The hands-down best frosting or icing to use for gluing together gingerbread or graham cracker candy houses is Royal Icing.
And the best royal icing is the Joy of Baking Royal Icing, but slightly modified.
But of course I don't make it the way it's written.
Here's what I do:
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3-4 cups powdered sugar
Beat the lemon juice and egg whites until they are foamy (you can use the paddle attachment; no need for the whisk attachment on your mixer). Add all the powdered sugar at once and mix it until smooth. Transfer to plastic zipper-close bags (about 1/2-3/4 c per bag--not too full). When you're ready to glue the candy houses together, snip a corner off and "pipe" the icing on. Less powdered sugar makes it easier to pipe, but more powdered sugar makes it set up faster and stronger, so you have to strike a balance that works for whoever is piping (how patient vs strong they are) and what the weather is like (somehow that makes a difference). The ideal balance leaves you with something softer than cookie dough but stiff enough that it doesn't pool or spread when you pipe it in a line. If it's too stiff, it will pop the bag instead of piping out. (You can add a few drops of water at a time and massage the bag to thin it out, but if you've snipped the corner already, make sure to tape it first.) If it's too runny, it won't work as glue (add more powdered sugar.)
This dries rock-hard overnight, but it dries enough in minutes to hold a structure together nicely so you can build and build. (And boy do we build! Mountains, roller coasters, campgrounds, secret Russian bases, spheres, Stargates, the PacMan arcade kill screen, mazes, and whatever else anyone can imagine. Nobody bothers with cottages around here.)
I need a dozen or more bags of this when we're making candy houses every year, but I never double the recipe. Just make multiple batches--it works better and is actually faster than trying to beat 8 cups of powered sugar into 4 egg whites.
And the best royal icing is the Joy of Baking Royal Icing, but slightly modified.
But of course I don't make it the way it's written.
Here's what I do:
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3-4 cups powdered sugar
Beat the lemon juice and egg whites until they are foamy (you can use the paddle attachment; no need for the whisk attachment on your mixer). Add all the powdered sugar at once and mix it until smooth. Transfer to plastic zipper-close bags (about 1/2-3/4 c per bag--not too full). When you're ready to glue the candy houses together, snip a corner off and "pipe" the icing on. Less powdered sugar makes it easier to pipe, but more powdered sugar makes it set up faster and stronger, so you have to strike a balance that works for whoever is piping (how patient vs strong they are) and what the weather is like (somehow that makes a difference). The ideal balance leaves you with something softer than cookie dough but stiff enough that it doesn't pool or spread when you pipe it in a line. If it's too stiff, it will pop the bag instead of piping out. (You can add a few drops of water at a time and massage the bag to thin it out, but if you've snipped the corner already, make sure to tape it first.) If it's too runny, it won't work as glue (add more powdered sugar.)
This dries rock-hard overnight, but it dries enough in minutes to hold a structure together nicely so you can build and build. (And boy do we build! Mountains, roller coasters, campgrounds, secret Russian bases, spheres, Stargates, the PacMan arcade kill screen, mazes, and whatever else anyone can imagine. Nobody bothers with cottages around here.)
I need a dozen or more bags of this when we're making candy houses every year, but I never double the recipe. Just make multiple batches--it works better and is actually faster than trying to beat 8 cups of powered sugar into 4 egg whites.
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