During Christmas Eve and year-end holidays, the gingerbread house is one of the traditional items that are seen to be used for decorating the dining area/table in every house and restaurant.
But those people who are not familiar with this holiday culture and Christmas tradition, naturally you would want to know can anyone eat these gingerbread houses or not as soon as you will spot gingerbread houses on dining tables/area.
Therefore, let’s read ahead and quench your inquisitiveness regarding this topic.
Do You Eat Gingerbread Houses?
Usually, a gingerbread house can be eaten because it is made using all edible ingredients including gingerbreads themselves, candies, gummies, and icing. But if the gingerbread house is left sitting outside for many days then avoid eating as it already has gone stale and will not taste delicious.
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Gingerbread houses typically are not meant to be eaten as their main purpose is to be used as one of the main decorative elements on Christmas Eve and the year-end holiday festivals.
However, to keep up with the traditional decorations, gingerbread houses are often made traditionally with all types of edible and safe ingredients such as royal icing, candies, additional flavors, spices, gummies, and gingerbreads.
And all of these ingredients ascertain that gingerbread houses can be smashed and devoured safely as a big Christmas/holiday treat.
Store-bought gingerbread houses can be eaten as well without upsetting the tummy even though store-bought gingerbread houses serve decoration purposes mainly.
However, know that store-bought ginger house parts are intentionally hardened so these are hard enough to munch on than traditional gingerbread rolls and biscuits.
Moreover, the gingerbread houses that are left outside for many weeks can’t be eaten as those will develop mold and will be stale enough not to taste good.
Can You Eat A Gingerbread House Kit After You Make It?
You certainly can eat up a gingerbread house kit after making it for decoration purposes during Christmas Eve and year-end holiday festivals.
A Gingerbread house kit is basically a previously made kit that contains pre-baked, ready to eat and assemble gingerbread pieces. Most of the gingerbread house kits also come with pre-packaged edible frosting, gummies, gems, and candies for decoration.
So that you can build the gingerbread house and eat afterward without facing any hassle of baking the gingerbread and buying decorating ingredients.
Can You Eat Gingerbread House Icing?
The gingerbread house icing is known as “royal icing” which is basically edible adhesive or mortar that keeps up the pieces of gingerbread house altogether.
And this royal icing is made by using egg whites, tarter, and powdered sugar which clearly indicates that gingerbread house icing can be devoured like any other part of the gingerbread house.
Is It Safe To Eat Boxed & Pre-Built Gingerbread Houses?
Boxed gingerbread houses are DIY gingerbread houses that come with edible pre-baked gingerbread house pieces such as roofs, walls, etc. to build the whole house, candies, and pre-made frosting.
And pre-made gingerbread houses are already fully baked and built edible gingerbread houses that don’t just need any further assembling. All you are required to decorate it only.
Both the boxed and pre-made gingerbread houses are made with maintaining traditional taste and common ingredients that are used for making gingerbread houses at home and come with all edible decorative ingredients.
So it’s completely safe to eat both the boxed and pre-built gingerbread houses found at supermarkets.
Can You Eat Wilton Gingerbread Kits And Gingerbread Houses From Walmart?
Both the Wilton gingerbread kits and houses contain palatable parts of the house and flavorful sweets, even the frosting is edible.
So after putting all the parts from the kits together or decorating an already pre-made gingerbread house, you can enjoy smashing and eating this sweet treat.
You can enjoy eating these Wilton gingerbread kits and gingerbread houses for up to 5 days if you wrap the house in plastic wrappers at night and preserve them in a dry and cool place.
Do Gingerbread Houses Taste Good?
Traditional as well as the store-bought gingerbread houses are not so tasty because the pieces of gingerbreads don’t contain any milk, eggs, flavor, baking soda, and baking powder as the gingerbread pieces have to be tough enough to stand still.
Also, pieces are more thick, flat, and hard which are not great for snacking.
But if you consider making a gingerbread house on your own by following any mouth watering newer gingerbread house recipes with traditional touches found on the internet, it certainly will taste heavenly.
How Do You Eat A Gingerbread House?
Typically, right after the celebration of Christmas night or year-end holiday festivals, you can munch on the gingerbread house by smashing it into small pieces.
To add extra flavor and creaminess, you can top the gingerbread pieces with rum whipped cream and enjoy a creamy feast inside your mouth.
Another newer way of eating gingerbread house is using it as pie crust because the gingerbread pieces are hard. So you can just make tasty bread crumbs by putting them in a food processor and use as pie crust.
What To Do With The Leftover Gingerbread House?
After being done with festivals or holidays, you can be left with many gingerbread house pieces that haven’t been eaten.
So if you want to enjoy having those leftover gingerbread pieces, try these couple of ingenious ways of turning leftover gingerbread pieces into a new recipe.
Dunk In Hot Drinks:
You can crack the leftover gingerbread house pieces into small pieces and dunk them in your fancy hot drinks like coffee latte, cappuccino, or hot drinks, and enjoy gingerbread house as winter breakfast.
Crumbly Toppings:
As gingerbread house has a hard texture and can go a little stale over the festival period, you still can eat the leftover pieces as crumbly toppings on your favorite ice cream or cereal.
All you got to do is, break the leftover pieces into small and then eat with your favorite ice cream or cereal as toppings.
Gingerbread Casserole:
You can crush the leftover pieces of the gingerbread house and eat them with your French toast casseroles for breakfast. And there you will get flavors of holiday seasons in your breakfast that contain no gluten.
Gingerbread House Pancake Or Waffle:
Leftover gingerbread house can be coarsely broken up and crushed and then mix the crushed gingerbread in your pancake or waffle mixture to add an extra taste of festive season.
Gingerbread Pastry Cake:
The recipe of gingerbread itself is tasty, and with the leftover gingerbread house you can make even tastier pastries. Just mix crushed gingerbread house into the cake batter and make gingerbread pastry cake. For additional flavor, you can add choco chips of dried fruits.
How Long After Making Does A Gingerbread House Stay Edible?
Both the homemade and store-bought gingerbread house stay edible for about 5-7 days after building and decorating the house.
After about a week, even if the gingerbread house didn’t go moldy, it’s not considered edible because it has been left outside for quite a lot of days and has gone stale, so it will not taste good.
And a gingerbread house lasts up to 3-4 weeks after decorating if you can store it properly in a cool and dry place.
How Do You Preserve A Gingerbread House?
If you want to preserve your gingerbread house throughout the festive and holiday season, you have to preserve it in a cool and absolutely dry place.
And to prevent dust, bugs, and moisture from sitting on the gingerbread, properly seal the gingerbread house with plastic wrappers at night.
And if you want to preserve the gingerbread house in a non-edible way for up to one year, first repair the house, remove plastic decorative items, and dry out any moisture. Then spray the gingerbread house with varnish and dry it completely.
After that store it in a thick box.
Can You Eat Raw Gingerbread Dough?
As raw gingerbread dough doesn’t contain eggs, you can eat the dough raw in a small amount. However, it’s not suggested to eat raw gingerbread dough as it still has flour.
But if the raw gingerbread dough has both eggs and flour, you should avoid eating it because raw eggs can be infected with salmonella bacteria and flour can be infected with E.coli bacteria. So eating raw dough can be harmful to health.
Can You Eat Gingerbread With Braces?
You can’t eat gingerbread with braces on your teeth because gingerbreads are very hard to munch on comfortably with braces on, also it can pop the braces and damage them. Moreover, it can cause an orthodontic emergency.
So to avoid such an uncomfy situation and orthodontic emergency, don’t eat gingerbread.
Final Thoughts
Gingerbread house is a safe sweet treat to devour on Christmas Eve and year-end holiday festivals because it is made with all kinds of safe and edible ingredients such as the gingerbread pieces, sweets, and royal icing. However, avoid eating a gingerbread house if it’s left outside for many weeks.