Graham Cracker Gingerbread House-

 
 

If you're looking for a way to make cute gingerbread houses QUICK, this is your lucky day!

These guys can take less than 10 minutes if you're in a hurry, and are a great alternative to your standard gingerbread houses when you need to make several in a pinch.

I came across the idea for these easy gingerbread houses when my 14 year old, Kati asked if all 7 of her friends could make gingerbread houses at her birthday party- 5 days away!!

My first thought was, "oh my gosh, I should've started baking like a week ago!!"

My second thought was, "how much will 8 gingerbread houses cost?"

Fast forward-

These graham cracker houses were a hit at the party, so I decided to let Kati show you guys how incredibly easy it is... Have fun!!

Set up your supplies:

Graham Crackers- they even make Gingerbread flavored grams now, so-score!

Store bought icing- I'd usually make a batch of royal icing for my gingerbread houses, but in a pinch this store bought icing in a can works great too.

Candy- keep in mind that these houses are on the smaller size, so you might want to scale down the size of your candy as well.

A cake plate, or something flat to use as a base for your house.

A spatula, or dull knife to apply the icing

a serrated knife for cutting the grahams.

 Cut 2 of your grahams into a point with your serrated knife. These will be the front and the back of the house. You'll need 4 full sized grahams for the 2 sides of the house and the roof.
 

Once you cut the first graham you can place it on the other graham you need to cut, as a guide. You want them to have the same angled cuts, so the roof sits evenly on top.

This is the icing we used. It doesn't get rock hard, like royal icing does, but does firm up after an hour or so.

Spread a good amount of icing onto your base. This will act as the "glue" that will stick your house to the base.
 

I like to start with one of the sides and the back, so they can balance on each other. Kind of like building a house of cards. Continue spreading a thin amount of icing on everything you want to stick together. Once the base is built spread icing to the backs of your roof pieces, add them on top.

Time to decorate.

And here's our finished house. We're keeping this one as a decoration, so we added a couple of cute, inedible touches.
 

The decorations, including the adorable sisal trees and wreath, as well as the candy found in this post are from Oriental Trading. 

You can find these items here-

http://m.orientaltrading.com/party-supplies/candy/christmas-a1-551289+1240-1.fltr

I received items from Oriental Trading. The review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the products listed above. I was provided the samples free of charge by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.

Happy Decorating xo

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

DIY Christmas Gifts

With Christmas only a few weeks away, you might be wondering how you can thank the many special people in your life without blowing your budget...  Personally, I love baking for my daughters' teachers and coaches. I mean, who doesn't like Christmas cookies?  So, I came up with this unique way to present my cookies. If you wanted, you could add a gift card to a favorite coffee shop or book store...

I found most of my supplies for this project at orientaltrading.com

These cute, wooden trays can be left plain or painted any way you'd like. I'm a lover of everything chalkboard, so the choice was easy for me. 

First I spray painted my trays gold, and once that dried, I painted them with 2 coats of chalkboard paint.

While the paint was drying, I started my baking. I've made cookies similar to these in the past using a gingerbread boy cutter turned upside down. That works fine, but I spotted this letter A cutter and knew it would be even better. I hand cut the antlers out of rolled fondant, but you can get creative if you're short on time...food writers would work great if you wanted to draw on some antlers, broken pretzels would work, licorice strings...you get the idea! 

So here's the cuties all wrapped up and ready to be gifted. As far as DIY gifts go, this one is both easy and reasonable. You can even customize it by writing the teacher's name on it. 

Have fun baking and crafting, and Merry Christmas!!!❤️

*The trays, chalkboard paint, mason jars, red chocolate candies, red striped straws, gift bags, twine, and candy jar (that I turned into a snow globe of sorts) can all be found at Oriental Trading.

I received items from Oriental Trading. The review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the products listed above. I was provided the samples free of charge by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.

xo

Thanksgiving Table– DIY Napkin Rings

I had the opportunity to help make napkin rings for a local charity banquet this past weekend, and it got me thinking...these would be adorable on a Thanksgiving table!  Well, lucky for me, my sister is hosting Thanksgiving this year, but I figured I'd put together a simple tutorial just in case anybody else wants to make them.

You'll need:

•Thick ribbon, this one is hemp from Hobby Lobby.

•Scissors 

•Hot glue gun and glue sticks

(I had to make almost 300 napkin rings so you'll probably get away with a couple of yards)... 

My daughter and I cut the ribbon into 5-ish inch strips.

Add a few lines of hot glue.

Loop it around and hold tightly together for a few seconds.

That's it!! They're so quick and easy, and will add a stylish flair to your table.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! xo

Holiday Cookies~

I've recently started working with a local cookie cutter company, R & M International Corp.

They supply me with the cutters, and I get down to business. In this case it's prepping for Christmas and the fun holiday season...

{Okay, these are from my own cookie cutter collection, but I thought they turned out so cute, I had to add them.}

My cookies even appear on the box of their new cookie press! If you've never used a cookie press before, I'd highly recommend it. This one was so simple, no rolling or cutters involved. When you're baking for large crowds, and don't have a lot of time, this thing will be your best friend. 

Happy Holidays 2011~

My first batch of Christmas cookies~ WooHoo!!!  I bought the cutters for these cookies at Marshalls Home Goods MONTHS ago and every once in a while would take them out and stare at them...anticipating...drooling...dreaming of the day I could make my perfect Christmas cookies!!!  And here they are...

     If you haven't noticed, I have a slight obsession with bunting.

   I'm friendly despite my very cranky appearance {The Nutcracker, not me!}

I need to mention that I usually decorate my cookies with rolled fondant and these are decorated with royal icing. The sketches I drew up were screaming for detail work that I'm not so sure I could have achieved if I had used my old stand by.  Well, I'm sure it took me WAY longer than it should have but I'm happy with the results!

      "Why thank you, Baker Mouse I'd LOVE a cinnamon bun!!"

Thanks for visiting... next time you bring the cocoa and I'll bring the cookies!!! xo

{Featured} Holiday Cookie Tutorial~

I can hardly contain my excitement over my very first magazine feature!!!  I was asked to make a holiday cookie tutorial for Bird's Party Magazine Holiday 2011 edition.  Let me start by saying that Bird's Party is an incredibly creative site and a great resource for party ideas.   The magazine is equally as fantastic with tons of ideas for DIY holiday entertaining!

I wanted to make something unique and right away thought about the cookie ornaments my daughter, Amanda always insists I make for our Christmas tree.  I found this cute snow globe cookie cutter at Foose cookie cutters.  Check out the ezine for the full tutorial {It's SO easy to make!!}

The great thing about these cookies is their ability to be personalized. They can be used as ornaments, as I mentioned above or as a gift tag on a cute package.  Happy baking!!!  xo

I'd love to see what you create~ send pics. of your finished gift tag/ornament cookies to me at linda.p.schwart@gmail.com