How to Make a Graham Cracker Candy House

Graham crackers make sturdy supports for a candy house that you can use on your holiday table as a centerpiece. The fun comes in building the house, then using candy, cookies, and pretzels to decorate the house. Not only do you get to nibble on the ingredients while you work, the house itself is edible when the festivities are over.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• 1 box original graham crackers
• 3 egg whites
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 10-inch square piece of cardboard
• Aluminum foil
• Electric mixer and bowl
• Food coloring
• Pretzel sticks
• Shredded wheat cereal
• Assorted small candies
• Licorice ropes
• Butter knife
• Quart size plastic zip closing freezer bag
• Scissors

1. Cover a 10-inch square of cardboard with aluminum foil. This will be the base and serving plate for the graham cracker candy house.
2. Combine 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar with 3 egg whites in a bowl. Beat using the highest setting of your electric mixer until the egg whites become frothy and expand. Then start adding powdered sugar a little at a time. Continue beating until the mixture forms hard white peaks that do not collapse when you stop beating. Divide the frosting into as many smaller portions as you want different colors. Place each portion in a separate bowl and drop in food coloring and stir until you are satisfied with the color. This frosting is the glue and mortar for your graham cracker candy house. It will harden pretty quickly so now you need to work fast to assemble your house.
3. Carefully divide one graham cracker into two equal pieces along the middle of the widest side. Take two whole graham crackers and the two halves. Spread some of the frosting with a butter knife along all of the edges of the graham crackers. Form the four walls of your house by sticking the graham crackers together. Each whole graham cracker will touch both halves to end up as a rectangular free-standing cube.
4. Reinforce the base of the house by spreading a bead of frosting along the base of each wall to connect it to the aluminum foil covered cardboard. Do this by scooping some of the frosting into a zippered plastic freezer bag. Then cut about 1/8 inch or less from a corner of the bag. Squeeze the bag to push out a line of frosting.
5. Use pretzel sticks connected and glued together with frosting to form an A-frame for the roof. Then cover the roof with two pieces of shredded wheat cereal, which looks like old fashioned thatch. Glue the cereal in place using more of the frosting. Stack a few cookies or candies on top of the roof for a chimney- use frosting to hold the chimney together and in place.
6. Add siding, bricks, stones, windows, doors, and decorative carving to the walls of your house by sticking assorted small pieces of candy, cookies, cereal, and pretzels to the graham crackers with more of the frosting. You can make your graham cracker candy house as elaborate as you have time, patience and imagination to do.

Tips & Warnings

• Give these whimsical graham cracker candy houses away as holiday gifts to people. They'll be amazed at the creativity you've displayed.