Honey Maid Holiday House

The holidays are a big deal around here. Ever since I was a little kid, our kitchen would turn into a bakery come December 1st. Every evening after school we would find a new holiday dessert to create, and come, Christmas Eve, we would make incredible trays to hand out to all our family and friends. 

I am trying to instill the love of holiday desserts into my kids and keep this heart-warming tradition alive. We have started to plan out all the cookies and cakes we would like to make and share with all of our friends, but I felt like we needed something a little more. 

So this year I have scoured the internet in search of holiday desserts that are fun to create for kids of all ages. Having 3 little ones under 5-years-old means we need something that is fun, tasty, and still looks good- even if it gets a little messy. 

After a little searching, I came across the HONEY MAID HOLIDAY HOUSE.  

As you can see, graham crackers are not just for s’mores anymore! I never thought of using graham crackers for creating a holiday house, and it seriously is the best idea ever.

The kids had so much fun putting together the graham crackers with frosting and decorating with their own creative spark. The house looked so good and it was devoured by the end of the night- definitely much more delicious than those boxed Gingerbread Houses from last year! We will definitely be making another house or two this holiday season. So here is how you make your own Honey Maid Holiday House:

Ingredients

•  HONEY MAID Honey Grahams (See Important Notes tip.)
• 2 containers (16 oz. each) ready-to-spread white frosting
• 4 candy canes (5-1/2 inch)
• 2 BISCO Sugar Wafers
• 2 small candy canes (3 inch)
• 1 OREO Cookie, cut in half
• 24 NUTTER BUTTER Cookie Bites, divided
• 10 pretzel squares
•  Decorations: Assorted small green and red candies; large gumdrops; holiday sprinkles and sugars; green and red decorating icings
• 3 Mini CHIPS AHOY! Chocolate Chip Cookies
• 18 Mini OREO Cookies, split
• 3 EACH small green and red gumdrops
• 20 SWEDISH FISH Mini Candies
  

  Instructions

  • STACK  2 empty 14.4-oz. boxes of HONEY MAID Graham Crackers to form 7-3/4 x 5-1/4-inch rectangle; cover with foil and secure with tape. (This will serve as the frame of the house.) Place on a sturdy base of stiff cardboard or foam core.
  • USE  12 grahams to cover the front, back, and sides of the house frame, cutting grahams as necessary to fit and using frosting to secure grahams to house.
  • PLACE  1 unopened sleeve of grahams horizontally on the center of the top of the house; secure with tape. (This will be used to support the roof.) Use 8 grahams to make the roof, securing grahams with some of the remaining frosting.
  • SPOON  about 1/2 cup frosting into a pastry bag fitted with round tip; use to pipe frosting down the center of rooftop. Trim corners off 2 grahams to fit in spaces where roof and sides meet; attach to roof and house with frosting. Cut 1 graham to fit above the 2 trimmed grahams; attach with frosting. Let stand 1 hour or until frosting is dry.
  • CUT  curved end off each 5-1/2-inch candy cane; discard. Use a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip to pipe frosting lengthwise down 4 corners of the house. Gently press trimmed candy cane sticks into the frosting. Use frosting to attach sugar wafers to the front of the house for the door, chocolate sandwich cookie half above the door and small candy canes to sides of the door.
  • SPLIT  8 mini peanut butter cookies in half, then cut split cookies crosswise in half. Attach pretzels to front, back and sides of the house with frosting for the windows; attach cut peanut butter cookies around windows for shutters and awnings as shown in the photo. Decorate door and windows with small candies, sprinkles and/or sugars. Stack mini chocolate chip cookies for the chimney, spreading frosting between cookies to secure and to attach chimney to the roof as shown in the photo.
  • USE  pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip to pipe frosting in a crisscross pattern on both sides of the roof as shown in the photo; gently press small green and red candies into the frosting. Pipe frosting along the roof edge, allowing some to drip down the bottom edge of the roof to resemble icicles. Press mini chocolate sandwich cookies into frosting along the edge of the roof. Use a pastry bag with a star tip to attach small gumdrops to top of the roof with frosting.
  • CUT  large green gumdrop in half; decorate with green and red icings to resemble wreaths as shown in the photo. Attach 1 wreath to each side of the house with icing. Arrange remaining mini peanut butter cookies on the cardboard base for a path, adding fish-shaped candies as shown in the photo. Let stand 2 to 3 hours or until frosting is dry.

So be sure to head to your local commissary for all the ingredients for a HONEY MAID HOLIDAY HOUSE.  And be sure to check out all the savings and great snack ideas at:  NabiscoMilitary.com