We had no time to make a complete Gingerbread House, so, we just made the trees instead.
These were simply made from a box of sugar cones,
thin licorice,
red hots and royal icing.
Royal icing makes such a great “cement” for these projects, but unfortunately, it is made from raw eggs. Much better to use meringue powder — which I think you can find at cake decorating stores and Michael’s — two stores I rarely visit.
As much as we remind the kids not to eat it, there’s no stopping those licks.
Recipe for Royal Icing:
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice. Add the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. Immediately transfer icing to an airtight container to prevent it from hardening. We stored it in ziplock bags in small batches, and took out only what we needed for a few minutes at a time.
Cool Christmas craft…….that gives me an idea……
The kids were instructed to bring a can of frosting to school today so they could make gingerbread houses. Instead of buying the soft frosting that will never dry and work for gingerbread houses, I made a batch of royal icing and sent it to school with the kiddos. They may have the only houses that arrive home intact.