Gingerbread houses

[NCRedding]

DD wants to do a gingerbread house for Christmas, so I bought a kit at Sam's. Now I'm wondering: How long are these good for? Does the frosting start to crack, and do you ever attract ants with these things? For those of you who have done these, how close to Christmas do you do them? Thanks for assistance.

 

[Kermit]

I did the prepackaged kind one Christmas. It lasted about forever. The cookies and frosting they give are really nasty tasting, but they don't seem to attract ants or anything. I used my own candy, but that seemed to be fine, too. I can't remember exactly how long I had mine out, but it was over a month. I probably wouldn't keep it in a part of the house where you tend to get ants, but I wouldn't worry too much about it either. I've also made them with graham crackers or homemade gingerbread and homemade frosting, and I still haven't had a problem.

 

[MerryPoppins]

I bought some gingerbread men cookie pans, where you just press the dough into the molds. I also got the Pampered Chef's gingerbread house mold. We've never tried them out, but I'd like to use them this year. Anyone know a good recipe to use with these? Would I use a different recipe for the house than the cookie men?

Don't know if it would be different from a traditional gingerbread cookie since you aren't rolling it out and cutting, but instead just pressing into molds.

 

[Kallison]

I make them with the kids in school using the royal icing recipe from meringue powder at the craft store. That stuff hardens like cement. WE have kept ours out for months. One year I put them in plastic bags and stored them until the next year, they saved fine and no ants! You can also laquer it with a clear acrylic spray, but I've never bothered to do it.

 

[piratesmate]

We live in an old farm house where ants are often a problem - sometimes even in winter. Last year we couldn't convince DD to get rid of hers until Easter. (Also couldn't convince DH to let her keep it for this year. ) We had no trouble with ants. We used graham crackers & one of the icings in the can from Betty Crocker - and lots of stuff like gum drops. No cracking, etc. Even the canned stuff dries like cement.

I'm not sure if ants wouldn't be a bigger problem in NC, though, so I don't know if you can go by my experience in PA.

Deb