Gingerbread House - Baking with Children

I've had several failed attempts at making a gingerbread house with my kids before this. But this was the most successful gingerbread house I've made since starting to try to.

I used my gingerbread recipe. I rolled out a good sized piece onto a sheet of baking paper. I cut one side to be straight and used a template I found online to help me figure out the dimensions. This one was 10 cm wide at the base with the sides 10 cm tall and 15 cm at the center peak.
 These are the front and back pieces. The door is 3cm by 7cm The windows are 1.5 cm by 1.5 cm. I happened to have a cutter the right size, so I used that for the windows. The back piece had no windows, although looking back I feel I should have put some in it.
 The side walls were 10 x 10cm. The roof pieces were 10 x 7cm. I also cut some windows into the side pieces, but not the roof.
 I mixed up a batch of thick royal icing.
 I wanted my kids to participate, so I put some royal icing into a couple piping bags without tips for the kids. Each had about a tablespoon of icing. I put more royal icing in a piping bag with a small star tip.
 Here are all the pieces of the gingerbread house.
 We had also bought a lot of colorful candy.
 I used a cutter for the front of a gingerbread house for the girls to decorate themselves.
 I started out decorating the front separately, but we swiftly ran out of space to let the front dry.

 But didn't Sabrina do a great job?
 So, I decided it was time to assemble the gingerbread house. I used thick royal icing and used quite a bit to help it to stick together.
 Even Natalie did a good job decorating her gingerbread house.
 Finally, the house seemed to be standing.
 So, I began to tile the roof with smarties. But one side caved in. Fortunately, it did not break and I was able to reattach it with more royal icing.
 I tiled the roof on the other side with more smarties.
 Oh, my gorgeous girl.
 I placed some hard candies around the sides where I would picture plants would look good. I also lined the bottom with gummy bears and lined the roof with the circular candies.
 I'm quite proud of how this sweet house turned out.
 I can totally picture Hansel and Gretel nibbling on this house.

 We also made and decorated lots of gingerbread cookies.
To watch us make this cute house on YouTube, click here: https://youtu.be/N01WM0IrbGI
Um zuzuschauen, wie wir dieses süßes Haus auf YouTube machen, hier klicken: https://youtu.be/RlfC7-h74o8

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