Use royal icing -- piped from a resealable plastic bag with a corner snipped off -- to hold houses together and "glue on" decorations. When adhering pieces, hold in place one minute to set.
Cookie Cottage How-To
1. With a serrated knife, saw a graham cracker into 2 squares. Saw off top corners of another cracker to create a peaked roof; make 2.
2. Pipe icing onto bottom and straight edges of a peaked piece. Place on an upside-down paper plate; use a small object, such as a spice jar, to prop it up. Repeat to pipe icing onto edges of a square piece, and adhere it to peaked cracker. Remove spice jar, and adhere other pieces with icing.
3. Saw a cracker into 2 squares for the roof. If desired, spread icing onto roof pieces and decorate with candy; let dry. Pipe icing onto top edges of house, and adhere roof pieces. To display, place plates on a tray and cover with shredded coconut snow.
Check out the houses below for decorating ideas.
Candy Land
Pastel Village
Peppermint Place
Woodsy Hideaway
Tiny Tudor
Creature Comforts
Return to Building Cookie Cottages.
If you have problems with humidity, try baking the crackers first just enough to get the moisture that they're packed without. This should keep them from getting too soft too quick.
I made these and Citibank foreclosed on them! LOL
I loved making these houses a few years ago. But this year I made a few houses and the graham crackers got so soft. I do live in Florida and my AC is broken so the heat/humidity probably had an effect. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Would freezing the crackers help or just make it worse...I was planning on giving some to co-workers for Christmas.
We had a great time making these! Easy! We used caramelized sugar for the "construction" phase and royal icing for the decorations. The molten sugar is not for kids but sets up really fast and really strong! We made a few extra houses so we could get the hang of the fast setting "glue".
Great Christmas time project! I do this every year as an art project with the kids that I work with. If you are doing this with very young children, I'd advise using small cafeteria-style milk cartons under the graham crackers as a supportive frame to reduce frustrations. Loved the examples.
I used melted chocolate chips for an "instant glue." After dipping my pieces in the chocolate, they either set up immediately or within a minute of being put in the fridge. It saved me the work of making royal frosting, and my kids got the instant gratification we wanted. An added plus was that it tasted better than royal frosting when the kids ate the houses.
Great project. All fun for very little work. Interestingly, a big part of the fun for my 2 kids was the fantasy of getting to eat the cottages when we are done, whereas, for an adult, the edibility is pleasing in a more abstract way. It's a bit of a metaphor for the general pleasure of Christmas I suppose.
I made these for the cookie exchange last Xmas. Very easy. I placed each house in a red/white paper basket (these are very cheap from from the party supply store). Then I wrapped in clear cellophane and tied with a big red bow. It was a very impressive presentation.
I made these for the cookie exchange last Xmas. Very easy. I placed each house in a red/white paper basket (these are very cheap from from the party supply store). Then I wrapped in clear cellophane and tied with a big red bow. It was a very impressive presentation.