The Humbled Homemaker: 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

Now, this is all there is to it:

Cut your allergen-free graham crackers into 4 rectangles and 2 pentagons.

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

The pieced-together house should look like this.

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

Spread more sunflower seed butter on the roof of the house (more "glue").

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!!

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!)

I'm linking up with: Make Your Own Monday, Tuesdays at the Table, Frugal Tuesday Tip, Tasty Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Real Food Wednesday, Gluten Free Wednesday, Turning The Table Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Full Plate Thursday, Frugal Friday, Fight Back Friday, Friday Food, Allergy-Friendly Lunch Box Ideas, Frugally Sustainable, Growing Home

If you're an e-mail/RSS subscriber, have you received a copy of my Christmas gift to you yet? If not, please send me an e-mail to erinodom at pobox dot com, so I can get you a copy of Healthy Holidays: Slightly-Indulgent Sweet Treats!