This year I decided once again to devote an entire weekend to pumping out Gingerbread houses for my team at work. I did it last year and everyone really loved them (you can see the post here) and so I figured there was no harm in doing this again! It’s a great gift for people because they are quite impressive once you’ve finished them off, and even though they take a lot of time, it’s worth it for the result!

I used the same recipe as I did last year for most of the houses, because the template I used makes the perfect sized house for doing multiples of. However, this year I needed to make two gluten free houses, which threw a spanner in the works! Turns out it is actually really difficult to find recipes for gluten free gingerbread, and one of the girls told me that it just wasn’t worth even attempting gluten free cookies due to the consistency of the mixture. I was worried I might try and make them and have the whole house fall down, which wouldn’t be ideal! So I decided that it might be worth getting a little bit creative with my approach to these presents.

So I did some digging and managed to find some recipes for rice krispie treat houses. These kept coming up as an option for people who don’t want to have to fiddle with gluing walls together, and really as an easy alternative to the classic gingerbread house. The best part about them is that they can be made gluten free, as long as you use gluten free rice bubbles. I figured it would be perfect as it would save me some time, being no bake, and also provide an easy way for me to give my gluten free work friends some Christmas cheer, ensuring they didn’t miss out on the gingerbread party!

The recipe for these gingerbread houses is actually really easy, and so much simpler than a classic gingerbread house. Granted, they don’t look as the original, but that was nothing that a large amount of candy couldn’t fix! I even decided to take them to the next level and flavour the rice krispie treats with gingerbread spices, which I think really brought the recipe up to the next level! These would be perfect for anyone who is a little concerned with their gingerbread house construction, or for anyone with people with allergies. I think it would also be great if you were doing some sort of gingerbread house decorating party for kids and wanted something nice and sturdy, because these little houses were really solid!

My main piece of advice is that you need to make sure that all the lollies and candy you are using are gluten free, so always check the labels before buying! I found that surprisingly there were a few things I could find that were gluten free if you looked carefully! Freckles are gluten free which were perfect for the roofs, but you could use plain cooking chocolate drops if you didn’t have this. Candy Canes are also often gluten free, which make for really cute additions to the houses, and jelly jubes tend to be as well! There will also often be a selection of jelly lollies that are gluten free if you look carefully, but if all else fails you could certainly dress them up with chocolate! Make sure you look out for hidden gluten as well, as sometimes icing sugar, which you use for the royal icing, will have gluten in it so make sure you check the labels! This is the same with marshmallows, as most do have gluten in them. However, I realized the miniature ones you normally put in hot chocolate didn’t have gluten, so I just grabbed a couple of packets of these!

The whole process was pretty full on, as I made 5 one weekend and 2 the other in combination with traditional gingerbread houses, but it was so much fun! By far the most fun comes from decorating the houses, and the best thing about this gluten free recipe is that there isn’t much time dedicated to preparation of the houses, so you get into the decorating much quicker!

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Rice Krispy Treat Gingerbread Houses

Author: Ella Eats

Ingredients

Ingredients

• ¼ cup of butter
• 300 grams of gluten free marshmallows
• 6 cups of gluten free puffed rice cereal
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon of ground cloves

Royal Icing Recipe

• 2 egg whites
• 3 cups of pure icing sugar

Decoration

• 2 packets of gluten free jubes
• 1 packet of candy canes
• 2 packets of Freckles
• 1 packet of gluten free Christmas lollies

Instructions

Gingerbread Houses

1. Line a bread pan with baking paper and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large pan over a low heat and then add marshmallows. Stir continuously over a low heat until completely melted.
3. Remove pan from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, ground ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves.
4. Stir in rice cereal to coat with the marshmallow mixture, ensuring all cereal is completely coated.
5. Pour mixture into the bread pan and using buttered fingers press down firmly.
6. Place in fridge overnight or for at least a couple of hours to firm.
7. When ready to assemble, take out of the fridge and bread pan. Using a buttered knife, cut into three even squares.
8. Cut one square diagonally for the roofs. Set aside ready for decorating.

Royal Icing

1. Using an electric mixture, whip the egg whites in a medium sized bowl until soft peaks form
2. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat to combine completely until the mixture is thick.
3. Using a spatula, coat the top of each square with royal icing, and firmly stick each roof down. Then put some icing on the bottom of each square and glue to the serving implement (I used a Christmas plate)
4. Using a spatula, put the remaining icing into a piping bag and cut the tip.

Decorating

1. There isn’t a formal step to this: go nuts!
2. I started by gluing the freckles to the roof, ensuring there was enough icing on each one to stick it firmly.
3. I then glued a candy cane top to the front as a door, and made windows out of the Christmas candy.
4. I also glued some Christmas coloured jubes to the back wall. You can use the long end of each candy cane for the edges to brighten it up as well!
5. Finally I used some royal icing and piped it on to the edges to make it look like icicles.

Although the recipe might seem complicated, it’s nothing in comparison to traditional gingerbread houses. It’s the perfect way to make a gingerbread house without having to worry about it imploding in on itself at the last minute, and makes for a far less stressful experience! These gingerbread houses are practically unbreakable, and so you can really add as much candy as you want without having to worry about the weight of it ruining Christmas.

The girls were really happy with their little gingerbread houses, and even though they ate all the candy off the houses before getting stuck into the rice Krispy treats, I was assured that the inside was just as delicious as the candy coating! It was the perfect way to give a bit of Christmas cheer even when people have allergies and can’t enjoy regular gingerbread.

These would be the perfect alternative for anyone who wants to try gingerbread houses but is a little worried about how to make them, or if you are a little time poor. They were really fun and easy to make, so what more could you want?

I probably won’t do another post before Christmas, so I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas full of delicious food, and a happy new year!

Until next time, happy eating!

Ella xx