Every year in December since the kids were little, we've made gingerbread houses. I've always been afraid to try making the gingerbread house pieces from scratch, so we've used boxes coated with cheap canned frosting with graham crackers as siding. Once this structure and the roof was dry, the kids would spread more cheap frosting on the graham crackers and decorate with frosting.
It's been a fun family activity for many, many years.
Photo circa 2005
Last year, no one wanted to make gingerbread houses, except Melissa.
Sad, I know.
She had a chance to make a house at a gingerbread-house-building party at a friend's house.
This year, before the puppy, I had the bright idea to finally bite the bullet and conquer my fears. I would venture into unknown confectionary territory and attempt the seemingly impossible.
Yes, that's right.
I would bake my own gingerbread house pieces.
I found a recipe and templates on the internet and really, the whole was remarkably easy. Michael mixed up the frosting "cement" and helped assemble the houses. I rarely let the kids eat their houses in the past, they were just too gross and dusty by the time Christmas was over. Perhaps it was the lure of the unknown, or the promise that they could eat them, that coaxed Zach and Sarah into the gingerbread building-boom.
It turned out to be remarkably easy and, I think, less expensive than the no-bake method I used to use. It was especially fun to make "stained glass windows" by chopping, arranging and melting Lifesavers.
The houses turned out great.
So far, Zach is the only one who's been nibbling on his house. The girls might follow "tradition" and put theirs out on the porch for the squirrels.
1 comment:
The stained glass windows from lifesavers are so pretty! I love all the colors. Would you believe, I've never made a gingerbread house, either boxed or scratch.... what kind of recipe did you use? Is "house-building gingerbread" different from gingerbread cookies?
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