By Joe Wilensky<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2019Tis the season for building gingerbread houses\u2014but why not show your Big Red pride by making one in the shape of McGraw Tower? For years, the Cornell Club\u2013New York<\/a>\u2014which is always festooned with d\u00e9cor evoking the Ithaca campus\u2014has celebrated the holiday season with a large gingerbread version of McGraw Tower and Uris Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u201csnowy\u201d via a layer of frosted-wheat cereal.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, the club\u2019s talented culinary staff partnered with Cornellians<\/em> to size down the creation into a freestanding McGraw Tower that you can easily make in a home kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very simple recipe,\u201d notes Joe Boko, executive chef at the Midtown Manhattan club. \u201cAll we do for building and stability purposes is add a little bit more flour than a regular gingerbread cookie recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/FullSizeRender-A-1024x576.jpg\")