Traditions of Christmas ~ Mini Gingerbread Houses

  Many years ago, baking cookies and making a gingerbread house before Christmas became one of our family traditions. The gingerbread houses didn't happen every year, but at some point, all eight of our kids had a turn at decorating a house with candy. 

  I still have the gingerbread house kit that I made over twenty-five years ago! It's not pretty, but it had everything we needed: the recipe for gingerbread, the recipe for icing, and even cardboard cutouts to trace out the parts of the house, as well as a paper pattern, in case I needed to make another set.

 The problem with these houses was that by the time the kids tried to eat them, the gingerbread was hard enough to break your teeth. One year, we took our house to a Christmas party. One of the young guys there thought he would karate chop the house to break it apart....he just about broke his hand! Gingerbread houses make a beautiful centrepiece, but it's a lot of work and expense to put into something that will probably end up in the trash.

One of the many houses we made over the years...about 2001

  A few years ago, I decided to try something new...individual candy houses made with graham wafers. We were having the whole family home for Christmas, so we needed a lot of mini houses! Thankfully, I had help from Danny. We built them all a few days before decorating day and kept them wrapped in plastic to keep them fresh.

All ready for our family gathering.

Tada! Decorating all done!

  We made a few houses again this year so that we could show you the step by step instructions. It was a day off school, and a fun way to spend time with Danica and three of my grandkids. Danny helped me out again with the house construction. He's always wanted to build his own Tiny House....I'm not sure this is quite what he had in mind!

Materials Required:

Graham Wafers
Royal Icing

Candy
Sprinkles
Optional:
      Pretzel Sticks
      Chocolate chips
      Mini marshmallows
Ice cream cones, if you want to make trees

Royal Icing Recipe and Directions:

2 egg whites
2 cups confectioners sugar
Beat egg whites at high speed until foamy.

Gradually add sugar
Beat until thickened
Add more sugar, if needed.
Icing dries very hard, 
keep covered with 
plastic wrap when not using.            

Building the Houses

We used cans to support the walls until the icing hardened.

If you don't have applicators, 

the icing can be applied with a butter knife or a small plastic bag.

 You can use small cans or jars to support the walls until the icing has hardened.

Ready To Decorate

A smaller building project this time.

Another construction project complete!

Smile for the camera everyone!

Instructional video 

I hope you enjoyed our little construction project...we sure did!

                         

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