You’ve bought the $7.99 Halloween Gingerbread kit from your neighborhood grocery store- it looks easy, but is it really? The answer is simple if you build it before you decorate it with your kids it is easy and fun.
However, if you attempt to decorate the house right after you build it prepare for children melt downs! A gingerbread cookie is an incredibly stable cookie to hang pounds of icing and candies, but you have to make sure the house is together long before you start hanging the decorations.
Need more help? Start with two sides and pipe a load of frosting on the bottom and sides of the gingerbread cookies. Anchor the bottoms on the board or cookie base and connect the two sides and allow them to set for 3-5 minutes. The frosting will get tacky and begin to harden. Move on to the next two side of the house and again ice the bottoms and connect the sides to the previous sides. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. This is very important- make sure to re-ice all four side seams in order to really stick it together and make it solid. Once all sides are frosted let it sit for 20 minutes.
Moving onto the roof: frost the roof frame outline on the base of the house and then place the two roof pieces on top. Then use your frosting and pipe the peak of the house and any joints that you see that will help hold the house together. Now we wait again. Terrible I know…but compared to screaming children this hour of prep will save you hours of frustration.
Good luck and have fun!
