Another one from pre-Christmas, I keep finding more photos! I'll be happy once I have everything set up properly so they aren't all over the place.
The first gingerbread house I remember was one that my mom made me for my birthday, I was maybe 9? She made it all from scratch and tells the tale of what a pain in the butt it was to construct, first she'd get the side up then the roof would collapse, then the roof would be on and a side would fall off!
This would have all been done is secret so I can only image what kind of language was being used! She did eventually get it made and filled it with sweets then decorated it like the house in Hansel and Gretel, it looked great but...
The gingerbread was that hard that no one could eat it, we just picked off the sweeties. The gingerbread got put out for the birds but no even they would touch it (I suspect there were several birds with dented beaks thanks to it!)
Making a gingerbread house for Christmas was never really a tradition we had at home but I'm always happy to try out something new! We have made them in the past, using graham crackers worked quite well. This year I picked up a kit when I was in Ikea, I had thought about making the gingerbread, for about 2 micro seconds, then I came to my senses!
I helped with the construction, you really do need a second pair hands, then Ebi-kun took over when it came to decorating...
He amazes me, there were very few sweeties eaten during construction phase except for the new ones he hadn't had before and wanted to try, so he had just one of each!
Looked great and the best bit, it smelt great, I think we will have to get one of these kits every year just because the smell was so good!
The house is pretty much demolished now, he took it out to share with his friends, it came back in one piece but missing all the sweeties!
Is building a gingerbread house something you do? Do you make it from scratch or use a kit?
I have built one before using ice-cream sticks as the base. I then paste malt biscuits (they are much stiffer) onto them using edible glue or peanut butter. The gingerbread house will not fall off or crumble because of the strong foundation of the ice-cream sticks. Hence, any removal of the candies above will not affect the malt biscuits (which are edible too).
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