Holiday
Lebkuchenhaus
December 26, 2021
Every culture and country has their own way of celebrating the holidays. As a child living in Hong Kong with a mix of Christians and Buddhists in the family, strangely, both celebrated Christmas.
At the time, despite being a student at a Methodist primary school, I didn’t exactly understand that there was a distinctive difference between religious celebration of Jesus’ birth and the non-religious, festive year-end parties. I remember performing at the school chapel on the Friday before the holidays, singing hymns and carols, and playing the Nutcracker on the xylophone with the school band – I did it for 4 to 5 years consecutively. Later that week on Boxing Day, my extended family would gather to have dinner and gift exchange.
The food… honestly it was not memorable. I can’t even remember when we ate aside from the disgusting salad that’s made of apples and potatoes drenched in mayo. The only Christmas dinner I remember from that period was that one time my mom ordered from a caterer a lamb leg roast, which was so good. Oh there’s always a cake. I’m not sure why but I have noticed that friends with strong ties to Hong Kong culture LOVES a fresh fruit cake with melon balls and strawberries covered in whipped cream. Is this an influence from the British?
Fast forward to my teenage years in Canada, the holidays were completely different. My extended family is mostly Catholic. I’ve attended their religious holiday dinners (the ones where I just look at the dinner spread, planning my strategy while everyone else is saying their prayers.) Aside from the traditionally North American roasted turkey, ham, apple pie, Brussel sprouts and sweet yams, because of their Trinidad influences, we also had mac and cheese.
Occasionally, my sister, cousins and I would help my aunt make cookies. I think because of this, we’ve started baking around the holidays as well. Since adapting to a gluten-free lifestyle, every year I’ve made different holiday desserts. With lack of experience and Google, they were always disastrous. Only in recent years where I’ve learned to make decent baked-goods, and have the confidence in making a gluten-free gingerbread for the first time this year.
I’ve opted to use Chef Ceri Jones’ Lebkuchen recipe. I’ve used this recipe many times. It’s very flexible in terms of substitutions. I find that Bob’s Red Mill AP Baking Flour goes very well with this recipe. I have tried coconut oil, real butter, and vegan butter for the fat, and all have yielded good results. For the gingerbread houses, I over-baked the cookies by about 8 to 10 minutes longer for a dryer, harder texture, which would work better for construction.
The food… honestly it was not memorable. I can’t even remember when we ate aside from the disgusting salad that’s made of apples and potatoes drenched in mayo. The only Christmas dinner I remember from that period was that one time my mom ordered from a caterer a lamb leg roast, which was so good. Oh there’s always a cake. I’m not sure why but I have noticed that friends with strong ties to Hong Kong culture LOVES a fresh fruit cake with melon balls and strawberries covered in whipped cream. Is this an influence from the British?
Fast forward to my teenage years in Canada, the holidays were completely different. My extended family is mostly Catholic. I’ve attended their religious holiday dinners (the ones where I just look at the dinner spread, planning my strategy while everyone else is saying their prayers.) Aside from the traditionally North American roasted turkey, ham, apple pie, Brussel sprouts and sweet yams, because of their Trinidad influences, we also had mac and cheese.
Occasionally, my sister, cousins and I would help my aunt make cookies. I think because of this, we’ve started baking around the holidays as well. Since adapting to a gluten-free lifestyle, every year I’ve made different holiday desserts. With lack of experience and Google, they were always disastrous. Only in recent years where I’ve learned to make decent baked-goods, and have the confidence in making a gluten-free gingerbread for the first time this year.
I’ve opted to use Chef Ceri Jones’ Lebkuchen recipe. I’ve used this recipe many times. It’s very flexible in terms of substitutions. I find that Bob’s Red Mill AP Baking Flour goes very well with this recipe. I have tried coconut oil, real butter, and vegan butter for the fat, and all have yielded good results. For the gingerbread houses, I over-baked the cookies by about 8 to 10 minutes longer for a dryer, harder texture, which would work better for construction.
Horror-Themed?
As a religiously neutral person, I like to work with juxtaposing themes. When brainstorming the design of my first house, I ended up with creating a religious but not so traditional gingerbread “house”, which actually is a temple – the sacrificial temple from the film Midsommar.
This is a sort of tetrahedron shaped structure. It does not an easy calculation for me (considering I stopped my math studies in 12th grade) when creating the templates. So, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
Horror-Themed?
As a religiously neutral person, I like to work with juxtaposing themes. When brainstorming the design of my first house, I ended up with creating a religious but not so traditional gingerbread “house”, which actually is a temple – the sacrificial temple from the film Midsommar.
This is a sort of tetrahedron shaped structure. It does not an easy calculation for me (considering I stopped my math studies in 12th grade) when creating the templates. So, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
Eerie Cabin
I made a second house, thinking that it will be more traditional. When I sent a photo to a couple of friends, the first reaction was “abandoned cabin in the woods.”
I suppose the angled walls of the house are not ideal for a cozy house. *shrugs*
Next year, I’ll probably attempt a more straightforward design, and maybe try making sugar glass. Until next time…
Eerie Cabin
I made a second house, thinking that it will be more traditional. When I sent a photo to a couple of friends, the first reaction was “abandoned cabin in the woods.”
I suppose the angled walls of the house are not ideal for a cozy house. *shrugs*
Next year, I’ll probably attempt a more straightforward design, and maybe try making sugar glass. Until next time…
