Edible, Allergen-Free “Gingerbread” House

Do your kids have food allergies–or maybe you just like to eat food the “real” way? Why not make an edible, allergen-free “gingerbread” house?

Who says you have to use unhealthy frosting and sugar-coated gumdrops to make gingerbread houses?

And if your kids are anything like mine, they will want to eat some of the house anyway–so why not let them?

My daughter is currently gluten, egg and dairy-free. She’s 3 1/2–and she loves sweets. I wanted to create something for her to be able to put together and not have to worry if she did nibble on it a tad.

And after making these allergen-free graham crackers, it really wasn’t hard!

This is all you’ll need to make your own edible, allergen-free mini “gingerbread” houses:

• allergen-free graham crackers, cut into the shapes illustrated below
• unsweetened, shredded coconut
• real chocolate chips (preferably organic)
• sunflower seed butter (or peanut or another nut butter if you don’t have a nut allergy)
• dried cranberries, dates or other fruit
• shelled sunflower seeds

Piece the shaped crackers together into a house, using the sunflower seed butter as glue.

Fill in the “cracks” with chocolate chips. (Your preschooler will love this part!)

Sprinkle coconut on the roof of the house, and make doors, windows, etc. out of the dried fruit, chocolate chips and sunflower seeds (using more sunflower seed butter as “glue”).

Enjoy your edible, allergen-free “gingerbread” house! We enjoyed looking at it for a day before we all dug in! Little Girl absolutely LOVED it!!

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Edible “Gingerbread” House, Allergen-Free

Ingredients

• 8 oz dates
• 4 tablespoons sucanat
• 3 tablespoons coconut milk or cream
• 1/2 cup tahini, or nut or seed butter of choice
• 2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup nut or seed of choice, roughly chopped (optional, but recommended for texture)
• A bit of oil or shortening

Instructions

1. Put the first 6 ingredients in a small sauce pan. Heat over low heat until the dates are slightly softened and the chocolate is melted.
2. Puree in a food processor until smooth. Blend in the vanilla. Add the nuts, if using, and blend until just incorporated.
3. Lightly spread a 8x8 baking pan with oil. Spread the fudge mixture out into the pan, patting or rolling as smooth as possible. Refrigerate for an hour or two.
4. Depending on the nut butter you use it might be sticky, if that is the case you can roll the fudge in cocoa butter or cut and separate the pieces to sit in the fridge for a few more hours until less sticky.

Do you make gingerbread houses at Christmas? Have you ever made an edible version?

(OK–I need to make a disclaimer here. My husband and daughter did make a non-edible, super-sugary store-bought kit gingerbread house earlier this season. And–she did sneak in a few gumdrops. The house is super cute and is still part of our decor. However, the idea for the previous edible, allergen-free “gingerbread” house came after they made the first one!)