Create Your Own McGraw Tower—Made Out of Gingerbread!

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Editor's note: We want to see your creations! If you make a gingerbread McGraw Tower, send us photos at cornellians@cornell.edu—and tag us on Facebook (Cornellians) and Twitter/X (@WeCornellians)!

By Joe Wilensky

’Tis the season for building gingerbread houses—but why not show your Big Red pride by making one in the shape of McGraw Tower? For years, the Cornell Club–New York—which is always festooned with décor evoking the Ithaca campus—has celebrated the holiday season with a large gingerbread version of McGraw Tower and Uris Library.

The Cornell Club–New York

Refreshed each year and displayed in the lobby, the three-foot-tall tower and adjacent structure is adorned with candy canes, string lights, bows, stars, and more. (The library roof is often made “snowy” via a layer of frosted-wheat cereal.)

This year, the club’s talented culinary staff partnered with Cornellians to size down the creation into a freestanding McGraw Tower that you can easily make in a home kitchen.

“It’s a very simple recipe,” notes Joe Boko, executive chef at the Midtown Manhattan club. “All we do for building and stability purposes is add a little bit more flour than a regular gingerbread cookie recipe.”

Kelvin Gomez, the club’s executive sous chef, and Haidee Bowles, a line cook, lent a hand for baking, building, and decorating as part of this special project for Cornellians.

“All you really want to do when you make a gingerbread house is have fun,” says Bowles. “And half the fun of making them is decorating them.”

And for an extra-special touch: add a pumpkin-shaped candy atop the roof to celebrate the famous McGraw Tower gourd!

Step 1: Gather your equipment

You’ll need: a mixer, a large bowl, a cookie sheet, plastic wrap, parchment paper (optional, for rolling out dough), a paring knife, an Exacto knife (optional, for more precise cuts), and a piping bag with tips.

(Note: While a stand mixer with its paddle attachment is ideal for this large amount of heavy dough, it's not essential—and if you don’t have a piping bag, you can improvise by snipping a small corner piece off a plastic bag.)

Step 2: Make and chill the dough

Make the dough according to the recipe, which can be found at the bottom of this page, or downloaded for printing here:

Gingerbread recipe

When your dough is completed, wrap it well in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least four hours.

Step 3: Cut out shapes and bake

Download and print the two-page template for the gingerbread pieces, then cut out the shapes. To complete the piece for the tower sides, tape the two parts together as instructed.

Roll out the dough to about a quarter-inch thickness. If you have parchment paper, roll the dough out between two sheets; it helps keep it from sticking and allows you to use less flour.

Place the template pieces on the rolled-out dough and lightly trace the shapes; refer to the template for how many copies of each shape are required.

(We recommend tracing the larger pieces first—and making extras in case of breakage. You can always eat them!)

Once you have all the pieces traced out, cut the shapes with a paring knife or— for better precision and control—an Exacto knife.

(Tip: if you have a one-inch round cookie cutter, you can use it to cut out the clockfaces.)

Bake the gingerbread following the recipe directions, noting that the smaller pieces will bake more quickly than the larger ones.

Step 4: Make the royal icing—and assemble!

Make the icing—which will serve as the mortar keeping your tower together—according to the recipe, which can be found at the bottom of this page, or downloaded for printing here:

Royal Icing recipe

Put the icing in a piping bag (or a plastic bag with a small corner cut off).

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Lay out the base piece and pipe a 2.5-inch square frame of icing in the center. Then stand up two sides of the tower in the icing—an extra pair of hands will really help here—and pipe a line of icing along the edge where they meet.

Put gentle pressure on the pieces while gluing—and take your time!

Pipe a line of icing along the long edge of a third tower piece and connect it to an open side of the standing pieces. Repeat with the fourth tower piece, piping icing along both long sides.

Follow the above process to assemble the four pieces of the roof and attach it to the sides, then attach the eight window pieces to the sides according to the diagram on the template.

Step 5: Add accents and clean up edges

Using a fine tip on the piping bag or a sandwich bag with a small hole cut out of the corner, draw the shapes of the arched openings just below the roof and put dots (representing numbers) and hands on the clockfaces.

(Note: the arches can be filled in later with a darker color—and both these and the clocks can instead be decorated with candies and other elements if you prefer.)

After letting the icing dry for at least several hours, clean up any excess “glue” or uneven edges by carefully scraping with a knife.

Step 6: Decorate!

The decorations shown here are just suggestions (aside, perhaps, from the strongly recommended candy-corn pumpkin).

Use gummy bears, marshmallows, candy canes, sprinkles, and more. Royal icing can also be used at the tower base as snow cover.

For the roof, sprinkle dark-colored sugar atop a layer of icing to simulate the slate.

And for maximum effect, illuminate your masterpiece with a small string of LEDs!

See below for the gingerbread and royal icing recipes. Note: Chef Joe stresses that ideally, ingredients should be measured by weight (grams or ounces), not volume. But since not all home chefs have baking scales, we're including volume measurements as well.

Gingerbread

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugars, shortening, baking soda, salt, and molasses. Add eggs in three stages until well incorporated, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Add flour and spices and mix well, again scraping down the bowl as you go. Remove dough and wrap well in plastic wrap before chilling for a minimum of four hours.

Roll dough out to about a quarter inch and cut out desired shapes. Place larger pieces on one cookie sheet and smaller pieces on another.

Bake smaller pieces at 350 °F for about 8 minutes and larger ones for up to 12 minutes, checking frequently to avoid burning.

Royal Icing

Ingredients

2 large eggs, whites only (60 g. / 2 oz.)

3 c. powdered (confectioners’) sugar (360 g. / 12.75 oz.)

¼ tsp. cream of tartar

Gradually add remaining powdered sugar, beating on low speed and scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Increase speed to high and continue to beat mixture until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes.

(Note: This recipe creates the ideal consistency for the icing to act as glue; if you’d like to decorate cookies with it, you can thin it out with water and add food coloring.)

Top: Joe Boko at work on the tower in the Cornell Club kitchen. (All photos and video by Joe Wilensky / Cornell University, unless otherwise indicated.)

Published December 10, 2024

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