Adelle Bonilla earns her living in November making gingerbread houses.
But these aren't normal gingerbread houses. They're sizeable and complicated. She has to think about where to put the little candy Aubie and how to get the bell tower of Hargis Hall to look scorched.
Bonilla is the pastry chef at the Auburn Hotel and Dixon Conference Center, and she's tasked with making the Auburn gingerbread village, which goes on display Dec. 1.
Four new buildings are being added to this year's display: the Auburn Hotel and Langdon, Cater and Hargis halls.
Missing this year is Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"Our general manager wanted to change things up a little bit, so we added four buildings and took out the stadium," Bonilla said. "It was just a lucky year last year. We won the championship, and to have the stadium at the same time was a perfect chance."
Last year, Bonilla used 90 eggs, 80 pounds of flour, 30 pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of molasses and 5 pounds of ground cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg.
"The molasses gives (gingerbread) that color and that taste," Bonilla said. "It's not necessarily the ginger."
She began working Nov. 1 and spends most of each day in the back of the hotel with her staff of chefs, part-time workers and volunteers.
The team must first make the gingerbread dough, shape the dough into shingles and bake them. They then mix icing to glue the gingerbread shingles to the wooden skeleton of each building.
The icing hasn't always held in the past.
"It's so humid here in Alabama," Bonilla said. "I had one year when one of my walls started sagging. I had to scrape it all down and, while it's already on display, I got to do it all right there (in the lobby). Eventually the kids start picking at it, but it's OK. I don't mind."
Bonilla said one volunteer has made a huge difference.
"Allie Ware has been a great help," Bonilla said. "She's so enthusiastic, and working with people like her makes this a lot more fun."
Ware, senior in Spanish and hotel and restaurant management, also worked with Bonilla last year.
"Last year we had a month to complete it as well," Ware said. "We hit crunch time there at the end and had about 36 hours straight of gingerbreading. It was ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous."
Ware said the biggest challenge is the time constraint, and the biggest change from last year is the lack of a Styrofoam skeleton, to which icing sticks more easily than wood.
"As far as volunteers, we take anyone we can con into helping," Ware said. "If you have some extra time, come on in."
Bonilla moved to Auburn from Miami.
"The food is the thing that changes," she said. "We get a lot of tourists down in Miami. Here it's more homey. You get a lot of locals, a lot of repeat customers. I had to study up on my Southern cooking, and I've gotten pretty good at it.
"Red velvet, they don't eat much of that down there. Bread puddings, you know, just the homey comfort stuff. Down there it's more tropical fruits, light and airy things."
Bonilla said Southerners have responded well when she adds foods she picked up in Miami.
"The other day I did dessert sushi," she said. "It looked just like sushi, but the raw fish was thinly sliced fruit. The rice on the bottom was coconut. Instead of seaweed it was a little chocolate wrapping."
Bonilla said she is confident her team will finish the gingerbread creations in time.
"I have my great staff who help me out a lot," she said. "We'll get it done for sure, (even) if it means all-nighters.
"We have a lot of fun when we sit back here--listen to some tunes, get to know each other, do something we like to do.
"I love to do this stuff."
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