Try A Simple Twist On A Gingerbread House With A Graham Cracker Swap

Gingerbread houses can admittedly become serious undertakings during the hectic holiday season. Thankfully, with the quick swap of graham crackers for gingerbread, you and your family can still participate in crafty culinary activities with significantly less fuss. The pre-made crackers can be used to construct tiny cottages and simple abodes, and your choice of icing or frosting can be the glue that holds the walls of these crispy cinnamon-sugary pieces together.

With less time spent in the kitchen having to make gingerbread from scratch, you can focus your attention on the decorating aspect of your holiday creations and devote your creative juices to perfecting the winter scenes of your dreams. Plus, any contents leftover inside your packages of graham crackers can be used to warm up cold evenings with homemade s'mores, brighten spirits with lemon cheesecake bars, or be smashed up into pieces to make a simple crust worthy of your next pie-making attempt.

Graham crackers have been snacked on since the late 1820s, and while origins were nestled in a health-food movement, decorating your holiday-themed homes with candies and sugary treats needn't be confined to the health-food aisle. As you might coat a traditional gingerbread house with colored candies, bright sprinkles, and twisted candy canes, reach for similar decorations to adorn your graham cracker frame. Use royal icing to hold cracker pieces in place, and create a scene around the graham cracker construction site with gumdrops, marshmallows, chocolate-coated candies, shreds of desiccated coconut, and edible gold flakes. 

Because graham cracker pieces may be more fragile than thicker slices of gingerbread, use toothpicks to keep precarious pieces in place until the frosting dries so that you can go wild with aesthetic decorating details. Let your imagination run free as you and your family members create graham-cracker neighborhoods, using A-frame designs or more complex structures.