Gingerbread House

Last December I bought a gingerbread house kit at IKEA but then had no time or opportunity to make it. I dug it out of the back of the pantry last weekend and checked the expiration date, and lo and behold it was still "fresh" so we proceded to assemble it according to package directions.

The box told me to melt a cup of sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan, stirring constantly. I have little experience in candy making so needless to say, this made me a little nervous. I put the pan of sugar over medium heat and stirred and stirred and stirred. (Did I think sugar would burn instantaneously?!?!) Finally, after what seemed like an eternity (5 minutes perhaps) we started to smell cotton candy and the sugar began to melt and turn light brown. As soon as it liquified, I started the assembly process. I worked on a big plastic tray (also from IKEA) and used a spoon to spread the sugar-glue onto the sides and roof of the house.

All the while, the kids were telling me how LAST YEAR (when they made gingerbread houses at a friends' house) Friend's mother used frosting as glue and it didn't take as long and it wasn't so messy. They eventually conceded however, that the melted sugar method was more effective as it STUCK and did not easily slip. Part of the roof is still crooked because the glue dried so quickly!

I was worried about clean up - both the hardened sugar in the pan and on the spoon as well as the drippings and "sugar hair" that ended up on the stove-top and counter. I thought it would never come off, but soaking the pan and spoons in water overnight did wonders, and I was able to rinse them off and send them through the dishwasher!

The frosting directions on the package were also a little different from what I had seen before. It called for powdered sugar, an egg white and a little lemon. The egg-white part was new to me, but after a little internet research I've discovered that this is called Royal Icing and is used for such purposes as decorating houses and cookies. I piped the icinging onto the house using a makeshift bag made of folded up wax paper with a small hole cut in the corner, and the kids started attaching candy to house. Some of our candy choices were too heavy and started to slide, but the frosting hardened pretty quickly and became ROCK solid! Thank you egg whites!

The best part of the whole experience was the delicious smell that permeates our house: gingerbread! I didn't think that was possible without actually baking the gingerbread! The end result of the house looks like children made it, but that was the point - to give them ownership of it. The love it and ask to eat it every day! I had to return to IKEA to buy Anna's Pepper-kaker just so we could have some to eat!