Log Cabin Gingerbread House
This pretzel log cabin gingerbread house is a fun variation on a traditional gingerbread house. It’s seriously easy to make with a bit of royal icing and pretzel rods.
Why has no one ever told me how much fun decorating a gingerbread house could be?! I mean, I can see the appeal of the sugary treats and brightly coloured candy but creating a visually appealing Gingerbread Log Cabin?! Cummon! Super fun. And I had no idea. LOL
I always left gingerbread house decorating to the kids and watched them slip, slap, slop on all the icing sugar and candy in a way that basically allowed them to pick it off and eat it as soon as possible. Are you with me mommas? So this year I decided to see what all the fuss was about and created my very own Log Cabin Gingerbread House.
Gingerbread Cabin:
Adorable right?! And way easier to decorate than I expected!
I like to simplify things as much as possible whenever creating craft projects and/or baking. So this year I went to our local bulk foods store (Bulk Barn) and loaded up on supplies.
I purchased our gingerbread houses already assembled!!! How brilliant is that? I also picked up pre-packaged icing sugar all ready to go. Then it was a simple process of buying a variety of festive candy and pretzels for log cabin building.
This EZ royal icing comes in its own piping bag (you could also use a plastic bag) and is perfect for gluing graham crackers, pretzel sticks and Christmas candy to the little cabin.
We picked out red and green all. the. things. These gum drops were delicious by the way. Good luck trying to save enough for gingerbread house decorating!
I like to lay things out on cookie sheets or in dishes for the boys. It helps to keep the mess to a minimum and makes everything easier to find while building and decorating.
Gingerbread house supplies:
- gingerbread house base
- pretzel pieces
- royal icing
- red and green candy
- powdered sugar
- candy canes (optional)
I was very selective when picking out pretzels. I had to be sure to use the most whole, straight pretzels available. It was a bit like what I imagine a general contractor goes through when building a house. LOL
How to build the log cabin:
- Place the house on a flat surface. Start with the side wall and use the icing sugar to glue pretzels to each side piece horizontally.
- Next, work on the roof panels. Cut a small hole in the piping bag and pipe icing into a shingle design on the roof sections. Drip icing along the top edge and add gum drops as chimney tops.
- Now work on the back and front wall. Layer with horizontal pretzels and icing while making a front door with pretzels placed vertically. Decorate with sprinkles and candy.
- Line icing along the bottom edge and all over the base.
I simply layered the pretzels onto the house using the icing like cement. I used waffle pretzels for windows and broken bits of pretzel to fill in the gaps.
Dripy icing makes for great snow! And shingles were created using a fine icing tip and M&Ms.
The wreath was created using sprinkles and a bit of icing. Sprinkles!! So fun. Now allow me to share Isaiah’s masterpiece…
Do you see how candy is placed with the utmost thought to how quickly he could pick it off an eat it?! Smart, right?
Green grass and a red door made from more M&M candies.
His gingerbread house looks totally delicious! Next year we want to try making Christmas trees with candy melts and gingerbread pieces.
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Tips for Holiday Baking:
- Double or triple recipes to make large batches of goodies. This allows cookies and bars to be made in an assembly line fashion and speeds up the process.
- Pick holiday recipes that compliment each other and look good plated together. For example every year I like to make Candy Cane Brownies, Eggnog Cookies, Cranberry and Pistachio Shortbread and Peppermint Dipped Chocolate Cookies for a good variety.
- Participate in a Holiday Baking Exchange! This is a great way to prepare for a season of holiday entertaining.
- Start baking early and store goodies in the freezer until they are needed. I use these large Rubbermaid food storage containers to save a mixture of cookies and bars in my freezer so that I have them ready to go for Christmas parties and gatherings all season long.
If you love the gingerbread log cabin please help me share it on Facebook and Pinterest so that others can enjoy it too!
