Day Seventeen... "Gingerbread" Houses

Tonight we got together with some friends and made "gingerbread" houses. We actually used graham crackers, not gingerbread, but the kids all loved it anyway. We hot glued the houses together because if you use frosting to "glue" them you have to start a few days ahead (honestly, who thinks that far in advance?). While I was looking for a recipe for royal icing at allrecipes I came across a comment that said you can melt sugar in a pan and it will act just like hot glue... so if any of you'd like to try it just click on this allrecipes link and it will take you to a recipe and the instructions (it's the first comment) for melting the sugar... or you can just hot glue them. As for the icing, I used a different recipe because our friend is pregnant so I skipped the recipe with raw egg whites and found one with meringue powder. Something important about the icing... I'm not sure if the five minutes of whipping is long enough. It should be until peaks form. Then the icing will be thick enough to hold the candy until it dries. When I made ours it took about 10 mins. of whipping at low speed. Also, I just noticed that the first recipe doesn't say anything about keeping the icing moist. It's important to keep a damp towel over your bowl so it doesn't dry out... especially if you make it ahead of time. Enough of the explainations... here are some pictures. I think it's fun how much the dads enjoyed the project too! Enjoy the Journey!