Gingerbread houses: a tutorial :)

I hosted a playgroup at my house last week and we decorated gingerbread houses. I had a lot of fun, and everyone who came had good things to say, so I think it was a hit. I assembled houses the night before thanks to this awesome technique a friend of mine (My Many Coloured Days) shared with me. She posted this (almost exact) tutorial on her blog...but I know she likes to keep things private so I wasn't sure if she'd appreciate me linking to her blog. So this is me using HER tutorial to create my own, using my pictures. (I can link to your blog, if you'd like MMCD!) Then all who came brought a bag of decorating candy and we let the kids decorate and eat themselves sick! It was great!

First, break squares of graham crackers--6 per house. You will probably need to buy more graham crackers than you think you need since not all the crackers break nicely along that line. Believe me.

Next, stick some sugar in a pot over medium heat (I think I used around a cup--which was more than enough). Then wait. As far as I'm aware (in my one-time experience) this part takes the longest. You just wait, and stir, and wait, until the sugar heats up and starts clumping. It took mine about 10 minutes before it did anything.

These are the clumps I was talking about. The sugar is starting to melt and stick to itself (hence the clumping). At this point you need to completely focus on this project because it goes VERY QUICKLY after this.

After 2 minutes it looked like this

And it quickly turned into this. I think this is where I turned down the heat and started assembling houses. And I am not an expert, by any means, on the best way to assemble. I tried a bunch of different ways--one at a time, two at a time, dipping one cracker opposite ends, etc. All I have to say is that you've got to go fast because the sugar dries quickly! Oh yeah, and BE CAREFUL. I burned the tips of my first two fingers on both hands (with blisters to prove it) thanks to that sugar--ouch!

Seriously, minutes later the sugar was already looking like this: really dark. But it doesn't matter, the houses get covered by frosting and candy anyways.

If your sugar starts to harden in the pan, turn up the heat a little bit and it'll melt again. After you're done, let the pan completely cool then soak it in water. The sugar dissolves really easily (in my experience).

These are the assembled houses. The sugar dried hard and made decorating so much easier (no leaning walls or having to wait for the frosting to dry!). It was perfect for our room full of toddlers.

Thank you SO MUCH, My Many Coloured Days--your tutorial was wonderful and our houses a success!