A gingerbread house is only as good as it’s glue!
We’ve all been there…graham crackers ready, icing ready, kids ready. They start to assemble their creative masterpieces, and then….
Disaster….a collapse of epic proportions. All that hard work down the drain!
We can all speak from experience…this is melt-down central.
The best way to avoid Gingerbread-Sadness is to start with a strong, quick drying icing. Kids dont’ want to wait, and frankly, you don’t want to sit there and hold each piece for five minutes either!
Our Cub Scout boys made Gingerbread Houses this week and I was excited to find a glue that worked perfectly…it’s simple but made ALL the difference in the world.
{Super-Duper Strong} Gingerbread House Icing Glue
3 Tablespoons meringue powder (available wherever cake decorating supplies are sold)
1lb powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)
4-6 Tablespoons cold water
In a glass bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add 2T water. Mix well. Add more water as necessary to reach a very thick consistency. When you drag a knife through it, you want to see a clean path left. If it’s too thick, add a tiny amount of water, mix, and pull your knife through again. If it’s too runny, add more sugar.
Put icing into a zip-seal baggie & cut off a corner. I found a slightly large hole worked best (my icing came out about as thick as a squirt of toothpaste).
What I love about this Super-Duper Strong Gingerbread House Icing Glue is how quickly it dries! If you get a nice, thick consistency, there is no need to hold each piece in place forever (about 10 seconds will do).
So, no more tears this year (from Mom or kids!). Give our glue a try and I promise you’ll be much happier!
Building Gingerbread houses is one of our Advent Activities. We have a printable of 27 Count-down to Christmas Activities.
Do you kids have a favorite Christmas Tradition? We’d love to hear about it!
About Heather
We used just powdered sugar and water. It was wonderful!
I must have tried ten versions of icing through the years and I never have any luck! This version was the first one I have ever seen made at home that worked well!
We just use the stuff that comes in the kids and unfortunately have come to expect that at least one wall will collapse during the process. It is SO frustrating! Kids all excited to make house and you hold the crazy walls up forever and they still come down. I can’t wait to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing.
About time someone figured out how to keep them intact without the tears!!
OK I pinned this for next year! I am happy I found this because our gingerbread house ended in disaster this past year because of the frosting….it was a sad sad sad case! Would you please share these with our readers for Fun Stuff Fridays? http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2011/12/fun-stuff-fridays-4-3-weeks-long-for.html
Kelly, we love all your recipes and I can’t wait to try these! We just made your red veelvt cake this weekend for a party and everyone loved it couldn’t believe it was made without eggs!Quick question for you is there an easy icing recipe for these cookies? Is it just confectioners sugar and milk with food coloring? Thanks so much for sharing all of your recipes, it is so very appreciated!!!! We love your cookbook!!
We used this last year as well and it was great!!!
I use melted white chocolate to assemble the house. I let it cool a tiny bit and put it in a zipper bag like frosting. Holds super strong and hardends quickly.
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How far ahead can you make it and still work with it? I have a Sunday school project for about 30 kids. How many times should I multiply this recipe by? Really need an answer soon! Thanks!
It should keep for about 2 weeks – however, it can get crusty on the top if it is not completely air sealed (we store ours in a ziplock baggie). I have no clue how much you’d need for 30 kids. Sorry – it sounds like fun though!!