Gingerbread House

Chan posted recently about decorating gingerbread houses at a Junior League event. I have always wanted to try it, so when I saw a kit at a local grocery store, I slipped it into my cart.

I was pleased that the kit included a building tray, the house parts, icing, and candies. The box also had great instructions and a website address for a video demonstration. How could I go wrong?

The building tray was a great feature: it had 1/2 inch channels for the house to set inside and those channels give the cookie pieces some stability.

I wish the kit had another bag of icing because I ran out and didn't have enough to trim the side windows, the chimney, the back of the house, and the second gingerbread man - I ate him instead.

It would have also been nice to have a smaller tip to add the finer details on the tree, the gingerbread man, and the door. The icing bag was great for the larger areas, but clunky for the finer details. For example, my gingerbread man's smile looks more like a beard, and there was no way that I could outline the tree shape as shown on the box.

Overall, the project was fast and a lot of fun. On the scale of 1 - 10, I'd give it a 7.

I'll definitely purchase a kit next year, but I'll purchase or make additional icing and pipe it around the windows and chimney before assembling the house.

Note: Don't forget to submit your coloring contest pictures to me before midnight, December 21, 2012.   Email your photos to pinnut3200@yahoo.com