Gingerbread House

• Here's what you'll need to decorate an assembled gingerbread house: Candy decorations. Unwrap all candy (except foil-wrapped) and place each type in a seaprate bowl. You don't want to be stuck unwrapping a candy cane while the royal icing begins to harden.

• Use an oatmeal box or something tall to set the house on while decorating. You have to stand to assemble a gingerbread house, but when decorating a gingerbread house, sit down with the house at eye level.
• Candy decorations. Unwrap all candy (except foil-wrapped) and place each type in a seaprate bowl. You don't want to be stuck unwrapping a candy cane while the royal icing begins to harden.

• Use an oatmeal box or something tall to set the house on while decorating. You have to stand to assemble a gingerbread house, but when decorating a gingerbread house, sit down with the house at eye level.

• Decorating Ideas Foil-wrapped Santas, snowmen, toy soldiers, medallions, bells



• For shutters -- wafer cookies, Andes Mints, mini candy bars, sticks of gum

• For roofs -- nonpareils, gum drops, vanilla wafers, mini cookies, Necco Wafers, mini frosted Shredded Wheat

• For fences -- chocolate-covered pretzels, regular mini pretzels, mini cookies, mini teddy grahamas, mini gingerbread men, candy canes, Star Brite mints

• For an ice skating pond -- blue mints micorwaved on parchment paper until they melt

• For trees and bushes -- green leaves

• Snow -- confectioners' sugar or edible glitter (available at cake supply stores)

• Pile of logs -- mini Tootsie Rolls
• After your candy decorations are at the ready, fill a pastry bag with royal icing. Follow these steps for filling a pastry bag. Keep the pastry bag tip covered with a damp (but not wringing wet) paper towel at all times when not in use, otherwise the icing will harden like cement. If your royal icing has sat awhile and is too goopy, rewhip it to the right consistency.
• These are all merely suggestions. Beauty is in the mind of the beholder and letting your creativity run wild is so satisfying. Take these in the spirit they're given.

• I like to start decorating a gingerbread house by covering the seams with candies. They hide a multitude of flaws.

• Then, I add spearmint leaves for shrubbery at all four corners. If your green leaves are thick, cut them in half with utility scissors.

• Next, I move on to the front door. I use a whole allspice or juniper berry from my pickling spices for a door knob. I add unwrapped Andes mints for steps, peppermint railings and half a cookie as a flourish above the door.

• I embellish the gable sides with windows and shutters and more decorations. Don't worry if the icing droops a little. The naive look is in! But do keep your hands clean at all times to avoid unsightly fingerprints.
• There's a lot of territory to cover on the back of the gingerbread house, so let your imagination run wild. Anything goes. The kids I decorated this house with think more candy is better. So if it turns out looking a little garish
• Begin to cover the gingerbread house base with royal icing snow and more candies, continuing around all four sides.
• Lay down a few beads of royal icing horizontally on the roof. Apply the roofing material of choice -- cookies, gum drops, mini Shredded Wheat. The sky's the limit.
• Continue to lay down two or three beads of icing and applying roofing material. Repeat on the opposite side.
• An unlacquered gingerbread house can last for months. Remember, if you use the structural gingerbread house dough recipe, the cake will be hard and is not meant for eating, but the candy will last from October to January.

• You can preserve your gingerbread house creation for years by spraying it with clear acrylic. Make sure you do this in a well-ventilated area and with cardboard behind it to catch the sprays. Let it dry completely and give it another coat. When it's completely dry, you can store it in a box that just fits. You don't want it to have too much room to wobble around.

• When you take it out next year, remember to keep it high out of reach of little hands, because, at this point, none of it is edible! Let the adults know, too!