Washington’s gingerbread men

This holiday season, hotels across Washington, D.C., are showcasing their own unique gingerbread designs to the public — and it could be hard to resist diving into these savory creations.

Whether you’re planning to stay for the holidays or are just passing through, you’ll feel right at home when you see the life-sized gingerbread cottage at The Ritz-Carlton in Tyson’s Corner (1700 Tysons Blvd., McLean, Va.). This 12-foot-tall and 12-foot-wide culinary masterpiece can be found on the fourth floor, in the main lobby level of the hotel. 

The pastry team committed more than 200 hours to building this house, rolling and stacking 2,000 gingerbread bricks to create the wall and sprinkling candies all throughout. The public can explore the bungalow-styled home while shopping for holiday treats like macaroons and truffles. 

Frederic Barasse, the lead pastry chef, said he loved seeing the public’s expressions of shock and admiration at the sight of his work of art. 

“It’s exciting when we open the house and they can’t believe it’s there,” said Barasse. 

At The Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City (1250 South Hayes St., Arlington, Va.), you will drool at the sight of the first-ever gingerbread replica of the U.S. Pentagon, which is down the street from the hotel.

This downsized version is scaled to be 1/142 of the actual building. It is approximately 6.5 inches tall and 12.5 inches wide. Although it is petite, its modern and sleek look combined with its intricate design  make it a sight to behold. 

Master chocolatier David Collier led the endeavor to construct this pastry. He said that the initial inspiration for his work was to “take a light-hearted approach to create something not associated with the holidays and make the holidays seen.” 

If you’re nostalgic for the Christmas classics, The Fairmont in Georgetown (2401 M St. NW) designed a gingerbread village based off the 1964 movie “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in its lobby.  

The village features scenery from the movie and the book, including a gingerbread brick wall, Santa’s workshop, a river made of sugar and pastillage (a sugar-based dough) mountains. There’s also accompanying set pieces like a life-size abominable snowman, as well as a soundtrack from the movie playing in the background. 

“I think it’s so large scale, compared to just doing a gingerbread house,” said Rebecca Kinsella, lead pastry chef. “It’s fun, it’s interactive, it definitely draws people in. It brings in the season for sure.” 

Just a block or so from the White House, the Willard InterContinental (1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) has looked ahead to President Obama’s second inauguration for inspiration on its own sweet creation.

A gingerbread rendition of the hotel decorates the lobby. “It resembles what the hotel is going to look like for the inauguration,” said Barbara Bahny, director of public relations at The Willard.

A scaled-down version of the hotel was made last year — after the initial design was so well received, the pastry team, led by Dublin-born Chef Gary O’Hanlon, decided to go bigger and better this year. 

The gingerbread house hotel is 30 inches high, 31 inches deep and 60 inches wide. 

What is most impressive about this model is the attention to detail. Because every window of the actual hotel will be adorned with two flagpoles, the entire facade likewise had to be decorated with waving flags. Chefs also had to shape the dough to make a curved roof that would stay on top of the gingerbread hotel. 

Very specific tasks were assigned to each of the eight members on the pastry team. 

“Everybody has got something to do on it, each spends an hour or two on it each day,” he said. “I have one guy doing all the windows.” 

But building the hotel might have been the easier task: moving it was another story. It took six members of O’Hanlon’s staff to make the journey of a thousand steps to carry the fragile work of art from the kitchen to the lobby.

O’Hanlon added that this project was the most complex thing he’s ever done. The team worked about 250 hours to build the gingerbread rendition. 

Although you won’t be able to eat the delicious gingerbread décor, shopping at the gingerbread cottage in the Ritz-Carlton, singing tunes from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” at the Fairmont or enjoying afternoon tea at the Willard will make this holiday season just as sweet.