The German town of Nuremberg has been famous for its "lebkuchen" since the late 1300s; the soft, cakey cookies are traditionally made with several spices, candied citrus peel, hazelnuts, and almonds. Packaged in quaint town house boxes, the cookies seem all the more authentic. The house templates create a sleeve that slips over a box filled with cookies.
Tools and Materials
Templates
Heavyweight matte printing paper
Self-healing mat
Craft knife
Bone folder
4-inch length of red ribbon for each box
Glue stick
Parchment paper
Scallop scissors
Desired number of 3-inch square boxes
Lebkuchen (gingerbread) or other cookies
Tape (optional)
Cookie Box How-To
1. Print templates at 105 percent onto heavyweight paper. On the mat, use craft knife to cut out templates, including areas around score marks.
2. On side template, crease along marks, and with the bone folder, score folds. Trim excess.
3. Crease and score front and back of house as above. Trim excess.
4. Cut slit at center of roof where marked. Knot ribbon into a loop, and pass through slit in roof, from underside.
5. Glue templates together. Adjust shape to form a cube. Let dry 30 minutes.
6. Snip two 13-by-3-inch pieces of parchment, using scallop scissors on short ends. Place strips of parchment inside box crosswise to each other to form liner. Fill with cookies, and close lid. Slip house over box. If you plan to carry or hang box, attach sleeve to box with tape.
It turns out to be really cute, however you don't need a craft knife, bone folder, or scallop scissors. You can crease and cut the paper just fine without them.
I didn't use the small boxes either. What I did was create fudge, and wrap them up with wax paper (also on Martha Stewart), as if its a package. I placed the fudge on all the plates of my guests, and simply laid the house over it. It was cute! Perfect for Christmas Dinner!
Now I have to go out and find 3" boxes? And this sleeve is just going to slip off anyway, unless I secure it with ugly tape? Why didn't you just include flaps to form the bottom of the house box?
how do you make a 3 inch box to go inside need a template so i don't have to buy extra stuff..
Absolutely adorable! I didn't even use a 3" box... instead I used a treat bag for the cookies, tied the top with ribbon, and pulled the ribbon through the slit in the roof. Great as a party favor!
These turned out just as adorabe as they look. I couldn't find boxes the exact size needed so I adjusted the template itself into a box by moving the walls around to make a flap at the end of two bottoms and a bottom with sleeve on the end of another. I'm rather pleased with the result, but be warned these are very time consuming which ever route you take ( 15 minutes/per box). Lots of cutting and gluing!
One more tip, when scoring the roof, I ended up scoring on the white side of the roof -- this meant I didn't accidentally scrape off any roof (photocopy) color when I scored the folds in the roof.
FYI, in case you want to buy the boxes before you start this project: the interior dimensions of the town house when finished are 3" wide by 3 1/2" tall (assuming you photocopy the template at 105%). The houses are cute but after doing 10, I have a finger cramp from holding the craft knife!
Question: What size boxes do I need to buy for the townhouses to slip over?
I've just copied the houses on card. By the way, to get the townhouse template copied, I had to cut it half and do copies of the roof and facade separately at 105% since my copy store didn't have heavy card larger than 81/2 x 11.
Cute project......I made several houses and baked Gingersnaps and placed inside the boxes.
Rosanne