These no-bake gingerbread houses are a fun Christmas tradition!
When our children were very little, I started a tradition of making gingerbread houses. Now, every year, it’s not even a question of if we will make them, they just start asking me when we’re going to make them!
I’ll apologetically admit that these are made of nothing but junk, but they’re so fun! A few times we used more natural candies (without food coloring), but those do get expensive and they’re not as bright and cheery. This year we just used the cheapest ingredients we could get, and we limited the candy a bit more than usual.
No-Bake Gingerbread Houses
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Here are the ingredients:
- Graham Crackers (you’ll need 7 squares for each house)
- 1 batch of icing (see below for recipe)
- Quart size zipper freezer bags (I recommend not getting the cheapest brand, as they’ll rip! Discount grocery stores are a good source for these bags.)
- Packing tape (for sealing the bags)
- Candy for decorating
- Round piece of cardboard for a base (I’ve used cardboard squares covered with freezer paper, I’ve cut my own circles out of cardboard boxes and then wrapped those with freezer paper, or you can use cake circles, shown below. A package of 10 has enough for 2 years of gingerbread houses for our family.)
Royal Icing Recipe:
- 3 egg whites or meringue powder (I use meringue powder: 6 tsp meringue powder + 6 Tablespoons water)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 pound powdered sugar
Directions for Making Icing:
- Beat the egg whites (or meringue powder + water) with an electric mixer at high speed.
- Add cream of tartar and beat until mixture is somewhat stiff.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating after each addition. Beat on high until it’s very stiff. You want the peaks of icing to be able to stand up straight.
- Note: This recipe makes enough for a couple of houses (varies depending on size of house, and how much frosting you end up using.) For our five children to each make a house, I usually make 3 batches of this recipe. I used to triple the recipe, but every year we’d ruin our mixer because it was just too much for it to handle. Finally, I started mixing up smaller batches and this works much better. I usually mix up one batch, and then I let the younger children get started on their houses while I mix up a double batch for the older kids. My mixer is able to handle a doubled batch, but it’s a strain for it to do more than that at a time.
Steps for Making Gingerbread Houses:
1. After you get your icing mixed up, take a zippered freezer bag and cut the tip off the bottom corner of the bag. Fill it half-full with icing, and then squeeze the air out, zip up the bag, and reinforce the top of the bag with the packing tape. This keeps it from busting open from the pressure of little hands squeezing the icing out!
2. Take one of your cardboard bases, and arrange four graham cracker squares with their corners touching. Use a sharpie to trace the bottom edge of each cracker.
I had a little helper helping me!
He even helped me cut some of the graham crackers. At least he’s trying! 🙂
3. You’ll need 6 whole squares and then one of the squares you’ll cut in half for the roof. I find it works really well to use a serrated knife and use a gentle “sawing” motion to cut it without breaking it.
4. Squeeze some icing out onto the traced square, and set two crackers on the icing to create walls. Then fill all of the corners (inside and out) with icing, to help them stand up. The icing is like glue, and it dries very fast, so I always have to help the younger kids with this part. Do the same thing with the other walls, just making sure to get everything glued together with the icing.
I didn’t get a picture of this step, but once you have your box (the house) built, then squeeze some icing on top of two crackers and set a triangle-shaped cracker on top of these two opposing walls. Make sure to glue it down well with a thick line of icing. Then ice the tops of both triangles and set the remaining two squares on top of them, to make a roof.
5. Set out all your candy! (I had the older girls put the candy in bowls and containers on the table while I finished cutting out and preparing all the graham crackers.)
6. Time to decorate! This is the best part. I love seeing the creativity they use to decorate their houses.
This year we made a “snowy” gingerbread house village, using a string of white lights and fiberfil stuffing.
View all of our past gingerbread house posts below!
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I so appreciate anything no-bake! I am not one to make a lot of desserts, but this one looks like so much fun to create!
We always have fun with them! 🙂
These turned out so cute and the way you displayed them was perfect! I’m going to plan to make these with my 7-year-old granddaughter. She would love it! Thank you for sharing on Party in Your PJs! I’ve pinned and shared.
Thank you, Teresa! Have fun making them with your granddaughter!
My son’s first grade class actually just did this today for a class Christmas party. They absolutely loved it! Such a great, festive idea that they love!
How fun! 🙂
How much water do you use for the smaller batch of icing? I think my family would enjoy this way more than the kit we get every year. They always fight over the icing bag, lol!
I use 6 tsp. meringue powder and 6 Tablespoons water, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, and 1 pound powdered sugar for the smaller batch of icing. Have fun! 🙂
Thank you Joy!!!
You're welcome, Donna!
Those turned out very cute. What a fun tradition. We did gingerbread houses one year – baking the gingerbread and everything. We found it to be fun but a rather involved process and it didn't become a tradition. I think I would be more open to a little simpler tradition like this.
Thank you! I've always wanted to try making "real" baked gingerbread houses, but this is so simple that I just keep doing it this way. It's much more doable. 🙂
My family has enjoyed doing this for a couple of years now. It is so much fun.
I agree, it's so much fun! Thanks for stopping by, Kali!
Thanks for this gingerbreadhouse and clear photos!
I'm glad you like it! Thank you, Jedidja! 🙂
Thank-you so much for posting how to make a gingerbread house step-by-step!! I'm saving this and hoping I can start making it one of our family traditions!! Yours turned out beautiful!! That's awful how your mixer burns up each year! I guess it would be way to hard to mix by hand wouldn't it? The memories you are making with your children are priceless and the traditions you have with your children will likely be passed down to your grandchildren one day. 😀
You're welcome, Kristin! I hope it works out for you! I know, it's too bad about our mixers, but it may be because we just have cheap ones. They're not really very sturdy. A bigger, stronger mixer would probably do a better job. 🙂 One year we did have to finish mixing it by hand, but it was really hard. The icing is very thick and acts like a glue!
I do hope my children pass on some of our traditions to their own children! That's an encouraging thought. 🙂