Simple Gingerbread Houses

We Love making 'Gingerbread' Houses in the winter. We use graham crackers, instead of baking our own.
The secret is in the icing.
Royal Icing
3 egg whites
1# powdered sugar
*Whip together for 8-12 minutes. Icing will get fluffy and fairly stiff, but not dry. It should look like this...

Keep your icing covered with a damp cloth or it will begin to harden.
Gather odds and ends of dry food items and candy, and you are all set.

I rubber band the decorating bags closed so the icing doesn't squirt out the back for the children.

Start by spreading icing on a plate or piece of card board. Place two of your graham cracker walls on the icing, then ice the cracks. Repeat with the other walls. Wait 10 - 15 minutes and then do the roof.

Let the houses sit for 10 or so minutes before decorating to harden. When the icing is dry, the houses will be very solid and stable.

You can use... sugar cones and dyed coconut flakes/sprinkles to make trees, beans for side walks, rice chex and golden grahams for shingles, noodles for mailbox posts, gum drops for shrubs, pretzels for fences, brown sugar for dirt, pretzel rods for a log cabin, animal crackers for animals, Keebler Elves for people...
Let your imaginations run wild!
It's so much fun!