No-Bake Gingerbread Houses for Kids by Lisa Anderson, Photographs by Zac Williams Page A

concentrated and makes deep,
     bright colors. You can find gel food coloring in most grocery stores, but the gels at craft
     and cake decorating stores come in many more colors and are even more concentrated.
    When tinting your icing, use a craft stick or toothpick to add just a tiny bit of gel to
     the icing. A little bit goes a very long way. You can always keep adding more, but you can’t
     add less!
    The easiest way to use the icing to decorate your house is to spoon some of it into a
     quart-size ziplock bag. Squeeze the air out of the top, then seal the bag. Double-check and
     make sure it is completely sealed or else the icing will come out the top when you squeeze
     the bag. Cut off a bottom corner of the bag and squeeze the bag to push the icing through
     the hole. The smaller the hole, the thinner the line when you’re piping the icing. You’ll
     usually want a thinner line when decorating, but you can use a thicker line when “gluing”
     the house together.
    Any icing that is left in the bowl needs to be covered with plastic wrap so that the
     plastic wrap is touching the surface of the icing. Icing that is exposed to air will turn
     hard quickly and you won’t be able to use it.
    You can store royal icing in the fridge for a few days.
Candy, Candy, Candy!
    The projects in this book have suggestions of what candy to use so that your house looks
     the same as the one in the photo. But if you have an idea for a different color or shape of
     candy for the house you’re making, go for it! The best part of making gingerbread houses is
     using your imagination and playing with different candies to come up with a cool design
     that’s all your own. You can use any candy you want, with one exception: taffy. After taffy
     is unwrapped, it will eventually “melt” and run down the sides of your house. Trust me—it
     doesn’t look good!
    Now that you know some tips and tricks and important information, go have some fun, be
     creative, and build some really cool no-bake gingerbread houses.

Demo version limitation

Metric Conversion Chart
    Volume Measurements
Weight Measurements
Temperature Conversion
U.S.
Metric
U.S.
Metric
U.S.
Metric
1 teaspoon
5 ml
1/2 ounce
15 g
250
120
1 tablespoon
15 ml
1 ounce
30 g
300
150
1/4 cup
60 ml
3 ounces
90 g
325
160
1/3 cup
75 ml
4 ounces
115 g
350
180
1/2 cup
125 ml
8 ounces
225 g
375
190
2/3 cup
150 ml
12 ounces
350 g
400
200
3/4 cup
175 ml
1 pound
450 g
425
220
1 cup
250 ml
2-1/4 pounds
1 kg
450
230