When we were younger, our family would get together with another family and make gingerbread houses. I had a lot of fun, especially exploring the house of the other family, and playing with her Fisher Price record player.
My father, being an engineer, took the entire enterprise very seriously. We didn't have "royal icing", we had "mortar". We didn't merely make gingerbread houses, we constructed them. Dad had all sorts of techniques to bring his houses to a higher standard:
Ella, Amanda and Luke, and friends, recently made a gingerbread house. Since Amanda has allergies, we made vegan gingerbread, which turned out very well. The only problem was that I used this pattern for the house, and it made enough for at least two more houses than I was willing to make. The kids made cookies, and lots of "schniblets" were eaten, but there is still a log of gingerbread in my fridge somewhere. One nice thing about cooking vegan style is that there is no danger of salmonella from the raw dough. I personally don't like gingerbread cookies to eat, but Luke and Ella ate a few.
There is no satisfying vegan substitute for royal icing made with egg white. We just used icing from a can, which creates problems during construction. I used my dad's paper hinges (although I forgot exactly where they were supposed to be attached) but the icing didn't dry fast enough, and when it dried, it wasn't very strong. Poor Luke wailed every time the house fell down!
We then tried duct tape (it has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together) but it didn't stick, making gingerbread one of the few things I know of that duct tape doesn't stick to. We ended up using carpenter's glue, along with lots of temporary support structure, and it set up nicely overnight. The gingerbread is not the part of the house that gets eaten, anyway.
We also had to use Amanda safe candies, which included gummy lifesavers, starburst, Christmas dots (they were lime/vanilla, or cherry/vanilla, and were my favorite), honey wheat pretzels twists, and candy canes. I believe that the kids were going for the "most candy used on a single gingerbread house" award, and made a garden of smarties, a river with smartie fish, and many "peep snowmen". One other innovation that I feel my father would approve of is the spray frosting: just put a nozzle on the can, aim and apply the precise amount of frosting needed in the correct spot.
As kids, we didn't get to eat any of the candy until Epiphany, January 6. Even then we only got one piece per day (although more must have been eaten, or the houses would have lasted until Easter). This year, our kids have helped themselves freely (with permission) and the house is pretty well demolished already. Maybe we can have more restraint next year.
My father, being an engineer, took the entire enterprise very seriously. We didn't have "royal icing", we had "mortar". We didn't merely make gingerbread houses, we constructed them. Dad had all sorts of techniques to bring his houses to a higher standard:
- Instead of cutting out pieces on the counter and moving them to the cookie sheet (which can warp the pieces) or even cutting out the pieces on the cookie sheet, we would bake a big sheet of dough and then cut out the pieces when the dough was still soft and warm. Of course the pieces had been arranged so as to waste the smallest possible amount of dough.
- We always used a pizza cutter to cut out the pieces and make nice straight cuts.
- When assembling the house, use paper "hinges" in the joints. Gluing the hinges to the house, instead of loading up tons of frosting to hold them together, makes the structure very strong.
- The thicker the mortar, the longer it takes to dry. Since egg whites make such good glue, a surprisingly small amount of mortar is sufficient, and then it dries much faster.
Ella, Amanda and Luke, and friends, recently made a gingerbread house. Since Amanda has allergies, we made vegan gingerbread, which turned out very well. The only problem was that I used this pattern for the house, and it made enough for at least two more houses than I was willing to make. The kids made cookies, and lots of "schniblets" were eaten, but there is still a log of gingerbread in my fridge somewhere. One nice thing about cooking vegan style is that there is no danger of salmonella from the raw dough. I personally don't like gingerbread cookies to eat, but Luke and Ella ate a few.
There is no satisfying vegan substitute for royal icing made with egg white. We just used icing from a can, which creates problems during construction. I used my dad's paper hinges (although I forgot exactly where they were supposed to be attached) but the icing didn't dry fast enough, and when it dried, it wasn't very strong. Poor Luke wailed every time the house fell down!
We then tried duct tape (it has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together) but it didn't stick, making gingerbread one of the few things I know of that duct tape doesn't stick to. We ended up using carpenter's glue, along with lots of temporary support structure, and it set up nicely overnight. The gingerbread is not the part of the house that gets eaten, anyway.
We also had to use Amanda safe candies, which included gummy lifesavers, starburst, Christmas dots (they were lime/vanilla, or cherry/vanilla, and were my favorite), honey wheat pretzels twists, and candy canes. I believe that the kids were going for the "most candy used on a single gingerbread house" award, and made a garden of smarties, a river with smartie fish, and many "peep snowmen". One other innovation that I feel my father would approve of is the spray frosting: just put a nozzle on the can, aim and apply the precise amount of frosting needed in the correct spot.
As kids, we didn't get to eat any of the candy until Epiphany, January 6. Even then we only got one piece per day (although more must have been eaten, or the houses would have lasted until Easter). This year, our kids have helped themselves freely (with permission) and the house is pretty well demolished already. Maybe we can have more restraint next year.
Comments
Our system differed from yours in a couple of crucial respects, though:
1. We would cut the shapes out before baking, but after baking, we'd place the patterns back on the pieces and cut off all of the parts that had spread out-of-bounds.
2. The glue! Icing? Not strong enough! Paper?! Heresy (unless it's edible). We would melt sugar and use the melted sugar as glue. Have you ever done it that way? It hardens super strong! It also makes the whole procedure more dangerous (hence exciting!). What's a gingerbread-house making party without a few burn-injuries? ;)