Gingerbread houses

I have a confession.

I don't like gingerbread. I'm not all that fond of ginger, actually, unless I'm in the mood for ginger ale. And, while the idea of making gingerbread houses appeals to me, I can't say that I've ever been motivated enough to make gingerbread so that I could make a gingerbread house. But doggone it, then someone had to go and make it easy. Between the store kits and the pre-made, refrigerated dough you can buy in stores now, there's really no excuse not to try it.

And then I had a brilliant idea. The farm/country store place where we went to pick pumpkins and apples offered gingerbread house workshops. I assumed (incorrectly) that the workshop would also include tutorials. As it turns out, you bought the kit and assembled it yourself in specific area.

But you know what? The kits made it kind of foolproof. Plus, the store even supplied the icing at the perfect consistency and temperature.

So the four of us bought two kits and put them together (instructions were included). It was so much fun that we bought a kit when we went to the grocery store to do more at home.

I learned several things: 1) the icing recipe on the back of the grocery store box was blech. Although, it did harden beautifully 2) gingerbread is a much better choice for making gingerbread houses than graham crackers 3) while the kids liked doing this, I was the one who was really all into it 4) Nabisco 100 calorie Oreo thins and cinnamon bun packs are the bomb diggity both as shingles, paths, or snacks. YUM!

Here are pictures of our efforts, or as I like to call them, the good, the good, and the bad and ugly.