Gingerbread House Kit

Baking and decorating gingerbread cookies and gingerbread houses are a favorite pastime, especially at Christmas.

Gingerbread Houses (the edible kind) are built of sturdy gingerbread cookie dough, the pattern pieces carefully measured and the rolled-out dough cut into the right shapes (such as squares, rectangles and triangles) to build the house with. The shapes are then baked. When cool, the house is assembled, the pieces 'glued' together with icing. Then the fun really begins! More icing, all sorts of candies and chocolates and other edible delights are used to add detail and decoration.

Making and decorating a gingerbread house is a wonderful project to do with children, but it appeals to all ages - the complexity of the design increasing with the skill level.

To make gingerbread house building even easier, and to get right to the fun stuff of decorating with yummy candies and things, Gingerbread House Kits are available. This eliminates the time-consuming designing, measuring pattern pieces, and baking steps. Gingerbread House Kits can be found not only in craft stores and online, but often in any store that carries Christmas supplies and gifts, including grocery and department stores.

A Gingerbread House Kit typically includes prebaked gingerbread pieces (ready to assemble), icing or icing mix, decorating bag and tips, lots of candies, directions and decorating ideas, as well as a base on which to assemble the house. Expect to pay about $10 for a small, basic Gingerbread House Kit, $20 or more for a large, gourmet or deluxe kit.

Pampered Chef, a seller of cookware, has a Gingerbread House Kit made up of a special stoneware mold, icing bag and tips, and instructions. The stoneware mold eliminates the measuring and cutting of pattern pieces, and the mold is textured as well, so your gingerbread house pieces will come out of the oven with already what looks like shingles on the roof, stone chimney, siding on the walls, windows, etc., making decorating even easier.

Some popular candies and treats used for decorating include: M&M's, gumdrops and gumdrop-type candies, jelly beans, cinnamon candies (eg. Red Hots), candy canes, Skittles, Christmas hard candies, licorice, Lifesavers, TicTacs, mint candies (eg. Starlight mints), 'gummies' and other chewy candies, chocolate chips and bars, marshmallows, pretzels and pretzel sticks, cookies (such as wafer cookies), and various kinds of cereal.

Make your own Gingerbread House or Gingerbread House Kit:

Cream shortening, sugar and honey together. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and then add to creamed mixture alternately with water to make a stiff dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

On a large, floured piece of aluminum foil, roll dough out to about 1/4" thick. Lightly flour surface of cookie dough, and place house pattern pieces (made from cardboard) on top. Carefully cut around pieces, saving scraps to be re-rolled and made into gingerbread people, trees, or other shapes. Slide aluminum foil with dough pattern pieces onto a cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes at 375* or until firm and edges are lightly browned.

Remove from oven, trim edges as needed, and allow to cool completely before removing foil. Assemble pieces and stick together with royal icing (made with egg whites and icing sugar), or confectioner's icing (made without eggs). Decorate with more icing, candies, etc., as desired, using the icing to stick the candies on.

To make a Gingerbread House Kit for a gift, package pre-baked gingerbread house pieces, a baggie full of candies, an icing recipe or mix, a decorating bag and tips (if desired), and instructions for decorating. Place all on a sturdy plate, wrap with cellophane (or plastic wrap), tie with ribbons or bow, and add a gift tag or greeting card. Alternately, package in an attractive gift box or tin.