Above you can see my attempt at completing Lillybean's gluten-free tiny house village kit. The family was impressed. I think they look nice, but it I found it challenging. Now I'm never very good at building gingerbread houses. If you are making this with small children I think I would glue the houses together first. Also buy some extra gluten-free candy to decorate.

Here is the kit. I found it at Nutter's. It was $31.99.

Here is what is inside the kit. You get the gingerbread dough mix, icing sugar mixture and a piping bag, the tiny gingerbread house cutter shape, two pieces of parchment paper, a small packet of coloured sugar, and a candy cane.

I don't know why I had trouble finding the measurements for the ingredients on the back of the box! I kept looking under the "prepare the dough" on the box and couldn't find it. Finally I noticed the large red rectangle under the photo stating "you will need" in capital letters! ^_^ ! So, you will need 3 tablespoons of butter, shortening, coconut oil or vegan butter. Just pick one. Then 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Mix well adding more water as needed then roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out the shapes. I had to add extra water to the mix as mine was very dry.

Here is what mine looked like before baking. The amount of dough provided easily made 5 tiny gingerbread houses.

Here they are after baking. As you can see mine spread out alot. I think this is the result of two mistakes I made. One, I should have been more careful measuring my melted butter, I may have added too much. Two, I should have put the cut pieces on the tray in the fridge for about 15 to 20 minutes to harden before baking. I usually do this with my shaped sugar cookies and it helps prevent the cookie spread. I had extra dough which I used to make a tree and snowmen, but in the end I did not use them. I ate them instead. The gingerbread dough is not very tasty. I think even though edible I would just use them as decoration.

While they were warm I separated the pieces with a sharp knife carefully, so I could get them out and onto the cooling rack. After they cooled down I set about gluing them together with the icing sugar mixture. I found I had to make more. If you need a royal icing recipe without using eggs here is a link to the one I use - No Egg Royal Icing recipe.

It was quite a challenge to get them to stick together. I wasn't the happiest person to be around while I tried to get them to stick together! But, eventually they did and I left them for a couple of hours. Then it was time to decorate. I just used the decorations that came with the kit. I crushed the candy cane as instructed. I put the candy cane in a ziplock bag and hit it gently with my wooden rolling pin. I also made a sugar glue for a lake. The sugar glue recipe I used was 1 cup of white sugar with 1/2 cup of water. Heat on low to medium heat, stirring until it becomes slightly golden in colour. I then just poured the sugar into a lake shape on wax paper and let it cool. I usually put my gingerbread house on a tray covered with tin foil, so its easy to move around. So, the little houses were placed on the tray, then the lake, some crumpled wax paper for mountains and a dusting of icing sugar as snow.

Next year I think I will try using the sugar glue to glue the gingerbread house together. Has anyone ever tried sugar glue?

Would I buy this kit again? No I don't think so. My house smelled lovely, and I like that I now have the gingerbread cookie cutter that I can reuse. They do look cute on my sideboard. But, I found the process of glueing them together difficult and a bit frustrating. If I had little ones I think I would use gluten-free graham crackers to make small houses or just make one big one for everyone to decorate. If you are wanting to make a gluten-free gingerbread house from scratch, here is the recipe I use - Gluten-Free Gingerbread House recipe. I also recommend buying extra candy for decorating.

Note: These are my personal experiences and opinions. Always seek out a medical opinion for medical concerns.