Take the fuss out of this holiday craftwork and focus on the fun part: decorating! Here's how to build a Tudor gingerbread house the easy way. If you want to make the job even easier, you can buy a Wilton Pre-Baked Gingerbread House kit. For more gingerbread houses, pick up the latest copy of ALL YOU at WalMart.
Tudor-Revival House
What you'll need
For cardboard base:
One 12-pack cardboard beer or other beverage box
Corrugated cardboard
Empty graham cracker box
Empty spaghetti box
Packing tape
For house:
Royal icing
Red and green food coloring
Graham crackers
Spoon-size shredded wheat-and-bran cereal
Licorice Allsorts
Butter waffle cookies
Jelly-Belly Sours Mix jelly beans
Old-fashioned stick candy
Red licorice
Green apple gum by the foot
Spearmint leaves
Rock candy lollipops
Red gumdrops
Green Chuckles
Red fruit leather
Black licorice Scotty dog
Confectioners' sugar
1. Assemble cardboard base: Use packing tape to tape graham cracker box to front of beverage box, so that right sides of each box line up flush against each other.
2. Cut out peaks and roofs: For main roof, cut out two 10-inch-by-6 1/2-inch rectangles from cardboard. For side peaks, cut out two triangles, each one having one long side measuring 7 1/4 inches and two shorter sides measuring 6 inches. For front roof, cut out two trapezoids, parallel sides measuring 6 inches and 2 1/4 inches respectively, and nonparallel sides measuring 6 inches and 7 inches respectively. For front peak, cut out a triangle with two longer sides measuring 6 inches and one shorter side measuring 5 1/4 inches.
3. Attach peaks: Use packing tape to attach side and front peaks and then to attach main and front roof pieces. Use tape to attach spaghetti box to left side of house, 1 1/4 inches from back edge. Glue cardboard base to a large board with royal icing and let dry 1 hour.
4. Attach graham crackers: Spread icing over each wall of house, then press graham crackers into icing, cutting them to fit as necessary.
5. Color door and pipe window panes: Color about 1/2 cup icing with green food coloring. Color about 1/4 cup icing with red food coloring. Cut a whole graham cracker into peaked door. Spread green icing over door. Cover remaining green icing with plastic wrap and set aside. Cut hinges and doorknob from Licorice Allsort and press into door. Let stand to dry 1 hour. Cut four butter waffle cookies into small rectangles and leave 2 oval-shaped. Pipe red icing over diamond pattern of cookies to create diamond-shaped windowpanes. Let stand to dry 1 hour.
6. Shingle roof: Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip with royal icing. Squeeze a little bit of icing on cereal, one at a time, and apply a row of cereal pieces along bottom edge of one side of roof. Apply another row above that one, overlapping second row slightly over first row, cutting pieces as necessary to fit in corners. Continue until you reach peak of roof. Repeat with other side of roof and gables. For a snow-capped roof, use frosted shredded wheat-and-bran cereal.
7. Cover chimney: Spread a thin layer of icing over chimney and press jelly beans into icing. Break candy stick in half and insert each half into Chuckle to create chimney flues. Glue chimney flues to top of chimney with icing.
8. Stucco house and apply trim boards and half-timbers: Spread icing over second story walls. Glue gum-by-the-foot trim board between first and second stories and about 1 1/2 inches from top of front peak. Use icing to attach Twizzlers onto house, cutting them to fit, to create half-timbers as pictured.
9. Attach and trim doors and windows: Use icing to glue door and windows to front and sides of house. Scrape remaining green icing into a pastry bag fitted with ridged basketweave tip and trim windows and doors as pictured.
10. Landscape house: Spread a thin layer of icing on top of board all around house. Glue spearmint leaves all around base of house. Use a scissor to cut sticks from lollipops. Press narrower end of each lollipop into a red gumdrop to create a stable base. Glue lollipops to board. Cut out a small triangle of red fruit leather and pipe with white icing to create Santa hat. Use more icing to glue to head of Scotty dog and glue dog to board near front door.