Pretzels work great for building a “gingerbread” house. Image courtesy of The Pretzel Eater’s Club.
If you’re hankering to make a few gingerbread houses but don’t really want to buy the pre-fab house parts or make your own gingerbread pieces, there are so many other ways to build a “gingerbread” house.
The Rules of Gingerbread House Making
Most people agree, there are a few “rules” to making a gingerbread house or village. 1) It should be made of all edible ingredients – anything else is sorta cheating. 2) You need a great Royal Icing recipe in order to secure things quickly.
There are recipes that are eggless and can still do a good job “gluing” your pieces together well. In fact, there are at least 10 different varieties of recipes that can work well as “cement.” Icings that have any fat (margarine, butter, shortening), usually will not harden enough, so they will not be appropriate.