Making gingerbread houses is a tradition in our family. It’s something my husband usually does with the kids while I’m putting together the final Christmas details. This year, my daughter wanted to make gingerbread houses after school with a friend. I was inspired by these graham cracker gingerbread houses from Fountain Avenue Kitchen. Construction projects aren’t my strong point, but I decided I would give it a try.
These were surprisingly easy to put together because they’re not very big. Since I was looking at this as a craft project and not a snack, I picked up store-bought vanilla frosting to use as the glue. If we were eating these, I would make my own using this frosting recipe. You can even make your own graham crackers if you want to really go the DIY route. This is a great opportunity to use up those bits of Halloween candy if you still have some in your house.
How to Make Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses
Fill a zipper bag or piping tool with white frosting. I use this cupcake decorating tool.
On a sturdy paper plate or cutting board, pipe out a square of frosting. Place four graham cracker halves on each of the four strips of frosting. Fill in the gaps between the graham crackers with a line of frosting. If you want added stability, use a small empty milk carton or similar square box in the center of these four crackers.
Put frosting along the top edge of two opposite “walls” of graham cracker. On each of these edges, place a square of graham cracker. Angle them in toward each other to make two sides of the roof. Pipe a line of frosting along the top edge.
On a separate cutting board, use a sharp knife to cut 2 triangles out of graham cracker squares. Occasionally the crackers will shatter, but if you cut definitively you should be able to get nice triangles. Place the triangles in the two open roof gaps and pipe frosting around all edges.
Add some frosting to all surfaces of the house. Decorate with pretzel sticks, candy pieces, or whatever you have around. Be creative!
Does your family make gingerbread houses? Let us know if you try this method.
Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting says
Yay, we’re gonna make this tomorrow! 🙂
AngEngland says
how did they turn out?
William Patton says
That’s a clever idea to use the crackers instead of having to bake gingerbread. Took me longer to bake mine this year than it took to build haha