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Erin
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I have never made a gingerbread house and I thought this is the year, I'm going to do it!
Can anyone give me any help, directions, recipes etc?
I know a few of you have your achievements on your blogs and I can't remember where I have read them.
Would you mind linking here if you have gingerbread house pictures up? Maybe there is somebody else out there like me who has never made a gingerbread house?
Also is there any symbolic meaning behind a GBH or is it just a fun thing to do?
Thank you
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Erin
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Maryan
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Erin -- this isn't helpful, but my instant thought was to buy a kit at Target!! 
Not at all the same thing... but I'm a box mix chef!  I'm sure others will have REAL answers.
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Maryan
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Cay Gibson
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[QUOTE=Maryan]
Not at all the same thing... QUOTE]
It isn't?!?! 
If it weren't for the boxes (which at $8-$12 a box probably cost less than trying to make it yourself), my children would never know the reality.
Here's to all us Martha Stewart wannabes.
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Cay Gibson
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Maryan
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Hear hear Cay!!
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Maryan
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folklaur
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We just got our kit a few days ago at Costso  .
Another way, fun for littles, is to use graham crackers and make mini houses....
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Maryan
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And... to be helpful... I found this link
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Maryan
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Helen
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Erin,
I was very happy with a video I took out from the library:
How to make a gingerbread house
I'm sorry to say that this library search engine didn't yield any results when I typed in Australia.
Perhaps you could find something similar in your library? The kindly woman in the video gave a recipe, made the recipe in front of us, designed the house (and gave the dimensions to make your own pattern), and assembled it. The video was very helpful.
As you can imagine, it was quite time consuming and messy. Since December is sooo busy, we've been making our gingerbread houses in March. I say it is in honor of St. Joseph and some of us can make little churches in honor of St. Joseph, the patron of the Universal Church. Here's a blog post with some pictures of the houses.
For us, March is such a nice time of year for this project. We're in the last phases of winter, no leaves on the trees, (usually suffering from homeschool burnout ) and can really appreciate this yummy, warm, wonderful smelling activity.
I've learned that I need to buy the candy in December though. At Christmas time, one can find the best decorating candy.
I'm not sure this means anything to you in Australia! I hope it does.
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Helen
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Look at this!
Alice posted about gingerbread houses in honor of Our Lady of Loreto
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wahoo92
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We have made many, many gbread houses. I have always used the recipe on the Family Fun magazine website, along with their recipe for the royal icing. I do use meringue powder rather than egg whites, for all of my little tasters. If you choose to go this route, know that you may need to purchase it at a craft store such as Michaels, unless you have a really well-stocked baking section in your grocery store. We have also gotten it at Ben Franklin's.
I do this just for fun for our family. I do not think the above recipes for the gbread or icing are the best tasting, but I do think they are both easy to work with, produce good results, and my kids are going to eat it regardless.
Some tips: Don't go much bigger than an average size shoe box unless you plan to support the roof. My husband and I were up past midnight one year trying to stick skewers under roofs that were caving in (we had planned to host six families the next day-crazy, I know).
Overbake the gbread a little, it is better for it to be a bit on the hard side.
Depending on the dynamics of your kids/guests, it may be easier to make several small houses and have each child do there own as opposed to one large house. We have done it both ways with success.
Don't skimp on candy. If your kids want to do patterns, you may need several bags of a particular type to have enough of one color.
Don't skimp on the hard icing. Put thick layers on all edges of walls and on edges that secure it to base. Little hands press hard when putting candy on. If you are running out of time (or patience) the tubs of frosting premade work fine for adhering candy to walls, but I would not use them for assembling house.
Make your roof pieces a half to an inch larger than the walls. It is much more secure if they can overlap the walls a bit. I don't know why none of the recipes ever suggest this.
Use upside down ice cream cones for trees.
I will put some pics from last years house on my blog: herdingturtles101.blogspot.com if you would like to see us in action.
Have fun. Do the house at least a day before you plan to decorate so that it can really set up completely.
Here are my posts from last year's house:
Sugarplums herdingturtles101.blogspot.com/2006/12/visions-of-sugarplums .html
Sugarplums IIherdingturtles101.blogspot.com/2006/12/sugarplums-ii.html
Sarah
herdingturtles101.blogspot.com
sorry, my links are a little cluttered. I can't seem to get them to come out without all of the info. visible. They do work though
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wahoo92
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Erin,
I just noticed that you are in Australia. Sorry, my suggestions for where to get meringue powder are likely not helpful. Here, in our area of the US, it is most often found with the gourmet baking supplies in craft supply stores or specialty cooking stores. It is sold in 4 or 8 oz. containers by the brand Wilton.
Sarah
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alicegunther
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Beautiful ideas!
And thanks so much for the mention, Helen!
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mimmyof5
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I use graham crackers and royal icing. We glue (icing) the graham crackers to a shoe box or tag board that we've put together in the shape of a small house and then decorate with lots of candies and colored cereals. I just shop the bulk food section letting the kids pick out the candy they want. We put the final product on a piece of cardboard covered with foil, more icing for snow, candy canes for lampposts, etc. Pretty easy and not too expensive.
Janet
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kingvozzo
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We use a kit of cookie cutters and bake our own. Dh's idea, not mine! I would buy a pre-made one if it were up to me . I was at a party one time where the kids made their own houses using graham crackers. They all loved the chance to do just what they wanted.
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jugglingpaynes
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We've done all sorts of cookie houses over the years. I don't think it matters to make one from scratch or from a kit. If children are involved, it's sure to be unique! We've saved Halloween candy to enhance kits.
Neat idea--for stained glass, let hard candies melt into cut out window areas. (Make sure you use enough candies so they fill the window, or else they might pop out.)
This year we're going to see if we can make a gingerbread log cabin. I'm hoping this solves the problem of broken walls. We'll see how that works out!
Peace and Laughter,
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Kristie 4
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Over the years, with many recipes, I would say the most important thing is to use STICKY gluey icing...it needs to hold together!!
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Fe2h2o
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I have no personal experience... but I will be reading avidly, I'm thinking next year Puggle will be old enough to attempt one:-)
The kids at the last school I worked at used to make gingerbread houses in year 9. (It used to be torturous to go into that building... it smelt so good!)
They used a thick gingerbread and did it in stages, freezing or storing in an airtight container before assembling, then decorating. That would help with not having to do so much at once.
I did see kits advertised in one of the Big W catalogues, maybe a fortnight ago? (Might have been Target, but I think it was Big W.)
You shouldn't have any trouble using egg white for the royal icing... I don't think we have the same issues with eggs over here.
Have fun:-)
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Erin
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Thank you for all your suggestions and help. I am delighted with all your ideas, I have been slow at answering as I was planning on coming back with a photo and saying, "ta-da!" but alas I still haven't made a gingerbread house but I still may and if not before Christmas there is still the 12 days after, right?
Can someone please take pity on me and tell this Australian what on earth a 'graham cracker' is?
Okay Fe can you tell me what the egg white problem is? I was just assuming that Sarah's children must have an egg allergy, is there another reason? Oh and I say the houses in Target for $20, mmm if I wait till after Christmas and I still haven't made one they will be on a special
Helen, thank you for researching for me and THANK YOU for Alice's link, I KNEW it was there somewhere on her blog I spent ages looking and couldn't find it.
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alicegunther
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Oh, yes, Erin, the twelve days AFTER Christmas are perfect for gingerbread house building!
Graham crackers are quite a bit like wholemeal biscuit, but they come in a rectangular shape with four smaller rectangles (that can be broken apart) scored into the largest one.
Link to boxes of graham crackers
They could be replaced by any thin rectangular cookie or sweet cracker. Of these Australian cookies, for example, you might consider trying the Hundreds and Thousands, Custard Creams, Lemon Crisps or Shortbread Creams as a substitute. I don't know if the links above show houses made with a support underneath, but this style of house, with a cardboard milk carton base, would probably work well if you are making the house with cookies other than graham crackers. (I found these instructions through a google search--there are probably many sources out there.) Small American milk cartons are shaped like this.
I'm looking forward to seeing a picture of your gingerbread house!
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Fe2h2o
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I believe that there are salmonella issues that are fairly common in the US (hence people talk about egg-free biscuit doughs for snacking on:-)—I've even heard some recommendations against some of the pavlova recipes that are cooked in particularly slow ovens!)
We just don't have the same issues over here.
(I seem to recall that Jackie French's 'The Chook Book' talked about this a bit—should be in your local library.)
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Helen
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Thanks Erin
I believe the concern over egg whites has to do with samonilla (sp?) poisoning when using raw eggs in cooking.
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Ave Maria!
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: How to make a Gingerbread House?
