Gingerbread houses are pretty, but if you're making a biscuity homage to a structure, might as well choose something that more specifically suits your interest. Unless your pop culture interest is the Gingerbread Man from Shrek, taking a liberal approach to the idea of a gingerbread house is more fun for constructing a meaningful edible treat.
People from Sweden to California are thinking outside the molasses-flavored box and sharing gingerbread creations made to look like their favorite things:
Ginger-Barad-Dûr
If you've ever wondered what they Eye of Sauron looks like in holiday treat form, now you know. Finnish engineering and computer science students constructed the elaborate 3-foot tribute to the Lord of the Rings' menacing land with 13.5 pounds of gingerbread dough.
Optimus Prime
A Norwegian woman won almost $6500 last year for this detailed recreation of a wise car-alien.
Smaug
The same Norwegian woman behind ginger-Optimus Prime, Caroline Erikkson, made a meticulous version of Smaug from The Hobbit this year, and once again, her ornate presentation is killer. Eat this thing before it eats you first!!
The Iron Throne
Twitter user @amawestergren had the right idea when she made this tribute to George R.R. Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire series and the show it inspired, HBO's Game of Thrones. No one sits safely on the Iron Throne. That's why you should EAT the throne. Problem solved. We should eat all our threats. We will be fat and powerful.
AT-AT Walker
This deviantART creation makes the scary walking robots from Star Wars look both terrifying and delicious.
And it's not the only one:
Starship Enterprise
As the Daily Dot pointed out, the Blackmarket Bakery in Costa Mesa, California, is also home to one impressive gingerbread recreation of the Starship Enterprise. My only concern is that it appears they have used Tic Tacs to decorate, which would taste like minty ass. We can't all be perfect, though. That's a free Christmas lesson for you.
Windows Computer
This is a different brand of nerdy than the other options but if you want to make a recreation of a Windows laptop on YOUR HOLIDAY then damn it, go right ahead.
I have not been able to find gingerbread versions of Special Agent Fox Mulder and Special Agent Dana Scully, which seems like a bizarre oversight in the gingergeek community. If you locate any images of such a delightful creation please drop them in the comments and warm a blogger's bones this holiday season.