Halloween Gingerbread House

We are deep into home project mode this fall after our recent move across country. I decided to keep our fall decorations simple and minimal, bringing in cozy vibes with neutrals, textured fabrics, wheat stems and a few white pumpkins. I plan to add a few fun Halloween touches as it nears to make things a little more whimsical for the boys. One of our favorite holiday traditions is creating gingerbread houses. Although gingerbread houses are something typically made around Christmas, they can be so fun to decorate for other holidays too. I knew this would be the perfect addition to our simple Halloween decor. Since my boys are 3 and 4 , I’m skipping the super spooky decor and making it cute, classic and all about fun.

Something I love about these gingerbread houses is that you can create absolutely whatever you want and there are so many options for how to do it. Here are 3 options:

1. Use a pre-assembled gingerbread house and add detailed icing trim. In the past around Christmas, I have often had luck finding pre-assembled houses at Target and World Market.

2. Use a regular gingerbread house kit and hot glue the pieces together instead of using the icing that comes with the kit. Then, add detailed trim covering all seams and make it your own.

3. Use an empty box to create a house and cover it with graham crackers before adding trim.

All of these options work great! It’s really all about having a sturdy house so you can get to the fun part…gobs of festive icing and decorations. For this house, I chose option three. With this method, you’re totally in control of the shape and size of your house. You can make a traditional roof or whatever structure you dream up. All 3 options are perfect for little hands because they don’t topple over or crumble easily. However, these are NOT for eating! My boys love to eat the candies as we decorate and then we display the house when it’s finished.

Here’s the process I used to make this years cute and classic Halloween Gingerbread house:

1. Start by building your house structure. You can use any shape or size box you want. To make the roof, you can piece together the top of the box and use scraps to create the roof pitch. That’s how I did this house. You could also use an additional flat piece of cardboard folded in half and placed on top. Either hot glue or tape pieces into place.

2. Begin hot glueing graham crackers to the sides of your structure until it is covered. I chose to use chocolate graham crackers to add to the Halloween vibes. During this step, focus on placing the crackers as close together as possible and don’t fret about the uncovered edges. They will be covered later with icing. Depending on the size of your box, you may need to cut down some of your graham crackers. I found this works best when using a serrated knife and gently sawing back and fourth applying even pressure. This helps prevent the crackers from breaking in half.

3. Place your gingerbread house on whatever surface you plan to display it on. I prefer to have mine on a disposable cake board or flat piece of cardboard so I can pipe royal icing trim around the bottom edges. I used piece of a shipping box I had sitting around and hot glued the bottom of the gingerbread house to it.

4. Make your chocolate royal icing (recipe below).

5. After making your icing, transfer some to a piping bag with a large piping tip. You can use any shape tip you like, I used a large open star for all of the trim. I also used a cake decorating turn table for the next step to make things easier. Don’t panic if you don’t have one, you can definitely still make an amazing house without it.

6. Begin piping over the unfinished edges being sure to cover all of the box so it’s not peeking through. I start from the roof pitch and work my way down, completing the trim around the base last. Have fun with this step! There’s no right or wrong way, you can make your trim as elaborate or as simple as you like. I love thick trim with a ruffle like appearance because there’s something whimsical about it and it takes me back to my childhood and all of the excitement I felt around the holidays.

7. After the edges are covered, fill another piping bag fit with a smaller tip. Use this to add windows, doors and any other details you want. You can add candies of all shapes and colors or keep it simple. I used small black candies and a few foam stickers.

8. Allow your house to air dry on the counter or somewhere safe from curious little hands. The icing will become rock hard, making it sturdy and perfect to display.

Chocolate Royal Icing:

– 4 lbs powdered sugar (2 bags)

– 5 tablespoons water

-8 egg whites

-3/4 cup cocoa powder

-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional…but it makes your house smell so good)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites and water for about 1 minute.

2. Add 2 lbs ( 1 bag of sugar), cocoa and cinnamon, whisking on low speed until sugar and cocoa is slightly incorporated.

3. Add remaining powder sugar and whisk until incorporated

4. Turn the mixer to medium/high speed, whisking until stiff peaks form. You want your icing to hold it’s shape well but also be thin enough to be squeezed out of the piping bag. If your icing is too thin and doesn’t hold its shape, add more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time.

* I don’t recommend eating this icing since it contains raw egg whites. I use this icing strictly for decorative trim.

*This royal icing recipe makes enough to to trim and decorate a house the size of the one pictured.