Gingerbread Village

It’s not to late to make a gingerbread house for Christmas! This year, we made a village of little houses rather than one larger house. It was fun to make! Here’s what you need:

Gingerbread Village

Ingredients

1 box of Graham crackers
1 bag of powdered sugar
juice of 2 lemons
small candy of you choice, such as ernies or skittles, sourpatch kids, mini candy canes, chocolate-covered pretzels, candied fruit slices, candy corn, mini marshmallows, reeses pieces, chocolate rocks and the like
some coconut flakes

Directions

Cover a board, piece of plywood or spare baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar into a thick paste that serves as edible glue.
Break graham crackers in half. From three halves, make a triangular hut with one half as the bottom, gluing the gable together and the roof onto the bottom graham cracker.
When you have made all the houses you want, arrange them on the board like you wish and decorate them and the space between them with your candy. The thicker the glue, the less things will slide.
When you have decorated to your heart’s content, drizzle more runny glue over the houses for icicles (good to use up leftover lemon juice) or sprinkle with coconut flakes or powdered sugar for a snowy effect.

Traditionally, gingerbread houses (or Knusperhaeuschen, as the Germans call them) belong under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. It’s not a bad idea to cover it when it is not used as decoration or being raided to keep it from getting overly dusty before it is all eaten.