Tuesday Tip/Real Party - The House Always Wins

Every year, our family becomes confectionery architects, creating memorable temples to tooth decay. This year is no exception, as we had a playdate glorifying this wonderful tradition. Alas, I neither have the skills to bake the real thing or the dollars to purchase kits for everyone, So today's tip, decorating graham-cracker gingerbread houses. It's so much fun to make, and as my kids attested to after dinner, more fun to eat.

I pre-assembled the houses, using white candy melts as the "glue", which is so much easier, and sets faster than frosting. As you can see, the roofs are chocolate graham crackers, because most of the regular ones were casualties, and luckily I had a package in my pantry. The little ones spread frosting on their houses, while the older ones used Wilton's Decorating Icing Tubes and Betty Crocker's Cookie Icing tubes.

Thanks to Garnish's party idea, I purchased the large gable houses and labeled with each child's name to take home their creations. I didn't get the white cups from them though, I swiped them from a local fast-food joint.

Although I didn't get a picture of the gingerbread men cookies (the cake platter was covered in them, I think they all ran off while I was fixing the cocoa), they were too cute, just regular cookies, sandwiching a layer of frosting.