The Museum of the City of New York has invited top bakeries alongside amateur bakers from across NYC to compete in Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off. Tasty gingerbread houses will represent and celebrate communities and neighborhoods from all five boroughs, and the results are so good it’s hard to believe the houses have been made from cookies!
Two bakeries and/or bakers from each borough were selected to compete in the bake-off, showing off their gingerbread house making skills that represent the theme “Winter in New York.”
The bake-off is more than just a way to get into the holiday spirit, however. A panel of NYC-based bakers, curators, and restaurant owners judged the final designs, and awarded prizes in a variety of categories, including Most Representative of Their Neighborhood, Most Creative, Good Enough to Eat, Most Intricate, Grandest, and more.
Those baking for their borough included:
- John Kuehn, Lower East Side, Manhattan
- Ida Kreutzer, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
- Sans Bakery, Long Island City, Queens
- Bruno’s Bakery, Dongan Hills, Staten Island
- Egidio Pastry Shop, Belmont, Bronx
The bakers have proved that much more than baking some cookies and slopping frosting on them goes into baking these over-the-top masterpieces. John Kuehn from New Bake City who represented Manhattan shared a post on his Instagram, showing that “measuring and scaling” is also a big part of the game.
“We’re excited to kick off the holiday season in a delicious way – by showcasing local businesses and highlighting the culinary creativity from varied corners of the city,” said Whitney Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director of Museum of the City of New York in a press release. “New York City’s five boroughs each have such unique characteristics, and what better way to depict those characteristics than through baking?”
The houses will be on view to the public from Friday, November 11 through Sunday, January 8 at The Museum of the City of New York. And though the judges have already made their picks, the public can vote for their favorites throughout December.