gingerbread house complete with a functioning (and holiday photo-op ready) dining room for six. Click ahead to see the dining room!
Grand Victorian
Every year, Disney's Grand Floridian resort constructs an absolutely gorgeous and enormous Victorian gingerbread house. Here's a look at what went into last year's three floor beauty: 1,050 pounds of honey, 800 pounds of flour, 600 pounds of chocolate, 600 pounds of powdered sugar, 180 pounds of apricot glaze, 140 pints of egg whites and 35 pounds of spices.
Lily Pulitzers Palm Beach location showcased fabulous Pulitzer-themed gingerbread houses, all decked out in preppy pink and green.
Simply Gingerbread
This charming gingerbread cottage was another entry for the Providence Festival of Trees Gingerbread Competition. The multi-level house is Christmas-ready with pine trees, snow and mistletoe.
Up, Up and Away!
The famed house from Up is now in gingerbread form on display at the 15th Annual Gingerbread Auction for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County in Kansas, USA, in 2009. The Disney house is pure eye candy with colourful shingles (tiles were made of gum paste), a white picket fence and life-like grass.
Ginger-Block Party
The Gingerbread Block Project is an expansion of a popular gingerbread brownstone created by Renee Baumann from the blog Kitchen Table Scraps. Inspired by the food- and craft-lovers from around the Internet who shared and praised her 2011 creation, Renee created an entire block to showcase her precision and creativity. Erie yet beautiful, the gingerbread block is on display in Brooklyn, New York, through December.
