I was much too busy to take pictures, dd took a few of the construction, but we didn't get any of the decorating. If I get a chance, I'll take a few photos of the completed houses before the kids eat them.
I thought I'd offer a few ideas, our process for mass producing gingerbread houses.
By the time all of the walls had been assembled, the first house had set enough to do the roof. Using a butter knife or spatula, I spread icing on the tops of the walls and the backs of the roof pieces, holding in place until it seemed they were stable, not going to slip. This also went well, only the one cave in. I did run short on icing, having to beat a couple more egg whites and add sugar. Pretty close, though. All in all, we spent between an hour and an hour and a half on this.
Day 3: Decorations
I purchased assorted goodies ahead of time, and this is where imagination can be fun! Some essentials: M&M's, Kissables, Necco Wafers, Fruit Stripe Gum, mini marshmallows, pretzels (both sticks and the traditionally shaped ones), small gum drops, gummy bears, chocolate bar miniatures...and so on! Candy canes and licorice, as well.
I used about 16 egg whites, 4 lbs of powdered sugar, and the icing was a tinge looser, as it went into ziploc bags (quart sized) with a small piece of the corner cut off. This way, kids could pipe their icing easily enough, and everyone had their own to work with. There was a bit more icing than necessary, but it worked out well.
The most fun for me in watching the kids decorate is seeing their personalities and giftings show as they decorate. The toddlers...well, candies go anywhere, and things don't get all the way complete. It was funny to watch the youngest lick her lollipop and try to make it stick to the roof. Saliva just didn't quite work as well as the icing. My more organized kids had much more organized decor. Some had a whimsical creative look. One of the boys had a mass of candies along the seam of the roof, though not much on the main surface of the roof.
Two dd's had giant Hersheys Kisses from a Christmas exchange last week, and used these on their creations as big hills. Big hills with gummy bear mountain climbers. Youngest ds managed to make a huge pile of gumdrops and gummy bears in his yard. Eldest ds created an awesome mini-marshmallow fence, about 3 marshmallows height, held together with that yummy icing.
It's not food network quality, and as I watched a gingerbread challenge the other night, I laughed as the judge told one of the competitors that she had a problem with a visible seam. You can see all the seams on our structures! But it's fun to see what can be accomplished when you give your kids some materials to work with and the freedom to create! It's also a fun way to include someone else in your holiday. Not a Jesus activity, just a time of fun and fellowship! One that the kids will remember for a long time, and around September of next year, again, I'm sure to hear, "Mom, are we doing gingerbread houses this year?"
This is one of our kids' favorite activities during the holiday season. Since eldest was about a year old, I've made these from a set of cookie cutters I got once upon a time at a Michaels store. One of the plastic cutters is broken, but still works well enough. I tried purchasing a new set of cookie cutters a couple of years ago, but it's a bigger sized house, and just doesn't do it for us.
Each child gets a house to decorate, and we usually invite another family to join us in the fun. This year, that meant 13 kids and two moms! Sounds like chaos, but it went very well. The boys who came over were more interested in the trampoline and bicycles OUTSIDE than in gingerbread decoration, so they did their houses, and played their hearts out...OUTSIDE. LOL!
Anyways, back to the houses. Normally, this has been a two day process, but I stretched it out over three, and saved myself a lot of exhaustion. Not at all by design, this was a nice discovery, as I remember last year how tired I was at the end of everything.
Day 1: Bake Gingerbread
I'm sure any gingerbread cookie recipe would do, I'm not going to post the one I use just this moment, but it's just the one that came with my original kit. An internet search should suffice if you need a recipe. Mine involves melting the shortening. We did a double recipe, and by rolling thinner than what is suggested (as thin as I can get it and still cut the pieces), we get about 6 houses per recipe. We often also do a sugar cookie alternative, which involves using the gingerbread recipe, omitting spices and replacing molasses with light corn syrup. DD did a half recipe, and we were able to make 3 sugar cookie houses, with assorted parts left over from both processes to make one house of combined gingerbread and sugar cookie pieces.
Baking umpteen houses requires a little more organization than I normally demonstrate, but my organized dd helped me keep it together! Lots of counting to make sure there were enough of each type of piece, and as they cooled, complete sets of house parts were stacked together in my large roasting pan.
Day 2: Assemble houses
DD cut pieces of cardboard and covered with aluminum foil, preparing the bases ahead of time. A great use for amazon boxes! She had a couple of days to do this. When we were ready for assembly, I made a basic royal icing. One dozen egg whites, beaten until almost stiff, then I added just over 3 pounds of powdered sugar, GRADUALLY, of course. I wanted slightly stiff icing for this, as it needed to set up quickly.
Assembly line style, I spread frosting on the base, then assembled walls of a house. No fancy piping here, I dip the sides and bottoms of the walls into the icing bowl, setting each piece in place as we go. DDs then monitor for slipping pieces. We only had one of the sixteen cave in, and it repaired rather easily!
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December 24, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Blessings,
Laurie