How to make a gingerbread house out of graham crackers

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Ingredients
Things You'll Need
References
About This Article
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Can I use graham crackers for gingerbread house?
How many graham crackers do I need for a gingerbread house?
How do you make graham crackers stick to gingerbread houses?

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Gingerbread houses are a Christmas tradition the whole family can make together. Instead of spending hours making gingerbread, you can make gingerbread houses using graham crackers to save yourself both effort and time during a busy season. Display your houses on your table or in a decorative corner for Christmas Day.

Ingredients

2 egg whites
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 box confectioner's sugar
1 large box of graham crackers
Hard Christmas candies for decoration
Frosting

1
Separate your Christmas candies into bowls. This step saves the hassle of opening bags of candy with sticky fingers later.
2
Place an aluminum pie tin upside down in front of you.
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3
Combine the egg whites and lemon juice in a large bowl to make royal icing. Beat the egg whites on a high speed until they are white and frothy. Add powdered sugar 2 tablespoons at a time to combine gradually, on a speed just high enough that the sugar doesn't fly up all over the counter. The icing should have the consistency of stiff peanut butter by the time all the sugar has been combined. The icing will secure the graham cracker walls of the house and stick the candy decorations to the surface.[1]
4
Place large spoonfuls of the royal icing into quart-size zipped style freezer bags. Avoid regular thickness sandwich bags because the plastic is too thin and will not hold up to the punishment of being used as a pastry tube. An unzipped plastic bag the size of a bread bag will also work, and it will hold more icing. Approximately 1 cup of icing each small bag is enough. If decorating with friends or family, make sure that each gingerbread artist has his or her own bag of icing.[2]
5
Seal the bags.
6
Use scissors to snip 1/4" (6 mm) off one corner of the icing filled bag. You now have an "icing tube". As you decorate, you'll squeeze the icing toward the snipped corner and use it to dispense a bead of icing on your gingerbread house.[3]

1
Count out six whole, uncracked, unseparated, unbroken crackers. Set four of them aside to form the roof and the two long sides of your house.[4]
2
Cut the two remaining cracker sheets to form end gable pieces. Use a gentle "sawing" motion with a serrated knife. Use the short end of a cracker to measure the angled line from the center of the long side to the centerline of the cracker.[5]
3
Repeat for the second gable end.
4
Squeeze icing along the edges of a gable end and 1 whole graham cracker.[6]
5
Place the long edge of the wall cracker vertical to the base edge of the gable end cracker. Stick the side edge of the gable end cracker to the bead of icing on the flat side of the wall cracker. The walls should hold each other up.[7]
6
Add the other gable end and wall in the same manner. Use a bead of icing along the bottom to stick the pieces to the pie tin. Also, use a bead of icing where the two walls will join at the corners.[8]
7

Add the roof crackers in the same manner as the wall crackers, but pipe the icing on the flat of the roof, not on the edges. Then, stick the flat of the roof to the top edges of the gable ends and walls. Allow the icing to set for 15 to 20 minutes before handling the house again. If you place candies on it too quickly, you risk collapsing the house.[9]

1
Line the roof with icing where you want to add shingles.[10]
2
Add the shingles using your chosen candies.[11]
- You can also use cereal for the shingles.
3
Use your imagination and decorate the entire house whatever way you like.

Add New Question

Question
Will Pillsbury icing work?

Traditional cake frosting will not work well. You need a stiff, quick-drying icing for this, usually royal icing, which may be made easily by combining confectioner's sugar (also called powdered sugar), egg whites, cream of tartar, and/or a little extract for flavoring (vanilla, almond, or peppermint are my preference for the holidays). Frosting in a can is designed to not get dry and stiff with the use of oils.
Question
What was the aluminum cake pan to be used for? It was never mentioned again after turning it upside down.

The pie tin was intended to be used upside down as a rigid, mostly non-stick surface for you to build your house upon. It can be easily transported out of the way for clean up or removal to its final location. You could also create a "yard" on the bottom of the plate to enhance the cute factor of your house.
Question
Are there any possible substitutes for the egg whites?

Good binding agents are: flaxseed meal mixed with water, mashed ripe banana, canned chickpea water, whisked. These make an egg-white replacement for baking, souffles, etc.

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Sprinkle powdered sugar over the house and yard for a snowy effect.[12]
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Spray clear lacquer on your gingerbread houses to extend their lives.[13] Of course, doing this will make the houses inedible. Store the houses in a cool, dry place, and cover them nightly with a clean trash bag.
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If you are making gingerbread houses with small children, try spreading royal icing on the sides of an empty cream carton. Stick graham crackers to the icing; doing this will ensure the sides of your gingerbread houses do not collapse.
As a small thank you, we’d like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full price—wine, food delivery, clothing and more. Enjoy!

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Protect your work surface with newspapers or an old vinyl tablecloth.
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Check the condition of your gingerbread house throughout the season. Make sure the graham crackers are not softened by humidity, and make sure the house is not attracting ants.
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Keep gingerbread houses out of reach of your pets or you will find them "sampling" your house. This can be especially heart-rending to a little person who has his or her creation half eaten by the family dog!
As a small thank you, we’d like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full price—wine, food delivery, clothing and more. Enjoy!

Things You'll Need

Large bowl
Mixer
Disposable aluminum pie tin
Scissors
Zipper style freezer bags
Serrated knife

References

About This Article

Article SummaryX

If you want to make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, separate 6 graham crackers. Leave 4 whole, but cut 2 with a serrated knife to make angled gables to mount the sloped roof on. Then, use royal icing to hold the sides and roof together, and to paste on any decorations you want. To make royal icing, beat egg whites, lemon juice, and powdered sugar until it is the consistency of peanut butter. Scroll down to learn how to use a freezer bag to spread icing!

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Can I use graham crackers for gingerbread house?

Using graham crackers as the base of your house is a super easy way to construct the houses since there's no baking required. Each house takes about 5 minutes to make and you can make a few ahead of time so they're ready to go when you're ready to do the holiday activity with the kids.

How many graham crackers do I need for a gingerbread house?

How many graham crackers are in a house? Each house will have six crackers. This gives you two for the roof, two for the sides, and one cracker for the front, and one cracker for the back piece.

How do you make graham crackers stick to gingerbread houses?

Some people like to glue their crackers to a mini milk carton, but I just free form them. I frost the entire outside of the next side and finish the base. You'll want to saw super softly so it doesn't shatter, but it works- I promise! Then assemble the roof like in the photo below.