I have a confession. I have never made the pieces of our gingerbread houses that we decorate at Christmas. I buy the kit from Ikea. I know. I know. Maybe one day. But I need a few elements of easy in my life during this season and the gingerbread house decorating is one of them. The only thing I hate is that the kit only comes with the gingerbread parts and I have to make my own royal icing to stick it all together. I've meant to share what we use for years and here I am just now getting around to it. Probably too late for many of you this year. Oh well. Hope its helpful to a few--its super simple and has always worked for us.
Gingerbread House "Glue" (Royal Icing)
1 egg white
1 1/3 - 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Using a mixer, mix together the egg white and about 2/3 cup of the powdered sugar for a couple minutes. After this is well mixed, continue to add the powdered sugar up to 1 1/3 cups or until you have a stiff icing. Test it a bit on the house, if its not sticking well, or is too runny, you may need to add some more powdered sugar. Ideally you should be able to fit the house together and pipe on small dollops to stick candy to without it coming off. If its running too much or candy isn't staying just add a little more powdered sugar. I pipe my icing onto the gingerbread pieces using a cake decorating bag and tip, but you can create one by cutting a very small hole in the corner of a small ziplock type bag.
Notes: I don't worry too much about this icing being edible--after a gingerbread house sits out as a decoration for awhile at our house, I'm not about to let anyone eat it. If you're worried about little fingers licking too much of the icing during the decorating, you can make it safer by microwaving it til it reaches 160 degrees (fahrenheit) after the egg and initial 2/3 cup sugar have been mixed. I have not ever done this.
Gingerbread House "Glue" (Royal Icing)
1 egg white
1 1/3 - 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Using a mixer, mix together the egg white and about 2/3 cup of the powdered sugar for a couple minutes. After this is well mixed, continue to add the powdered sugar up to 1 1/3 cups or until you have a stiff icing. Test it a bit on the house, if its not sticking well, or is too runny, you may need to add some more powdered sugar. Ideally you should be able to fit the house together and pipe on small dollops to stick candy to without it coming off. If its running too much or candy isn't staying just add a little more powdered sugar. I pipe my icing onto the gingerbread pieces using a cake decorating bag and tip, but you can create one by cutting a very small hole in the corner of a small ziplock type bag.
Notes: I don't worry too much about this icing being edible--after a gingerbread house sits out as a decoration for awhile at our house, I'm not about to let anyone eat it. If you're worried about little fingers licking too much of the icing during the decorating, you can make it safer by microwaving it til it reaches 160 degrees (fahrenheit) after the egg and initial 2/3 cup sugar have been mixed. I have not ever done this.
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