Gingerbread Gillet

A few years back friends of ours hosted a gingerbread house competition. My plan entering the competition was "go big or go home," the same philosophy our undefeated New England Patriots had adopted during their 07-08 season  (Super Bowl XLII had not yet happened...we don't talk about THAT DAY in our house...we were there, it was a painful, sad, sad day). The only way to "go big" was to make a gingerbread replica of Gillet Stadium in Foxboro, MA. Here's a look at the (prizewinning) gingerbread "house":

 Prepping the pieces.

 Construction begins.

 Securing the supports.

 Adding the stands.

 Filling in the field. 

 Paint the lines and fill the stands with fans (aka DOTS candy)

 Adding the details.

 Almost done...

 Add the football (football shaped gingerbread), the team (more DOTS) and the goal posts (Cocktail skewers).

 And DONE!

 EPIC gingerbread!

GO PATS!!

How I did it:
Google several pictures of Gillet Stadium and drew out templates of sides and supports on to craft paper. 
Cut out paper templates.
Used Martha Stewarts Molasses-Gingerbread Cookie recipe to make a double batch of dough.
Rolled out LARGE sheets of the dough and cut around templates with a knife. Baked according to directions and assembled using Martha Stewarts Royal Icing.
Decorated with gel icing and candies.

--Sarah