On some list, somewhere, I knew I wanted to make a gingerbread house this Christmastime. I kept putting it off on weekends past, to snuggle on the sofa and read blogs and watch TV shows. But this past weekend, a friend wanted to catch up, and so I decided we could build our first ever gingerbread house. Come on, two engineers, what could be better? (Answer: two civil or structural engineers! Electrical engineers aren’t ideal).
Let’s start with making the pieces, from this template:
I didn’t use the recipe attached to the above template, instead using this, but adding all spice and nutmeg that other recipes mentioned. I also decided against the window, as I didn’t have boiled lollies on hand for the cooking.
While they cooled, we headed to the shops for decorations:
From directions elsewhere, we decorated before constructing. I think if kids were decorating, you’d want to build it first, cause construction is slow.
Here’s the start of construction:
We were worried it wouldn’t hold together when we put the first roof panel on, so we did some temporary bracing (in Christmas colours!)
One of the roof panels was a little thick and not cooked to a crisp (which I prefer). So we decided on some structural reinforcements!
After a date night to the movies, I put the last roof panel on, to dry overnight:
Sadly, the first roof panel we put on slipped a bit, and stuck lower than intended. Or we wanted a row of light to enter the house, and did this intentionally, you decide?
All this, right off the bat from making a candy cane wreath on Thursday night, remember?
I’m so chuffed with our house! I’m not sure what to do with it now though! I am thinking of taking it to show at Sunday School’s Christmas party, but as to who gets to finally deconstruct it and eat it… I don’t know… Any winning thoughts?
It looks great 🙂 My sister made gingerbread houses for Christmas a few years ago, so I know how difficult it can be to stick them together. We always had trouble eating them up too, because it's a lot of gingerbread, so usually passed them on to our younger cousins.
You're right it's a lot of gingerbread, if we keep it for ourselves, I'm sure there's a time I'll come to dislike gingerbread! Sadly, I don't have many younger cousins anymore.
You did a great job! I have seen a lot of gingerbread house kits in the stores. (The gingerbread is pre-made so you just decorate). I haven't made any myself but I know it's hard to keep them together – the engineering skills surely helped!
I saw a kit for $10, which would have been decidedly cheaper (but probably sub par lollies!). I feel great that I DIYed all of those. All I know is that egg white + sugar is slippery, but when it sticks, it's like glue. It's the patience no one mentioned in the recipe that I forget to stock up on!
How awesome is it to make a real Gingerbread House! They are so much fun. Yours looks gorgeous! Do you have an extended family Christmas you could take it to? We did that one year and I was amazed at the reaction from the kids. They loved it (and loved breaking it up as well!)
Oh I am hoping for awe and amazement with my house, that's for sure. I would probably do best to let the kids at Sunday School demolish it, best crowd I'm going to get. We do have an extended Christmas, but I'm not sure how many people, or how big it'll be… Thinking thinking…
That is so cute and tempting. All those lollies. Yum!
I've never made one. I am definitely lacking in patience so think this is an edible decoration I will never master. Hansel and Gretel was one of my favourite fairy tales. So spooky.
I'm more tempted by the royal icing and the gingerbread than the lollies, weirdly!
Hansel and Gretel is true enough – there were crumbs from one end of the kitchen to the other!
Adorable! Your decorating is perfect 🙂
Bless you Amanda, you are such a kind woman!
That is so cute! This brings back memories of when I made mine in school. It was really difficult not to eat the house and decorations before putting it together. Great job!
Wow you made yours in school?
I did eat a lot of dough, and a fair few lollies – though lucky I didn't have a taste for the roof 'tiles' as I only *just* had enough (actually, one half one went on last, thankfully on a 'curled' corner that wouldn't have worked with a whole one).