Gingerbread Dreams

The season of light also means the season of gingerbread here at the Crafty Homeschooler. For years I sweated through multiple batches of sticky sweet dough, making templates and buying a kings fortune in tiny European candy for decorations only to find that the kids and I did not share a vision as to how the house should look in the end.

I dreamed of gently frosted candy roof tiles, lovingly placed peppermints and tiny little ginger men. The children seemed to believe that globs of frosting, 1 zillion assorted colored jimmies and some seriously slipshod construction was the path to Nutcracker dreams. To say that this did not settle well with my rather OCD holiday issues would be an understatement and one that I really wanted to resolve to both their satisfaction and mine.

Our solution came from the fine folks at Wilton. With at least two different gingerbread house kits each season there is no reason for me to become emotionally involved in their process. So if the kids choose to construct something looking more like a tenement house for wayward elves than my sugar plum visions that is ok with me. Since without the hours of dough making investment I can enjoy their quirky constructions and that makes all of us happy.

At under $12 per kit this is an easy and affordable project that will keep kids happy and busy for the better part of an afternoon.

To make things even smoother I offer these few suggestions.

Pre assemble the house the night before without little person involvement. Yes, perhaps this does take away a bit of the magic if by "magic" you mean children with tears of frustration from having to wait as the sugar icing construction glue hardens and drys. A solid house needs 4-6 hours to dry, keep this in mind.

Pre make the frosting/glue and divide the bounty into heavy duty zippered food storage bags to use as piping bags. Multiple bags will mean that you can rotate bags as they get warm from being clutched in happy little decorator hands.

Buy extra candy to decorate with. Divide candies into muffin trays for easy use. The kit does come with a nice selection but after 3+ children sample one of each of the candies the numbers do seem to dwindle a bit. Necco waffers make wonderful roof tiles, and tend to stay around since I can't happen to stand them so am not tempted to pick them off the less visible side of the roof as the holiday passes. This is also a great time to use up left over Halloween candy. We never seem to have much of that but have been known to polish off the last few packages of Smarties by using them on the house.

With the use of the included sugar icing the house is totally edible but the quality does suffer over time. The Crafty Homeschooler family trys to hold off any *sampling* of the house till Christmas day. But it has been noted that like an unattended house in a dodgy part of town parts have been known to go missing, but that is just part of the fun.

The Crafty Homeschoolers Rates this: Easy, with preparation!