If you’ve ever made cut-out cookies, you can make a gingerbread house from scratch. Did your cottage from a kit collapse like a house of cards?
Homemade royal icing is easy to make and a better cookie caulk than the stuff that comes pre-packaged. And nothing smells better at Christmastime than gingerbread in the oven. While it is possible to make your house in one crazy day, I recommend giving yourself several days or evenings. Spend an hour or less each evening for a week and end up with a sturdy, adorable building that will make a great Christmas centerpiece.
The first December that I decided to make a gingerbread house, my husband, ever the optimist, wanted a replica of our home. He spent hours making a cardboard pattern of our 100-year-old, much-added-onto Craftsman. It had 16 pieces, many of them tiny and oddly shaped. We saved that for another year and instead made a building with four walls and two roof pieces. That’s what I recommend for a first project: A simple, four-walled cottage. You can still bling it up with plenty of candy doodads and frosting. Things you will need, besides the obvious measuring cups and spoons, spatula, etc.:
|
