Make A Gingerbread House Day Was Wednesday – Did You Build One

Part of the tradition and excitement of Christmas is the building of gingerbread houses. Building a good house requires three things - building materials for the walls and roof, sticky frosting to hold it together, and a lot of candy! If you haven't built one yet, there is still plenty of time to plan a gingerbread house party.

When we make gingerbread houses at the Bird house we cheat a little. We use graham crackers instead of gingerbread (you can use either) because it is easier. Graham crackers are great because the are already the right shape and universally sized so you can use a whole, half, or quarter cracker for different parts of your build.

Frosting is key to the building. If the frosting is too dry the crackers won't stick together, if it is too wet then they'll fall apart or never harden. I am sure you can buy gingerbread house frosting...but you can easily make it at home with a few ingredients.

Here is what my wife does

1 package of powdered sugar (2 lbs), 1 tsp cream of tartar, 6 egg whites (or use meringue powder so it is edible), if you use the meringue powder then add a little water as you blend it all together to get the right sticky consistency.

We also pre-build a few small houses for the little kids so they don't have to deal with construction stress - they just get to do the fun part - adding candy. Though I am pretty sure they all eat more candy then they put on the houses.

When it is all done, we put them on the china hutch and the candies magically disappear as the days go by :) Enjoy your build and send us your pictures. Merry Christmas.