A Love Affair with Gingerbread

I have a little secret I have yet to share with the blogging world.  It may be a little strange and make me seem like an old lady but here I go, I am going to confess..... I have an obsession with gingerbread. To be more specific, gingerbread pieces glued together with icing to form a house. Wow, what a load of my mind to finally have that out in the open! Now we can get down to business.

Tonight as I was searching online for pictures of cute houses that I could replicate for my gingerbread house this year it dawned on me, I want to share what I have learned about gingerbread houses the past few years with all of you! It is November 16th and I feel I am running a little behind schedule to get this gingerbread house done in time for the beginning of the Christmas season. I first attempted a gingerbread house 5 years ago and I immediately fell in love with every aspect of building one. I have made one each year since and I learn so much with each one.

In this post I will share a little about each of the gingerbread houses I have made.  For detailed instructions and recipes go to this post.

Year One:

 I started with a very basic shape. It only took a couple of days from start to finish but I was so excited to make another, more complex house...

Year Two:

 So excited in fact that I couldn't wait until the next christmas so I made this haunted halloween house. This house was a ton of fun but after spending so much energy on it I was completely burnt out and didn't make a Christmas one that year! Which is the reason I have only made Christmas houses since.

This was my first attempt at "sugar glass" windows. I didn't get the outcome I wanted until just last year. Hopefully my instructions will help you make it work more easily.



 The pumpkins, tombstone, and noose are marzipan and the grass is coconut dyed with food coloring.











I places a flickering light inside the house to turn on at night. Spooky!















Year Three:

 This house was a monster! I think all of the houses photograph a little small but you really cannot tell how huge this one really was.  At about 40 inches it was taking up half of our dining table!

The windows are a little better but still not totally transparent.

It is lit with a string of white Christmas lights places inside.

Year 4:

This is my most recent house. It was the first time I "painted" the house with icing and I absolutely loved it!
The "glass" windows turned out perfectly so you are able to see the Christmas tree in the front window.

You may have noticed that I have a thing for pretzel fences, licorice nib bricks, and cereal roof shingles. What can I say, I know what I like. Unless I find something I think works better you will most likely see all of those things on my gingerbread house this year.

Those are the 4 house I have completed and I can't wait to get working on a 5th!

I hope I have gotten some of you excited to try making your own gingerbread house this year! I am happy to answer any questions.

-Chloe



********UPDATE!********


Christmas at The von Trapp's

For my 5th house I decided to replicate the home of the von Trapps in the movie The Sound of Music.  This was the first time I made a replica of a real house and it proved to be lots of fun getting all the details right.

Everything (except the interior lights) is edible.  The structure is gingerbread that has been "painted" with royal icing. The front door and surround are marzipan, the white trim is fondant, the roof tiles are made out of Bid Red gum, and the wreath and garland are made out of royal icing.