The Gingerbread Lady: Suzanne Crandall

Chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, thumbprints, Russian tea cakes, peanut butter blossoms and sugar cookies. Are you hungry yet–because this list could go on and on. Baking and decorating cookies has become a timeless holiday tradition.

One of the oldest Christmas cookies, gingerbread, dates back to 16th century Europe when spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger were being exchanged on trade routes between the East and West.

Fast forward to the 18th century, the notable Grimm Brothers catapulted gingerbread into popularity with their fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel.” It’s a story about two children who get lost in the woods and find a house made of gingerbread and candy. After the story was published, German bakers began modeling the Hansel and Gretel house as treats around Christmas time.

Today, people still decorate gingerbread houses, but the process has become easier with “build your own” kits. Yet some bakers still choose to make their own houses, and people, from scratch. One of those bakers is Suzanne Crandall of Rapid City. For more than 15 years, she has been spreading Christmas cheer by baking gingerbread houses for the boys and girls at Black Hill Children’s Home (BHCH).

Suzanne started her journey with CHS as a classroom volunteer for Loree Crawford when Loree was a teacher at Owen School. “Loree was always planning new activities to enrich and broaden the children’s experiences,” said Suzanne. “I started baking gingerbread houses for my children and their classrooms when they were preschoolers–about 40 years ago now. Since I was an old hand at them, it seemed like a good activity to propose.”

So Suzanne baked the houses and brought them in for the kiddos to assemble and decorate—and they loved it! “Gingerbread houses are a nearly universal holiday tradition that can be shared by many different ages and backgrounds,” said Suzanne. “Most children love both building things and candy!”

Once Development and Events Manager Theresa Schreiner, the Volunteer Coordinator at the time, heard about the success of the gingerbread project, she visited with Suzanne about expanding the program from Loree’s classroom to one of the residential units.

“I thought this was a great idea,” exclaimed Suzanne. “Children in the other classrooms wanted to participate, and we hated to leave them out.”

Today, Suzanne makes houses for ALL the residential kids at BHCH! “This year, Suzanne baked 53 gingerbread houses so all the children in residential could experience this priceless tradition,” said Theresa.

What does it take to make 53 gingerbread houses? 

Luckily, with 40 years of experience, Suzanne has had plenty of time to perfect her workflow.  She has learned it’s easier to use Betty Crocker's gingerbread cake mix rather than making the batter from scratch. It takes about three boxes and three eggs to make two houses. That means for 53 houses, she uses about 80 eggs and 80 boxes of cake mix!

“I have a pretty good system down,” said Suzanne. “I have four gingerbread molds so I can make three or four at a time. And I have a large mixer, which is indispensable!”

It takes a few days to get everything prepared, but for Suzanne baking these houses is a mix of labor and love.

“We spend so much of our time focusing on ourselves and missing much of the rest of the world. The children love decorating the gingerbread houses, and it’s something I can do easily from home,” she explained.

“When we volunteer, we have an opportunity to expand our vision, our hearts, and our understanding, and it gives us such genuine joy!” said Suzanne.