Gingerbread Houses part 2

I found a recipe online for "construction grade gingerbread houses."  Apparently, the gingerbread that you make to eat isn't strong enough to construct a good house.  So they have some that is construction grade which you can sand down so it has smooth surfaces.  Crazy stuff.

Anyway, I got the recipe and make a couple of houses.  I cut the pieces out, cooked them, and let them dry for a couple of days.  Then I made royal icing (really thick royal icing) and put the houses together.  The key, I read on one website, was to have the icing be between both walls.  In other words, don't put the icing on the piece and then push the two pieces flush together.  Make sure that there is icing between the pieces.  Then you let them sit for a couple of days to harden.

It actually worked out great.  They were solid.  I did have a bit of a gap in the roof of one of the houses.  But this is only our first year really doing gingerbread houses seriously so we will get more practice next year.

We bought candy and then went to town.

Courtney's house looks like it has lips on the front.

The big candies cover up the big gap in the roof where the two pieces don't quite meet right,

I did part of Bryan's house.  I thinned my royal icing down so it was easier to pipe.

They turned out good for the first try.  Next year will be better.  But it actually was a lot of fun to do because the houses held up, which is a first for us!