I grew up with my mother putting together a gingerbread house every year that we would decorate as a family. The gingerbread house would feature white snow frosting, a chocolate-orange stick fence, and green colored popcorn ball trees. One year she even made a blue candy pond. Her mother had done the same thing. I wanted to continue the tradition with my own children.
So a couple of years ago I found a gingerbread house pattern on-line and copied it off. I then proceeded to make the same gingerbread recipe that had been in my family for years. But somehow my gingerbread did not turn out. The first recipe I rolled to thin. It was so brittle that it just cracked when I tried to put it together. The second recipe, I rolled to thick. So it was too soft to stand. After that I have up.
This year I found special gingerbread graham crackers, specifically designed for gingerbread-impaired mothers like me. So I bought a box. After I got home I opened it and tried one. Although it doesn’t taste exactly like regular gingerbread it does have that distinct gingerbread flavor.
So this year my children and I are going to make graham cracker gingerbread houses. They even have a frosting recipe and instructions on the back of the box.
The box did mention that the special gingerbread flavored crackers are only on sale for a limited time. So grab a box and start a tradition of making gingerbread houses with your children without the mess of actual gingerbread.
If your family really likes the flavor of gingerbread Lisa Pietsch provided instructions on making a two-story gingerbread cake and adding a cake roof, in the food blog. I would use this idea except my husband does not like the gingerbread flavor. Which would leave my kids and I to eat a lot of cake. So I think I’ll stick with the gingerbread cracker houses instead.
See this related blog:
Gingerbread: Food or Art?