Baker creates nostalgic gingerbread
Sale will help to fill food pantries
By DONNA HICKMAN
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008
Updated: Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:20 AM CST
Updated: Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:20 AM CST
FARMINGTON — When Carol Kocher was a little girl, her mother made gingerbread. Her grandmother did, too. So, she’s carrying on the tradition and helping a good cause at the same time.
For the third year, Kocher’s gingerbread will be offered at the Help The Hungry Bake Sale to be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the St. Joseph Catholic School gym in Farmington. The sale is a fundraiser for the Farmington Ministerial Alliance and St. Vincent De Paul food pantries. In fact, the cause is what inspired Kocher to make gingerbread three years ago when the bake sale began.
“I have always done graham cracker houses with my kids, but I decided this was the time to make my own gingerbread,” she explained. “So, I got the recipe from a Christmas cookbook and started.”
She has tweaked the design over the years, but she makes jack-in-the-boxes and candle rings made entirely of gingerbread.
With a little Christmas music playing in the background, Kocher carefully mixes the dough and cuts out the shapes, bakes them and lets them cool. She makes all the pieces and then begins to decorate them. Once they’re dry, she can start to put them together. It’s painstaking work that’s done over about two weeks.
“I may bake a whole weekend and then come in after work at night and do a little decorating on them,” she said. “Everything is edible — if you eat it this year. You can also wrap them up, keep them dry and use them next year.”
She will have about a dozen of her gingerbread creations for sale Saturday. They sell out quickly — possibly because so many shoppers can remember when their own grandmothers made them. Look for them among the booths selling candy and cakes.
Kocher says every year when she starts the project, she begins to think, “What have I gotten myself into?” But, she likes to bake, and she likes to know she’s helping fill the pantry shelves.
All over the city, kitchen’s like Kocher’s are filled this week with the sweet smell of cakes, cookies and pies, along with the intoxicating aroma of breads and spice tea mixes. They’ll be sold at themed booths set up around the gym.
“We have candyland with things like fudge and divinity. There’s a booth for cakes and another one for pies,” said Ardie Henson, an organizer. “There’s Chocolate Heaven, a booth for breads, one for cookies, one for pastries, and Granny’s Kitchen where you can find food and crafts, too.”
New this year is an international food booth with goodies from around the world.
There’s also a booth with homemade pet food.
There will be a cooking demonstration by Sandy Mell, past owner/chef of The Splendid Table and the Farmington High School choir will sing.
Shoppers can enter, browse the booths and take the items they want to a “Will Call” table while they go bid on themed baskets in the silent auction or have a snack at the Cafe. Breakfast items will include Plank Road Inn cinnamon rolls and coffee. Lunch will include sandwiches with “chili to go.”
Churches who set up and decorate the booths are: St. Joseph Catholic, Farmington Presbyterian, St. Paul Lutheran, The Bridge Community Church, First Free Will Baptist Church, New Heights Baptist, Parkland Chapel, First Baptist and Memorial United Methodist Church. Farmington Nazarene Church runs the care and the First Assembly of God in Farmington provides cakes for the Cake Walk. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Farmington Christian Church also participate. The Federated Women’s Club will operate the Cake Walk and Parents As Teachers will supervise the free cookie-decorating for kids.
Henson said businesses have donated wreaths, swags and table arrangements which will be given away for a donation. A live auction will feature such things as Nancy Sullivan’s “cake every other month” and Sandy Mell’s donation of a cooking class in your home. There are also overnight stays at fancy bed and breakfasts, a Tan-Tara vacation, US flag flown over the nation's capital, car detailing, Cardinal baseball tickets and much, much more.
Last year’s event brought in an amazing $14,000.
“You just wonder where all the money comes from,” said Henson. “I remember that first year, on the night before the sale, we had 300 loaves of bread to sell and I said to my husband, ‘What are we going to do with all the leftovers?’ But when it was over, we only had two loaves left.”
Donna Hickman is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact her at 431-2010, ext. 138 or at dhickman@dailyjournalonline.com.
For the third year, Kocher’s gingerbread will be offered at the Help The Hungry Bake Sale to be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the St. Joseph Catholic School gym in Farmington. The sale is a fundraiser for the Farmington Ministerial Alliance and St. Vincent De Paul food pantries. In fact, the cause is what inspired Kocher to make gingerbread three years ago when the bake sale began.
“I have always done graham cracker houses with my kids, but I decided this was the time to make my own gingerbread,” she explained. “So, I got the recipe from a Christmas cookbook and started.”
She has tweaked the design over the years, but she makes jack-in-the-boxes and candle rings made entirely of gingerbread.
With a little Christmas music playing in the background, Kocher carefully mixes the dough and cuts out the shapes, bakes them and lets them cool. She makes all the pieces and then begins to decorate them. Once they’re dry, she can start to put them together. It’s painstaking work that’s done over about two weeks.
“I may bake a whole weekend and then come in after work at night and do a little decorating on them,” she said. “Everything is edible — if you eat it this year. You can also wrap them up, keep them dry and use them next year.”
She will have about a dozen of her gingerbread creations for sale Saturday. They sell out quickly — possibly because so many shoppers can remember when their own grandmothers made them. Look for them among the booths selling candy and cakes.
Kocher says every year when she starts the project, she begins to think, “What have I gotten myself into?” But, she likes to bake, and she likes to know she’s helping fill the pantry shelves.
All over the city, kitchen’s like Kocher’s are filled this week with the sweet smell of cakes, cookies and pies, along with the intoxicating aroma of breads and spice tea mixes. They’ll be sold at themed booths set up around the gym.
“We have candyland with things like fudge and divinity. There’s a booth for cakes and another one for pies,” said Ardie Henson, an organizer. “There’s Chocolate Heaven, a booth for breads, one for cookies, one for pastries, and Granny’s Kitchen where you can find food and crafts, too.”
New this year is an international food booth with goodies from around the world.
There’s also a booth with homemade pet food.
There will be a cooking demonstration by Sandy Mell, past owner/chef of The Splendid Table and the Farmington High School choir will sing.
Shoppers can enter, browse the booths and take the items they want to a “Will Call” table while they go bid on themed baskets in the silent auction or have a snack at the Cafe. Breakfast items will include Plank Road Inn cinnamon rolls and coffee. Lunch will include sandwiches with “chili to go.”
Churches who set up and decorate the booths are: St. Joseph Catholic, Farmington Presbyterian, St. Paul Lutheran, The Bridge Community Church, First Free Will Baptist Church, New Heights Baptist, Parkland Chapel, First Baptist and Memorial United Methodist Church. Farmington Nazarene Church runs the care and the First Assembly of God in Farmington provides cakes for the Cake Walk. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Farmington Christian Church also participate. The Federated Women’s Club will operate the Cake Walk and Parents As Teachers will supervise the free cookie-decorating for kids.
Henson said businesses have donated wreaths, swags and table arrangements which will be given away for a donation. A live auction will feature such things as Nancy Sullivan’s “cake every other month” and Sandy Mell’s donation of a cooking class in your home. There are also overnight stays at fancy bed and breakfasts, a Tan-Tara vacation, US flag flown over the nation's capital, car detailing, Cardinal baseball tickets and much, much more.
Last year’s event brought in an amazing $14,000.
“You just wonder where all the money comes from,” said Henson. “I remember that first year, on the night before the sale, we had 300 loaves of bread to sell and I said to my husband, ‘What are we going to do with all the leftovers?’ But when it was over, we only had two loaves left.”
Donna Hickman is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact her at 431-2010, ext. 138 or at dhickman@dailyjournalonline.com.
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