GALLERY: Limerick Bakery Makes Gingerbread Replica Homes That Are Stunning!

Ever made a gingerbread house? Not like this you haven't.

Award-winning baker, Joanne Nichols with Chatterbox Bakery in Limerick, spends anywhere from 40 to 200 hours on each gingerbread creation. She's made gingerbread homes something you can have outside of the holiday season! I can't imagine. The prefab gingerbread homes sold in a box with all the fixings take me forever and the walls never stay up!  But then again, I'm not an award-winning baker.

I asked Joanna if she gets upset if people eat her creations. Although everything is very edible, most people keep their homes and bring them out for the holiday season to show off. I couldn't possibly think of eating something that took 60 hours to create just cuz I was having a sweet tooth moment.  She's put in her time in the baking and restaurant business, almost 40 years - but these days she works from her licensed home kitchen in Limerick. And it's not just gingerbread homes she makes, she pretty much does it all and all to order.

She gets very picky about her gingerbread creations and will often go and take a picture of the actual home, landmark, or historic building she is recreating. She loves the challenge of getting it as identical as she can AND it's built to scale!

If you've ever been to Kennebunk, then, of course, you know the Wedding Cake house. That is the gingerbread replica that took Joanne over 200 hours to create. As you look through her creations, imagine upping your game this Christmas with one of your own! Maybe make a replica of your own house!