Tis The Season
Top Dallas pastry chefs bake for bragging rights in second annual GingerbreadStroll
Cold weather has arrived, and the holidays are fast approaching. So naturally we have gingerbread houses on the brain.
We have a soft spot for these festive miniature houses made of edibles, because they combine two of our greatest loves: food and design. Gingerbread Stroll founder Christine McKenny knows exactly how we feel. "It's a happy event that crosses with my previous experiences [in nonprofit work and real estate]."
The second annual charitable event in Highland Park Village takes place November 16-30. Top Dallas pastry chefs — from Celebrity Cafe & Bakery, Chocolate Secrets, Fine Arts Confections, Four Seasons Resort and Club, Cafe on the Green, Hilton Anatole, Hyatt Regency Dallas, Northwood Club, Remington College Pastry Arts Program, Rosewood Crescent Hotel, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Royal Oaks Country Club, The Hospitality Sweet, Ritz-Carlton and Tom Thumb — build elaborate gingerbread houses, which go on display in participating stores.
The chefs donate their time, ingredients and all of the resources they need to create the houses. Holiday shoppers then can bid in a silent auction to take home one of the masterful edible creations.
If you don't want to take any chances in the silent auction, you can "buy now." But you still have have to wait until November 30 to take home your gingerbread masterpiece.
"Every year we give 100 percent of the proceeds to a local children's charity," McKenny says. "Last year it was Children's Medical Center. This year, the proceeds will go to Community Partners."
The public also can vote on their favorite creations by picking up a ballot at participating stores Beretta Gallery, Billy Reid, Calame Jewelers, Carolina Herrera, Cole Haan, Deno’s of Highland Park, Escada, Haynsworth Frames, Kiehl’s Since 1851, Robert Talbott Carmel, Scoop NYC, Trina Turk, Tom Thumb and Village Barber Shop.
After a stroll through the village, shoppers can drop off their ballots at Celebrity Cafe & Bakery, which is donating proceeds from the sale of gingerbread cookies to Community Partners for the duration of the stroll.