Welcome to a delightful twist on a classic holiday tradition! This year, move over gingerbread, and make way for an enchanting Christmas candy house that promises fun, flavor, and festive memories. Crafted from simple, readily available ingredients like luscious chocolate bars, chewy Rice Krispie Treats, and irresistible peanut butter cups, this adorable edible creation is not just a treat for the eyes but also a joy to construct with your loved ones. Get ready to embark on a sweet adventure that will become a cherished part of your holiday season.
This post has been sponsored by The Hershey Co. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Crafting Your Dream Chocolate Christmas Cabin: A Sweet Holiday Tradition
As parents, we constantly seek ways to infuse the holiday season with magic and wonder for our children. For many families, building a gingerbread house stands out as a quintessential Christmas tradition, sparking creativity and fostering togetherness. However, if your family, like mine, has a distinct preference for the rich, comforting taste of chocolate over the spicy notes of gingerbread, then you’re in for a treat! This year, we decided to revolutionize our holiday crafting by designing a spectacular Christmas candy house using an array of our favorite confectionery delights.
This engaging holiday activity is more than just a craft; it’s a fantastic opportunity to gather as a family, bond over shared tasks, and weave together unforgettable memories that will be treasured for years to come. Once completed, this magnificent chocolate candy house transcends its role as a mere project; it transforms into a stunning, edible masterpiece, serving as the perfect addition to your existing holiday decor. Imagine a glittering, sweet Christmas centerpiece gracing your dining table or mantelpiece, drawing admiration and delight from everyone who sees it.
The beauty of this chocolate cabin lies in its versatility and the sheer joy of its creation. It caters to all ages and skill levels, making it an inclusive project for the entire family. From carefully assembling the walls to meticulously decorating every tiny detail, each step is imbued with the spirit of the season. If the idea of constructing your very own chocolate Christmas cabin this year fills you with excitement, continue reading for our comprehensive guide, complete with easy-to-follow instructions and helpful step-by-step photographs to guide you through every delicious moment.
Essential Ingredients & Supplies for Your Candy Masterpiece
To bring your festive chocolate Christmas cabin to life, you’ll need a selection of sturdy building blocks and an assortment of delightful decorations. The key is to choose candies that are not only delicious but also structurally sound enough to form the framework of your edible house. Here’s a detailed list of what you’ll need:
- Walls and Foundation: For the primary structure of our large, cabin-style house, we opted for XL size HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate Bars and KIT KAT® XL Bars. Their substantial size and flat surfaces make them ideal for creating robust walls and a solid base. The generous dimensions of these XL bars simplify the construction process and provide a grand scale for your candy creation.
- Roofing Material: Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats are the perfect choice for the roof. Their light, airy texture and rectangular shape make them easy to cut and position. While homemade Rice Krispies Treats are always a delight, for this project, pre-made ones or even Rice Krispie Treat Sheets offer consistent size and a firmer structure, which is advantageous when building.
- Festive Decorations: Let your imagination run wild with an assortment of smaller candies for embellishments. We recommend REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups for creating charming miniature trees or decorative borders, HERSHEY’S KISSES for chimney accents or roof ornamentation, and REESE’S PIECES Candy for vibrant windows, doors, or colorful pathways. These candies add both visual appeal and a variety of textures to your edible dwelling.
- Winter Wonderland Snow: To complete the quintessential winter scene, fine coconut flakes are ideal for mimicking freshly fallen snow around your cabin. They add a delicate, frosted look that truly brings the Christmas spirit to life.
- The Essential “Glue”: To securely bind all the components of your candy house, you’ll need a strong adhesive. We found success using both traditional royal icing and melted chocolate. Royal icing provides a crisp, white finish and strong hold, and you can easily make your own using a favorite recipe or opt for a convenient royal icing mix. During the holiday season, pre-made royal icing can often be found at major retailers like Walmart and Target, offering a quick and easy solution. Melted chocolate, particularly leftover pieces from your building bars, works exceptionally well for bonding chocolate pieces together, creating a seamless and sturdy structure.
You’ll be pleased to know that all these delectable ingredients can typically be found with ease at your local grocery store. Look for the large chocolate bars and decorative candies in the candy aisle, and the convenient Rice Krispies Treats will be waiting for you in the cereal aisle, making your shopping trip a breeze.
Additional Crafting Supplies You Will Need:
Beyond the edible components, a few basic kitchen tools will ensure a smooth and enjoyable building process:
- Sharp Knife: Essential for precise cutting of chocolate bars and Rice Krispies Treats.
- Cutting Board: Provides a stable and safe surface for all your cutting needs.
- Large Baking Sheet or Cake Stand: Serves as the stable base for your candy cabin, making it easy to move and display your finished creation.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Construct Your Chocolate Christmas House
Building your chocolate Christmas house is a joyous and rewarding process. Follow these detailed steps to create a beautiful and delicious holiday centerpiece:
Step 1: Lay the Foundation
Begin by carefully arranging your KIT KAT® XL Bars to form the sturdy base of your house. It’s crucial to ensure this foundation is stable. Apply a small amount of “glue” – either melted chocolate or royal icing – underneath the base bars. This will help secure them to your chosen surface (a large baking sheet or cake stand) and prevent any sliding or movement during the construction process. Allow this to set for a few minutes before proceeding.
Step 2: Erect the Front and Back Walls
Next, you’ll focus on creating the main structural elements: the front and back walls of your cabin. Take your HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate XL Bars and carefully cut them to the appropriate shapes and sizes for these walls. Precision here is key for a well-proportioned house. Use melted chocolate generously as your “glue” to affix these chocolate bar walls firmly in place. Hold each wall steady for a couple of minutes, allowing the melted chocolate to begin setting and providing a strong, lasting bond.
Pro Cutting Tip:
Working with chocolate bars can be tricky, as they can snap or crumble if too much pressure is applied. To achieve perfectly clean cuts and ensure your chocolate bars remain intact, try this ingenious trick: immerse your sharp knife in hot water for approximately 60 to 90 seconds. The heated blade will essentially melt its way through the chocolate, allowing for a smooth, effortless slice without the need for excessive force. This technique significantly reduces the risk of breakage. Always remember to thoroughly wipe off any water from the knife before making your cuts to avoid introducing moisture to the chocolate.
Step 3: Complete the Side Walls
With the front and back walls secured, use additional KIT KAT® XL Bars to form the remaining side walls of your cabin. Just like with the previous step, apply melted chocolate or royal icing to the edges of the bars to create strong connections. Ensure all walls are upright and aligned, creating a solid rectangular or square structure.
Step 4: Add the Roof Structure
Once your walls are stable, it’s time to add the roof. Carefully place Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats on top of your chocolate walls. You can arrange them flat for a traditional cabin roof or angle them slightly to create a pitched roof effect. Use a touch of royal icing or melted chocolate to secure the Rice Krispies Treats to the top edges of the chocolate walls, preventing them from shifting.
Step 5: Seal and Strengthen the Structure
To enhance the stability and appearance of your candy house, meticulously fill in any visible seams or gaps between the chocolate walls and the roof with a thin bead of icing or melted chocolate. This not only reinforces the structure but also creates a smoother, more finished look, ensuring your cabin stands proudly.
Step 6: Unleash Your Inner Decorator!
Now comes the most enjoyable part: transforming your basic candy cabin into a festive wonderland! This is where creativity truly shines. For a charming touch, we fashioned a small chimney and inviting front steps using carefully cut pieces from a KIT KAT® bar. To create charming windows and a welcoming door, REESE’S PIECES Candy works wonderfully, adding vibrant splashes of color. Feel free to experiment with different candies to create unique patterns and details.
Step 7: Craft Adorable Candy Trees
Every winter scene needs festive trees! You can easily create delightful miniature trees by stacking three REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups of varying sizes (larger at the bottom, smaller at the top) or similar sizes for a uniform look. Crown each candy tree with a HERSHEY’S KISS, which resembles a star or a snow-capped peak, completing your sweet confectionery forest.
Step 8: The Finishing Touch: Snowy Ground
To evoke the magic of a snowy winter landscape, sprinkle a generous amount of coconut flakes around the base of your chocolate cabin. This creates the illusion of freshly fallen snow, adding an ethereal and inviting ambiance to your entire display. The fine texture of the coconut flakes perfectly mimics soft, powdery snow.
For an even more immersive winter scene, consider using a dab of icing or melted chocolate to “glue” additional coconut flakes to the roof of your cabin and on the tops of your candy trees. This creates a charming frosted effect, making your entire edible display look like it just emerged from a cozy, snow-covered forest. A truly lovely and heartwarming winter tableau!
The experience of building our chocolate candy cabin was not only a delightful family activity but also yielded a result that was both aesthetically beautiful and incredibly delicious. The best part? We made sure to have plenty of extra REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups and HERSHEY’S KISSES on hand. This ensures that we can enjoy these festive treats without having to “dig into” our stunning holiday cabin before Christmas day arrives!
If you find yourself with an abundance of leftover candies after your crafting adventure, don’t let them go to waste! There are countless delicious ways to incorporate them into other festive treats. Consider whipping up a decadent Reese’s dip, baking a festive Christmas monkey bread, crafting chewy peanut butter cup cookies, or surprising everyone with delightful secret kiss cookies. Each of these recipes offers another opportunity to savor the flavors of the holiday season.
Storage and Preservation of Your Candy Creation
Once your magnificent Christmas candy house is complete, you’ll want to ensure it remains pristine for as long as possible, whether for display or eventual enjoyment. Proper storage is key to maintaining its structural integrity and freshness:
To protect your edible artwork from dust, debris, and potential pests, carefully wrap the entire house in plastic wrap. For an extra layer of protection, consider placing it within an airtight storage container. This dual approach helps to seal in freshness and prevent the candies from going stale. Store your candy house in a cool, dry place, ideally away from sources of humidity and direct sunlight. Heat and moisture are the primary enemies of chocolate and candy, as they can cause melting, fading, and a sticky mess. A pantry or a cool room corner is usually ideal.
Should you wish to preserve your candy house as a long-term decorative piece, perhaps as a keepsake for years to come, you have the option of applying a craft spray varnish. This specialized varnish will create a protective, non-edible coating that shields the candies from environmental factors, helping them to retain their appearance indefinitely. However, it’s crucial to understand that once varnished, the house will no longer be safe or suitable for consumption. Make this decision based on whether you intend for your candy house to be an edible treat or a lasting decoration.
Expert Tips & Tricks for a Flawless Candy House
To ensure your chocolate Christmas cabin building experience is as smooth and successful as possible, consider these invaluable tips and tricks:
- Inspect Your Candies: Before you even leave the store, take a moment to carefully inspect all your chosen candy bars. Look for any signs of breakage, cracks, or imperfections. Starting with intact, perfect bars will significantly contribute to a clean and sturdy final structure.
- Always Buy Extra: It’s a classic crafting rule: always have a little extra on hand. When working with chocolate bars, minor accidents can happen – a bar might break unexpectedly during cutting or assembly. Having a few extra candy bars in reserve will save you a trip back to the store and prevent any frustration.
- Gentle Cutting is Key: As mentioned earlier, chocolate can be fragile. When cutting your chocolate bars, resist the urge to press down too firmly. Instead, allow your heated knife (from the hot water tip) to do the work, gently melting through the chocolate rather than forcing a cut. This minimizes the chance of unsightly cracks or crumbling. Patience and a light hand will yield cleaner, more precise pieces.
- Work on a Stable Surface: Ensure your baking sheet or cake stand is completely flat and stable on your workspace. Any wobbling can cause your delicate candy structure to shift or collapse during assembly.
- Let the “Glue” Set: Whether you’re using melted chocolate or royal icing, give it adequate time to set and harden between steps. Rushing the process can lead to unstable walls and a wobbly house. A few minutes of patience will pay off in a robust structure.
- Embrace Imperfections: Remember, this is a homemade craft! Don’t strive for absolute perfection. Small imperfections add character and charm to your unique creation. The most important aspect is the joy of the process and the memories created.
Creative Additions & Variations for Your Candy Cabin
While our guide provides a fantastic blueprint, the true magic of building a candy house lies in personalizing it. Feel free to experiment with a wide array of candies and embellishments to make your Christmas cabin uniquely yours:
- Add a burst of festive freshness with vibrant peppermint candy or whimsical candy canes. These can be used to create colorful borders, miniature fences, or even tiny lampposts, offering a delightful pop of red and white and a refreshing minty aroma.
- For those seeking an even easier and quicker construction option, consider using graham crackers for the roof, side pieces, and back pieces of the house. Graham crackers are incredibly easy to cut and adhere, making them a fantastic alternative for younger builders or when time is of the essence.
- Dive into the vast world of various candies to enhance your gingerbread house decorations. Candies such as colorful jelly beans, fiery red hots, chewy gumdrops, fruity Skittles, and classic gumballs all make excellent decorative accents. They offer an incredible palette of colors, shapes, and textures, allowing you to create intricate designs, pathways, or unique architectural details.
- Bring your festive scene to life by adding miniature figures. Delightful gingerbread cookies, perhaps decorated as carolers or Santa’s helpers, can people your candy wonderland, adding a charming narrative to your edible display.
- Consider edible glitter or shimmering dust for an extra touch of enchantment, making your candy cabin sparkle under the holiday lights.
- Create a frosted effect on your roof using white chocolate melted and drizzled, then sprinkled with edible sugar crystals.
Christmas Candy Cabin FAQ
A sturdy and flat surface is essential for your candy cabin. A large cookie sheet, a festive cake stand, or even a robust serving tray works wonderfully under the bottom of the house. For added convenience and incredibly easy cleanup after the holidays, consider covering your chosen base with aluminum foil or parchment paper before you begin construction.
Through extensive trial and error, we’ve discovered that melted chocolate offers superior bonding power for securing chocolate walls compared to royal icing. For the strongest hold, apply melted chocolate generously to the edges of your chocolate bars. It’s crucial to hold the walls firmly in place for a short period, allowing the chocolate “glue” ample time to set and solidify, creating a durable bond.
You have several convenient options for acquiring royal icing. You can easily prepare your own using any one of the numerous reliable royal icing recipes available online. Alternatively, for a quick and effortless solution, opt for a royal icing mix, which only requires the addition of water. During the bustling holiday season, you’ll often find ready-made royal icing tubes or tubs conveniently stocked at major retailers such as Walmart, Target, local grocery stores, and specialty craft stores.
Creating an adorable Christmas tree from chocolate is delightfully simple! To craft a miniature festive tree, carefully stack three REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups on top of one another. You can use varying sizes for a tapered look or all similar sizes. To complete the tree, gently place a HERSHEY’S KISS on the very top, mimicking a star or a snow-capped peak.
Absolutely! The beauty of building a candy house is its adaptability to your personal preferences. Feel completely free to swap out or add any of your favorite candies to the list. For instance, colorful jelly beans, spicy red hots, festive candy canes, or even chewy Tootsie Rolls can all be fantastic additions, allowing you to truly customize your edible masterpiece.
More Fun Christmas Ideas to Explore
- Christmas Jello Poke Cake: A vibrant and delicious dessert perfect for holiday gatherings.
- Grinch Hot Chocolate: A fun, green-themed beverage that will warm hearts and bring smiles.
- Christmas Strawberry Tree Treats: Healthy, festive, and easy-to-make treats.
- Grinch Desserts: Explore a treasure trove of cute and creative Grinch-themed dessert ideas.
- Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies: Adorable and tasty cookies that are a hit with kids and adults alike.
Christmas Candy House
Author: Jaclyn
Ingredients
- 2 HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate XL Bars
- 3 KIT KAT® XL Bars
- 1 bag Family Size HERSHEY’S KISSES Milk Chocolates
- 1 bag Share Size REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups
- 1 bag REESE’S PIECES Candy
- 1 box Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats
- royal icing, for binding and decorating
- coconut flakes, optional, for a snowy effect
Instructions
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On a large, flat surface (like a baking sheet), lay down two KIT KAT® XL Bars side-by-side to form the primary base of your house. Apply a small amount of melted chocolate or royal icing underneath these bars to secure them in place and prevent any movement.
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Carefully cut your HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate XL Bars to create the front and back walls. For smoother cuts, soak your sharp knife in hot water for 60-90 seconds, then wipe it dry before slicing through the chocolate. This technique allows the knife to melt through the chocolate, reducing breakage.
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Using melted chocolate as your primary “glue” (as it bonds chocolate bars together most effectively), attach the cut HERSHEY’S Bars as the front and back walls of your cabin. Hold each wall firmly in place for a couple of minutes to allow the melted chocolate to begin setting and create a strong, stable connection.
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Now, use two more KIT KAT® XL Bars to complete the side walls of your cabin. Apply melted chocolate to the edges and secure them to the front and back walls, creating a complete, enclosed structure. Allow adequate time for all the walls to set.
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Carefully place Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats on top of your chocolate walls to form the roof. You can use whole treats or cut them to fit, securing them with melted chocolate or royal icing.
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Inspect your cabin for any visible gaps or seams between the walls and the roof. Fill these in neatly with additional melted chocolate or royal icing to strengthen the structure and give it a polished, finished appearance.
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Begin the fun decorating phase! Use REESE’S PIECES Candy to fashion charming windows and a welcoming front door, arranging them in creative patterns. You can also use them to create a colorful path leading to the front door.
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Create a quaint chimney and inviting front steps using carefully broken or cut pieces from a KIT KAT® XL Bar, adhering them with a dab of melted chocolate or icing.
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To make festive miniature trees, stack three REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups. Top each stack with a HERSHEY’S KISS to represent a star or a snow-capped peak, then arrange them around your cabin.
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For a magical winter wonderland effect, generously sprinkle coconut flakes around the base of the cabin to mimic freshly fallen snow. If you desire, use a small amount of icing to “glue” coconut flakes to the roof and the tops of your candy trees for an even more frosted look.
Notes
- To ensure effortless and clean cuts when working with HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate XL Bars, immerse your knife in hot water for 60-90 seconds prior to cutting. This simple trick allows the blade to glide through the chocolate smoothly, minimizing the risk of cracks or breakage. Remember to always wipe the knife completely dry before each cut.
- For the strongest and most reliable bond between chocolate bars, we highly recommend melting any leftover pieces from your cut HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate Bars and using this as your primary adhesive. In our experience, melted chocolate forms a superior and more secure bond for structural elements compared to royal icing.
- Storage Guidelines: To maintain the pristine condition of your beautiful candy house, carefully wrap it in plastic wrap and/or place it within an airtight storage container. This will shield it from dust, potential debris, and unwanted moisture. Always store your creation in a cool, dry place, ensuring it is kept away from sources of humidity and direct sunlight. These precautions are vital to prevent the chocolate and candies from melting, becoming sticky, or fading in color.
Did You Make This Recipe?
We’d love to see your amazing creations! Share your beautiful Christmas candy house with us on Instagram @crayonsandcravings. Don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest @crayonsandcravings for even more inspiring ideas and delicious recipes!
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