Gingerbread House Exhibit!

Enter Blue Frog's 1st Annual Gingerbread House Exhibit!

Awards will be given to EVERY gingerbread house entered.  We believe everyone deserves to have their creativity celebrated!

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES:  11am Saturday, December 22, 2007.  Awards will be given at 2pm that same day.

Sammy (pictured at left) made this cute house from a $7 kit purchased at Aldi's grocery store.  It was a great kit and had all kinds of decorations included - more than enough.  The Royal Icing included was an excellent glue to assemble the house. It dried hard as a rock. However, it didn't taste great.  Homemade gingerbread and cream cheese frosting taste much better. 

EASY MINI GINGERBREAD HOUSE
If you would like to make your own simple gingerbread house from graham crackers follow these simple instructions:

Gather the needed ingredients with your child’s help. If your child is learning his or her shapes, try to pick candies that have the shapes that your child is learning. Talk about the shapes of candy
you are going to include.

Ingredients & Supplies:

• Any small square box (you can use a couple of juice containers, a single serving milk carton, or any other box to serve as the frame for the house)
• Toothpicks
• Wax paper
• Cutting board
• One 16 oz. container of white icing
• Graham Cracker squares
• Candies to decorate

Instructions: Place the box on the sheet of waxed paper on top of a cutting board. Cover the box with graham cracker squares (or rectangles). Use the icing to hold the graham crackers in place. Insert toothpicks on the top of the box.

Lean two graham crackers on the toothpicks to form the roof. Cut a graham cracker in half diagonally to form a triangle for the front and back of the roof. Attach them with icing.

Once you have your sides and roof attached, use a plastic bag filled with icing with the corner cut out to pipe in the cracks. Use the icing to attach the candies and decorations as well. Use your imagination to create windows and doors with different shapes.

When you have finished decorating your gingerbread house, leave it out overnight to dry. Display and enjoy at the Blue Frog!

If you would like to make a gingerbread house with a little more craftsmanship, there are oodles of good sites containing recipes and tips.  Here are a few of our favorites:

Sammy had a definite vision for the roof decorations!  She made an overlapping snake of frosting and carefully put candies all over it.  It turned out more beautiful than I ever imagined.

ON-LINE RESOURCES FOR GINGERBREAD AND ICING:

• For the gourmet or foodie (serious cook), here's the article by Bon Appetite!
• For a showcase of 20 award winning gingerbread houses by Celebrating Christmas.
• Celebrating Christmas web-site has recipes, the history of gingerbread, as well as blue prints for a log cabin, Victorian, beach, and several other gingerbread houses.
• If you need step-by-step photos and detailed instructions King Arthur Flour's article and Gingerbreadcottage.com are excellent resources.