Part 9 Gingerbread Finale (We make our own!)

After seeing so many wonderful examples of gingerbread houses at the Festival of Trees, we were able to make and decorate our own gingerbread houses. I awoke early to make the houses with enough time for cooling before assembly. We were using molds loaned to us from my uncle and with my aunt's recipe, we were able to make three houses. The mold needed is John Wright Gingerbread House Cookie Pan 14-in and can be found at Amazon for around $26. For assembly I made sugar glue for the first time. Hence the burnt dark brown/black sugar glue for the first house. After using up the first batch of sugar glue, I attempted another batch, watching it more closely and taking it on and off the heat as it started to melt, while stirring with a wooden spoon. This second batch came out to a golden amber and tasted quite yummy from the little drizzles that we enjoyed after they cooled.
At a family party we decorated the houses. And here is Eva's beautiful gingerbread cottage with a frosting door.
Sarah went with a pink and red theme for her gingerbread cottage. They both included a lot of gummy bears with a few fish.
So this ends the series on Gingerbread for now.
Note: Sugar glue is merely melted sugar. Measure 1 cup sugar into a heavy pan and place over high heat. Stir occasionally at first and then constantly near the end - taking on and off the heat as needed to keep the syrup amber and not dark brown or black. Do not attempt to make sugar glue unless you have previous candy making experience since the syrup is far hotter (350-365 degrees F) than boiling water (212 degrees F) and can result in third degree burns. It requires a lot of patience and caution-definitely do not have children around while gluing the houses. Do a line of sugar glue on the base and then place the smoothed bottom of the wall onto the glue and hold until stable. Repeat with remaining walls. Drizzle sugar glue down the seams of the walls to seal together. Once the walls are assembled and the glue has hardened (about a few minutes) drizzle glue on the tops and apply roof pieces. Drizzle more glue along the top ridge of the roof to seal the roof together.