This Giant Hogwarts Gingerbread Castle Proves The Holidays Really Are Magical

In the era of random “holidays” sprinkled throughout the year, e.g., National Pancake Day, National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day, etc., I was pretty excited to learn of another one in the month of December that isn’t even Christmas or Hanukkah — but is pretty festive and magical, if you ask me. Wednesday, December 12 is National Gingerbread House Day. If you’re like me and the only gingerbread you like to eat is in the latte variety at Starbucks, Reynolds Kitchens may change your mind with their amazingly magical, gigantic, and completely edible Hogwarts gingerbread castle.

Uh, can you say Accio Hogwarts gingerbread castle to my front door? I want to look at it on display all year round. I think Hermione, Ron, and Harry would be very proud of this rendition of their beloved school. The house took around 30 hours to make — i.e., three days — with three folks working on it full time, according to the Reynolds Kitchens representative. And at approximately 48”w x 36”l x 36”h, this 60-pound house is made up of a “mix of gingerbread, cake, crispy rice treats, and fondant to make the different shapes in the house,” she says. It was made by using the Reynolds Kitchens Parchment Paper with SmartGrid®, ensuring every wall was precisely measured.

Which is a great idea, considering how frustrating it is for your gingerbread house to collapse in the middle of your construction zone. This magical paper will ensure your gingerbread house is structurally sound, and if you’re baking holiday cookies, they won’t stick and ruin Christmas Eve, like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would want. And we can't have that. Plus, we know how much Santa Claus loves his cookies and milk.

The details of this castle are phenomenal... so much so, that I fully expect Dumbledore to come walking out with his long wispy beard and robes. And even though this castle is edible, it’s basically too pretty to eat. They even have the lattice work and the windows perfectly detailed like it just magically appeared out of the books. Even the details of the greenery and rooftop shingles are something to marvel at.

And if you're understandably not up for building your own Hogwarts gingerbread castle in three days, Reynolds Kitchens has a less extra and simpler gingerbread recipe with icing. There are only ten ingredients to mix together for the gingerbread batter, and the icing is surprisingly simple as well.

Also, if you had never heard of this special National Holiday, it's not as farfetched as you think. On this day back in 992 AD, "Armenian monk, Gregory of Nicopolis, brought gingerbread to Europe and taught French Christians to bake it," according to Nationaldaycalendar.com.

So Happy Gingerbread House Day to you and yours. May your gingerbread houses be sturdy, your icing sticky, and you have a magical holiday season filled with gingerbread, Harry Potter, and Hogwarts castle. Be sure to practice your Stupefy and Expelliarmus spells to keep people's grubby hands away from your gingerbread concoctions.

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