Building and decorating gingerbread houses is a Christmas tradition in for many families. Apparently the practice of constructing edible homes can be blamed on the Brothers Grim, whose tale of Hansel and Gretel inspired confectioners around the world.
We didn’t use gingerbread – graham crackers are easier. Inspired by the tale of Tom and Bridget, we embarked on our first annual Christmas graham cracker gingerbread (have to use the word or it doesn’t count) house building event.
I built the houses the day before to let the cement, I mean the icing harden. I googled “royal icing” and used the first recipe I found. Ingredients: 4 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder, 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat till stiff peaks form. Use immediately or cover tightly.
Make sure you have lots of candy. Mostly for variety, but also so others can’t eat all of your building supplies while you’re working.
Mark even decorated a house.
And now presenting, the Watson parade of graham cracker homes:
Katya’s castle. Delicately trimmed with Twizzlers and M&Ms.
Mama’s house. Simple, yet elegant.
Tato’s house, complete with van and Casper on a sled. (It was supposed to be a snowman).
Mark’s house. What else do you really need?
Alex’s castle – after he got hungry.
We’ll see how long the houses last. My prediction is one week. Today I noticed the backdoor of my van was missing, so I asked Alex if he had it for breakfast. “No,” he says, “I ate it before breakfast.”
Merry Christmas
Robert
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