Johanna Rosson cooked with Paula Deen and threw down with Bobby Flay to earn her crown as the gingerbread queen

HOLIDAY | CHERYL V. JACKSON

Johanna Rosson’s decorating skills are sweet. Rosson designs and builds gingerbread houses – and she’s been head architect for some of the best.

In 2005, she appeared on Food Network’s “Paula’s Home Cooking.” After that, she was commissioned to make a special replica of a Springfield, IL., train depot to be displayed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum.

All this exposure attracted the attention of Bobby Flay, who (unwisely) decided to challenge her to a gingerbread battle on Food Network’s “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” Needless to say, the gingerbread queen held on to her crown.

In a typical year, construction season for Rosson begins around midsummer, when many of the magazines she works with are completing their holiday issues.

“Whenever I make the first gingerbread house of the season, it just brings me back to life,” Rosson says. “I actually listen to Christmas music to get myself into it. Last year, when I was working on a house, my air conditioning went out – and it was more than 100 degrees outside!” Her busiest season has seen her build about 50 houses. “There was an eight-year period where I didn’t sleep at all during the fall,” says Rosson, who works in marketing at Fort Hood, Texas, where her family is stationed.

Rosson’s culinary foundation was laid early on, as she was growing up in Illinois. “I’ve always baked. I baked with my grandmother and my mother. It was a part of at least every week – almost daily,” she says.

She married at 19 and her husband, Steve, immediately entered the military. With that, she began moving about with the Army officer. He is currently serving in Afghanistan.