All Aboard

To say Alex is a fan of trains may be an understatement. Every subway station we pass in the city, he points to it, jumps up and down and says “choo-choo” repeatedly. I know he is not alone in his love.

As the holidays were approaching, a friend of mine suggested we make gingerbread trains for our sons’ class (her son loves the subway/trains too) and then the kids could decorate them. I loved the idea, and we split up the tasks—I was in charge of baking the train and she was in charge of decorations. She found a train gingerbread kit that I used as a template for the cars.

The engine and the caboose. 

The finished cars--one for each child and the teachers. 

I used my standard gingerbread recipe, but amended it slightly to match the color of the engine (I just added more ginger till it was the same color).  Since I had to transport  14 cars and an engine through the city, icing alone was not going to hold the train together. So, I hot glued them (thus, the train is actually not edible). The decorations, however, were entirely edible and the kids had a great time both eating them and adding them to their cars. The final train in all its glory is above. 

Getting ready to decorate. 

For every candy he put on the car, he put two in his mouth.