and they can even serve as windows (if you didn’t cut them out of the dough). Shingle a roof or add trim with sliced almonds or pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Whole almonds pressed into gingerbread ...

She would bake a sheet of gingerbread, then pull out stencils she had made from file folders to carefully cut the walls and roof of the houses. But these were the homesteading equivalent of candy ...

Re-roll the trimmings and use to cut out the chimney pieces, three Christmas trees and three triangles to use as supports to help the trees stand upright. Bake the gingerbread for 7–8 minutes.