Here's How To Build An Adorable Farm Out Of Gingerbread

    Get ready to blow everyone else's gingerbread houses out of the icing.

    Kenzi Wilbur
    by Kenzi Wilbur

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Via food52.com

    Gingerbread house: Cute...enough.

    Gingerbread FARM: Almost too cute to handle.

    Over at Food52, food blogger Molly Yeh has taken gingerbread to the next level with an amazing edible replica of the North Dakota farm she lives on. It's got coconut snow, smells like cinnamon, and even has a tiny blue raspberry hot tub.

    You may not live on a farm IRL, but you can dream (in gingerbread). Here's how to build your own:

    1. First, cut out and bake your major building blocks.

    Via food52.com

    Mix up your gingerbread dough (get the recipe here), roll it out, and use cardboard guides to cut out shapes for the walls and roof of your rectangular buildings.

    Note: This dough is edible, but you won't really want to eat it: It's made without leaveners so that it holds its shape, and bakes up to be pretty rock-hard.

    While the oven is pre-heating, you can either make cardboard stencils of your own or follow this template for a basic house.

    2. To make "stained glass," cut out windows and fill them with crushed Jolly Ranchers before you bake.

    Via food52.com

    3. Use a can to mold just-baked rectangles of gingerbread into cylindrical "grain silos."

    Via food52.com

    Use parchment paper to wrap hot gingerbread around a can when it's fresh out of the oven. Hold the gingerbread there until it cools.

    4. Once your building blocks are baked, make the (icing) glue.

    Via food52.com

    You're gonna stick all of these pieces together with Gingerbread House Glue, made with egg whites, confectioner's sugar, and cream of tartar. This is your BFF when building a gingerbread house. It dries like a rock and makes the daintiest little icicles.

    5. Use a piping bag to glue the house and barn walls together at the corners.

    Via food52.com

    You want to be pretty generous here, since it's holding the whole house together.

    6. Assemble the walls and, once they dry, glue on the roof the same way.

    Via food52.com

    Once you've assembled all the walls, add extra icing inside each corner for reinforcement. If there's excess icing on the outside, scrape it away now before it dries.

    Once the walls are dry and sturdy (this should take about 15-20 minutes), add the two roof panels and let those dry as well. Then it's time for the fun part.

    7. Go nuts with the decorations.

    Via food52.com

    For example: chocolate shingles and shutters, frosted ice cream cone trees, and coconut snow.

    8. Use a small piping bag tip to make icicles, and tweezers to attach small candies.

    Via food52.com

    And don't forget crushed pretzel gravel for the paths. Get more tips and close-ups of the farm here.

    9. Last but not least: Don't forget the blue raspberry hot tub.

    Via food52.com

    A crucial amenity for any gingerbread farm. This was made by filling a ring of gingerbread dough with crushed blue Jolly Ranchers before baking. Looks like the gingerbread horse is already enjoying himself.

    For detailed instructions and the full recipes, check out Molly's tutorial on Food52.

    Part 1: Baking the building blocks.

    Part 2: Glue and assembly.

    Part 3: Decoration.

    Kenzi Wilbur is an editor for the community-based recipe website Food52, where you can find lots more recipes, cooking advice, and kitchen products.