Gingerbread Houses

This holiday season was a little different from others. Mostly because I was ready to pop at any moment and partly because I had no energy left. I felt really guilty for not wanting to do much with such low energy levels. 
I decided that we would do gingerbread houses for the first time, just to make this year a little more memorable. I had never attempted them before because all the recipes for gingerbread houses had egg in the dough AND egg in the frosting. I had never wanted to search out a replacement for two major components before, but figured this year was a good year to try. I wondered why I could not use my regular gingerbread cookie recipe in place of a gingerbread house recipe. Well it worked. Now we just had to find a replacement for the egg in the frosting. The meringue is usually vital in this situation since it sets up so fast and hard. After a little searching, Ryan found this recipe. It was a little sticky to work with, but it definitely did the job! The kids ended up having a blast and they all, unfortunately, got sugar hang-overs. 

Hard at work.

 Finished product.

Time for sugar!

I thought it was quite cute how the kids were so proud of their house designs. Some of them were so proud that they made me take pictures of all four sides of their houses. They all agreed, though, that the cookie and frosting were not worth eating. They definitely want regular gingerbread cookies that won't break their teeth instead of the rock-hard gingerbread houses.