GINGERBREAD HOUSE INSTRUCTIONS

Below, is the recipe for the gingerbread and the Royal Icing. Feel free to copy it.                       

Tips for making your gingerbread house:

1. After baking gingerbread, let it sit out to harden for two days before decorating.

2. Use a 12"X 12" corrugated cardboard surface as a base for your house. I buy mine at a craft store in the cake baking department.

3. When you begin to construct your house, mark off the "foundation area" with a pencil. Then,  with icing, draw  along two of the adjoining lines.   You will have one side and either the front or the back of the house. Before these two walls "go up", draw a line of icing (onto the gingerbread) where they will meet at a 90 degree angle. This will make one corner of the house. Now, draw another line of icing on the base and one on the next corner. Repeat this process until all four walls are standing. The icing dries pretty quickly, and it will harden nicely, so don't worry about the house falling in on itself. Decorate the outer sides of the house before adding the roof and chimney. Decorate the roof, chimney and the landscaping of your sweet new cottage. 

Merry Christmas!!!