This was awful. I thought I did something wrong, so i scrapped the first batch and tried again and that was exactly the same. I was so upset that i didn't see the other reviews first because once i did, i saw that all we needed was melted sugar (and a tablespoon or two of water if necessary - thanks for that tip, btw, MS110077!). I would expect vetted recipes from a site with Martha Stewart's name on it. And links that work, i'd expect that all the weblinks would work. smh.

I just made this after reading the reviews. I started with just the sugar but got impatient waiting for it to melt so i added 1-2 TBS of water just enough to moisten the sugar simmered for 10 minutes and it worked like a charm! The walls were instantly glued together no waiting for the royal icing to harden wich is awesome.

The template is great on this but the actual recipe for the gingerbread is terrible. Doesn't taste like gingerbread at all. In fact, I made 2 of the houses, baked them, tasted the bread and binned the lot. Better off trying a more spiced bread in my opinion.

As nanners56 says, just melt the sugar, do not add water! I am from sweden myself and I have never heard about adding water to the syrup "glue".

i used the recipe as inspiration for my gravity-defying house design. i wanted something more edible than royal icing, but this recipe really requires corn syrup to work. i boiled 1 part sugar, 1/2 part water, 1/3 part corn syrup and a little orange flavoring until it reached hard-crack (300*). i had help brushing

This syrup doesn't work at all. I cooked it until it became a hard mess. I ended up using Elmer's School Glue and allowing each piece to dry for several hours. The end result was great!

The caramel syrup doesn't work! TRY THIS: Melt sugar only (no water) in pan on med-low. It melts and browns fast. Don't over cook it! Works great but very hot! Also, the roof could stand to be a little wider. I would add at least another 1/2-1 inch next time.

Use the templates to make the house and chimney pieces, as directed. Cut out two 6 1/2-by-7 1/2-inch pieces of dough for the roof.

I am making the cottage and had to make another batch of dough to get everything cut out. I am not used to making things like this, so that is probably operator error. However, the caramel syrup is taking a lot longer than 10 minutes to thicken up and brown. I wonder why that is. Does the type of pan make the difference? I have the say the recipe for the dough is excellent!

The store bought caramel candies will probably not set strong enough to hold your gingerbread house together, they have dairy and some additives that soften it so best to use the sugar-water mix in the recipe.