Make Gingerbread Houses Using Graham Crackers

Gingerbread houses are a fantastic Christmas tradition that the whole family can help make. Some of the work is fiddly, but young hands can definitely add the decorative elements. Make ahead and put it out on the table or in a decorative corner for Christmas Day.

Preparation

 * 1) [[Image:Things_you_will_need_158.JPG|thumb|Work space preparation.]]Collect all of your needed materials into a well lit work area.
 * 2) Protect any surfaces that you don't want crushed candy or icing on. Cheap vinyl table cloths work well, as does newspaper.
 * 3) Set out the various candies into bowls. This saves the hassle of opening bags of candy with sticky fingers later.
 * 4) Place your pie tin upside down in front of you.
 * 5) Make the Royal Icing. Aim for a consistency of stiff peanut butter.
 * 6) [[Image:Icing_5_26.JPG|thumb|Spoon icing onto freezer bags.]]Place large spoonfuls of the Royal Icing into quart-size zipper style freezer bags. Avoid regular thickness sandwich bags, because the plastic is too thin and will not hold up to the punishment of being used as a pastry tube.  Approximately one cup of icing per bag is sufficient.
 * 7) [[Image:Icing_6_949.JPG|thumb|Close the bag and squeeze the icing into one corner.]]Close the bags.
 * 8) [[Image:Icing_7_234.JPG|thumb|Clip the corner.]]Snip off a 1/4 inch of one corner of the icing filled bag. You now have an "icing tube".  Squeeze the icing toward the snipped corner and use it to dispense a bead of icing where you want it.

Assembly

 * 1) Prepare your gingerbread house pieces by:
 * 2) [[Image:Walls_1_616.JPG|thumb|You need six whole, unbroken graham crackers.]]Count out six whole, uncracked, unseparated, unbroken crackers and set four of them aside to form the roof and two long sides of your house.
 * 3) [[Image:Walls_2_398.JPG|thumb|Cut the gable ends.]][[Image:Walls_4_126.JPG|thumb|Cut the gable ends...]]Cut your two remaining crackers to form end gable pieces. Use a gentle "sawing" motion with a serrated knife.  Use the short end of a cracker to measure the angled line from the center of the long side to the center line of the cracker.
 * 4) Repeat for the second gable end.
 * 5) [[Image:Assemble_1_986.JPG|thumb|Place the gable end near the edge of the pie tin.]]Squeeze a bead of icing along the square edges of a gable end.
 * 6) Place the bottom of the gable end near one edge of your pie tin.
 * 7) [[Image:Assemble_2_635.JPG|thumb|Ice up the wall...]]Squeeze a bead of icing down the two short sides of a long cracker and along its bottom edge. Note: you don't want a bead on the short edges; you want your bead on the flat, slightly IN from the edge, so that the side wall cracker will overlap the gable end cracker slightly at the corners.  This will make a much more stable corner.
 * 8) [[Image:Assemble_3_62.JPG|thumb|Attach the first wall perpendicular to the gable end.]]Place the long edge of the wall cracker perpendicular to the base edge of the gable end cracker.
 * 9) [[Image:Assemble_5_501.JPG|thumb|Second gable end placed. Note the overlap at the corners.]]Stick the side edge of the gable end cracker to the bead of icing on the flat side of the wall cracker.  The walls should hold each other up.
 * 10) *Note: If your icing is too runny, this will not work. If the icing does not behave like putty at this point, you will need to either add more powdered sugar to it or just start over again and make an icing of thicker consistency.
 * 11) [[Image:Assemble_6_46.JPG|thumb|Last wall going on.]]Add the other gable end and wall in the same manner, and use a bead of icing along the bottom to stick it to the pie tin. Also use a bead of icing where the two walls will join at the corners.
 * 12) [[Image:Assemble_roof_1_610.JPG|thumb|First roof piece iced.]][[Image:Assemble_roof_1b_690.JPG|thumb|First roof piece on.]][[Image:Assemble_roof_2_834.JPG|thumb|Second roof Piece iced.]][[Image:Assemble_roof_2a_633.JPG|thumb|Second roof piece on.]]Add the roof crackers in the same manner as the wall crackers, but pipe your icing on the flat of the roof, not on the edges, and then stick the flat of the roof to the top edges of the gable ends and walls.
 * 13) Allow the icing to set for 15-20 minutes before touching the house again. If you place candies on it too quickly, you risk it collapsing. (Still delicious, but it doesn't look so great.)

Decoration

 * 1) [[Image:Decorate_2_425.JPG|thumb|Shingle prep]][[Image:Decorate_3_719.JPG|thumb|Shingle placement]][[Image:Decorate_4_511.JPG|thumb|Roof Ridge]][[Image:Decorate_5_857.JPG|thumb|Door]][[Image:Decorate_7_118.JPG|thumb|Cobblestones]]Place candies on the house and pie-tin "yard" by placing a bead of icing where you want the candy and then pressing the candy gently into place. Again, the consistency of the icing will determine whether this exercise is fun or frustrating.  Too thin icing will allow the candies to slide.  Too thick, and the candy just won't stick at all.  You want a putty like consistency.  Something similar to, but slightly thicker than, peanut butter.

Examples

 * [[Image:Finished_KW_585.JPG|thumb|A 16 year old.]]A Teenaged Boy's House
 * [[Image:Finished_LW_77.JPG|thumb|Adult - On the first try.]]An Adult's house
 * [[Image:Finished_LW2_284.JPG|thumb|Another "grown up" one.]]Another Adult's version.
 * [[Image:Finished_6_yr_old_136.JPG|thumb|Six year old - did pretty well!]]A Six Year Old's house
 * [[Image:Finished_4_yr_old_968.JPG|thumb|Not bad... and it still tastes good!]]A Four Year Old's house

Tips

 * At the end of the season, keep the photos of your house, and if you want, you can make a scrapbook of what you have done, then eat it!
 * Sprinkling powdered sugar over the house and yard makes it look like it was snowing!
 * You can spray a sealant on your house to extend its life. (This prevents you from eating it too.)
 * Using a small whipping cream carton and gluing the graham crackers to the sides works well for young children so the sides or roof do not cave in.

Warnings

 * Keep it out of reach of your pets or you will find them "sampling" your house. This can be especially tragic if a little person in the house has his or her creation half eaten by the family dog!
 * Keep away from ants–they can be attracted to such a sweet temptation in warmer climes at this time of year.

Things You'll Need

 * Unbroken graham crackers
 * Christmas candies for decoration. Hard candies work best. Many softer or "gummy" candies have a release oil applied to their molds which then is retained on the surface of the candy and prevents proper sticking to your creation.
 * Disposable aluminum pie tin
 * Royal Icing–see Make Royal Icing for instructions.
 * Zipper style freezer bags. Avoid the thinner plastic bags used for sandwiches.  They will not hold up to being used as icing tubes as will the "freezer bags".

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Make Gingerbread Men Cookies
 * How to Construct a Bar out of Beverage Cans
 * How to Create Paper Mache
 * How to Build a Large Barbie House out of a Cabinet