After posting the definitive gingerbread house makings, it occurred to me that  some of you might like to have the recipe to make your own royal icing.  Especially if you live in a small town, you might not be able to find it prepackaged in a cake decorating aisle. I have found it in Hobby Lobby and Wal Mart. I looked up the article in my ancient Wilton cake decorating book, ( I thoroughly burned myself out on this with the boys’ birthday cakes, so I don’t do it anymore, but I still have my books!)

The Reason For Royal Icing on a Gingerbread House

According to Wilton, (the experts on icing,) the reason cake decorators use royal icing is because it is a smooth, hard drying, fast drying edible icing.The icing will last for months. It is recommended for making decorations, (or as in our case, using as a mortar for gingerbread houses!) It is not used to ice an entire cake as it would make it really hard.  This recipe is also good for decorating cookies in some instances.

Royal Icing Recipe for a Christmas Gingerbread House

First make sure that your utensils, beaters, and bowl are totally grease or oil free, as oil makes royal icing break down.

3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder

1 lb (4 cups) confectioner’s sugar

6 Tablespoons warm water (for stiffer icing, use one Tablespoon less water.)

Beat all ingredients until icing peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand held mixer.)

Makes 3 cups.

For more info on cake decorating in general, and tips on filling your bags, etc. check out the Wilton site.

If you were to ask my kids what their favorite Christmastime activity was, the annual gingerbread house raising would win hands down.  I have a long love/hate relationship with gingerbread houses. I started off buying a kit at the cake decorating shop. Then I realized that all that was in it were some giant cookie cutter deals that you were supposed to make your walls with. I took the kit back and began my journey for the perfect gingerbread house. I will not share all of my failures, (including the fact that most kids hate the way gingerbread tastes!) I will share with you the perfect way to make gingerbread houses.

The Perfect Gingerbread House

Ingredients: graham crackers, hot glue gun, cardboard base, Royal cake icing, icing bag for each child, “decorations” for houses, such as: christmas hard candy, marshmallows, gumdrops, mints, chocolate chips, any small candy your kids like.

The best thing I have found to construct your houses with is graham crackers. (Who wants to fool with all of that baking and crumbly-ness of real cookies?) Get plenty. I love giving each child his or her own square of cardboard with his or her own little cottage to decorate. I found that it works best to hot glue the houses together the night before the decorating session. That way small children are not handling a glue gun. Believe me, the part they really care about is decorating (and eating!) the candy.

How to Build the Gingerbread Houses

For most children, a simple construction of 5 graham crackers works fine. Start by making a box out of three graham crackers. Cut one of the whole crackers in half to use as the sides of the house. Use one whole cracker for the front. Stand it up on end and run hot glue all the way down one edge. Stick a half graham cracker piece onto this at a 90 degree angle. Then run hot glue down the other edge of the half-cracker and stick another whole graham cracker to this. You should now have the front, back, and one side of your house complete. Run glue down the edges of the other half-cracker, and stick this on to the blank spot at the other end of the house. Now you should have a box.  For the roof, glue two whole crackers together in an “A” shape. Glue on to top for the roof.  Reinforce as necessary with hot glue, crackers, etc. until your house seems stable.

Decorating Your Gingerbread House

Now comes the fun part! Mix up royal cake icing according to directions. (You can also buy ready made royal icing in cake decorating aisles, if you prefer, but it is easy to mix up.) The reason you should use royal icing as opposed to other, is that royal icing gets hard. It is what  cake decorators use to make flowers and heavy decorations with. Royal icing will hold up the heavy candy on the house, regular icing is too soft.

Fix a small icing bag with a large cake decorating tip for each child to use for his decoration “glue”.  Experience has taught me that having one for each child makes the entire experience much more fun. The children are so excited about decorating their houses that they can get easily frustrated if this process doesn’t move along.

Cover a table or floor area with a large plastic tablecloth.  Let the kids dump out the candies onto paper plates. Put these in the middle. If there are large pieces that are limited, (say, two candy canes each) divide these among the children now. Then stand back and watch them have a blast. Each cottage will be different. You may be surprised at how creative the kids are with their candy.

Have a Gingerbread House Raising Party

After you hone your gingerbread house skills a bit, you may feel brave enough to host a gingerbread house raising party! My boys invited friends and cousins to build houses every year. The last time we did it one of my boys was in college, and he still wanted his own house! I have also used this as part of a very fun “Happy Birthday Jesus” party. I hope that you and your kids have as much fun as we did building Christmas gingerbread houses.