How to Make a Log Cabin "Gingerbread" House

Each year my boys and I buy a gingerbread kit and a few extra bags of candy and have fun decorating a gingerbread house together.  This year I wanted to do something different.  I vaguely remembered making a log cabin house with my grandmother one year when I was young and thought the boys might get a kick out of that.

I wasn't really sure where to start... I finally settled on asking my husband to make us a house out of cardboard like he used to do when we attended our Library's graham cracker "gingerbread" house night.  Then we began covering the house with frosting and pretzel rods.




Our house cost us less than $5 and we just love it!  

We used two bags of pretzel rods, one box of gingersnap cookies for the roof, a whole bag of powdered sugar for the frosting and every single piece of candy was saved from their Halloween bags.  



The only problem we had was that we used real buttercream frosting and it kept getting a bit warm in our hands with so much decorating to be done and we'd have to stop and put it in the fridge to firm it up again.

We talked about layering the cookies on the roof much like real shingles but we weren't sure how much weight the frosting could hold.  We finally decided to just lay them out and stagger them knowing we'd fill in any holes with frosting and candy.  Again we used a sharp knife to cut the cookies in half and it worked beautifully.


We started on the bottom and worked our way log by log all around the house.  Then slowly built up the layers.  We had a very sharp knife handy for when we needed to make cuts but we lucked out that many of the broken logs fit right where we needed them without trimming.










When all the pretzels and cookies had the house mostly covered we set it aside for an hour or two for the frosting to firm up then we went right to decorating!

We opened up all the Halloween candy we had saved and divided them by type into paper cups.  



We used Hershey bars for the doors, Rolo candies for the chimney, and Kit Kat bars on all the corners of the house

They lined the house with smarties, the roof with M&M's and Skittles, and even added Kit Kat/ Starburst windows on the sides



The finishing touch was the "wreath" made out of life saver gummies 

 We could not be happier with how our house turned out!



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Comments

  1. Bri RundeDecember 8, 2018 at 9:43 AM

    What fun! I was just thinking about how I could do a gingerbread house with the kids and avoid buying the kits that cost a bit more than I want to spend. This is a great idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. TanyaDecember 8, 2018 at 9:57 PM

    So cute and much better than the prepackaged gingerbread houses. It looks like lots of fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Teresa BDecember 11, 2018 at 6:22 AM

    That’s so cute. The last time we attempted to build a gingerbread house it was a complete disaster and the kids were so frustrated...maybe we’ll give your version a try and see if it works better for us.
    Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3December 11, 2018 at 6:52 AM

      Oh no! We've had pretty good luck with gingerbread houses... the key is to make sure your frosting is nice and thick so it can hold the candies and everything in place.

      Delete
  4. My Recipe TreasuresDecember 11, 2018 at 5:11 PM

    Love this unique gingerbread house. Found you at Best of the Weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3December 12, 2018 at 6:46 AM

      Thank you! And thank you so much for stopping by.

      Delete
  5. Claire JustineDecember 12, 2018 at 6:38 AM

    What a great idea and cool design. I love baking more around Christmas.

    Thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays :) Hope you can join us today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3December 12, 2018 at 6:48 AM

      Thank you! We love baking around the holidays too; though I am trying to cut back a bit this year as we end up eating most of it ourselves.

      Delete
  6. EmilyDecember 15, 2018 at 11:20 AM

    This is so clever! I love how it turned out. Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sew Crafty CrochetDecember 16, 2018 at 5:03 PM

    OMG! Your gingerbread log cabin looks so cute. I'm pinning for inspiration for next Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Michele MorinDecember 10, 2019 at 6:58 AM

    What a masterpiece! And you were wise to be concerned about weight on the roof. One year, we had just barely taken a picture of our gingerbread house, and had turned our backs on it for just a second when we heard the most sickening thud and turned around to find the whole thing had collapsed on itself.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dee | GrammysGrid.comNovember 19, 2020 at 5:56 AM

    Such fun and tasty too! Thanks so much for linking up with me at #AThemedLinkup 34 for All Things Christmas. Shared.

    ReplyDelete
  10. crackercrumblifeDecember 2, 2024 at 7:59 PM

    This is adorable and makes me hungry!! I love gingerbread!

    ReplyDelete

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