Having mastered chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon roll apple pie and snickerdoodles, I decided to expand my repertoire around the holidays last year and tried my hand at making a gingerbread house from scratch.

However, after failing to make the gingerbread dough properly—and ending up eating all of the candy decorations out of the bags—I decided to go back to the store and do what all gingerbread house carpenters should do, buy the gingerbread house kits.

Even then, the task of constructing a gingerbread house was not laid-back.

For those of you that are like me and skip over the instructions, or watch 30 seconds of an 8-minute DIY video on YouTube, this task will be extremely daunting.

The instructions are vital to making a house your gingerbread family will enjoy living in.

To begin, set the premade gingerbread house walls upright and in their respective positions. 

Traditionally, every part of the gingerbread house must be edible, so with that in mind, using royal icing in stages with lengthy holding periods is required to build a sturdy frame.

Sometimes, the holding period can last up to an hour, so make sure you have something to pass the time. However, you can keep the walls from moving by fortifying them with other sturdy objects, like cans, so you don’t have to hold it by hand, but the result will not be as good.

After the walls are done and you secure the gingerbread roof, I always enjoy slapping a layer of frosting on each side of the walls and on top of the roof for visual appeal and also to help the candy decorations stick to the walls.

Then, grab your favorite candies and begin making windows, a door, shingles and whatever you want to put the finishing touches to your tasty creation.