Knit Me a Cozy Gingerbread House

Instructions

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1. - 1 day in advance Assemble house using icing included in kit. Attach house to board with icing. Let set 4 hours or overnight.
2. - Prepare and tint icing. Prepare 2 recipes buttercream icing. Divide icing and tint 1 1/2 cups pale brown. Tint 1/2 cup red using color combination. Combine Christmas Red and Red-Red for red color shown. Reserve remainder white. Set white and red icing aside.
3. - Prepare house. Measure and divide front and back panels into 1 in. and ¾ in. alternating sections. Repeat for side panels. Divide roof into 1 in. and ½ in. alternating sections. Use FoodWriter food color marker to mark sections.
4. - Decorate front and back. Prepare a decorating bag with a coupler, tip 3 and pale brown icing. Pipe a line of beads under the eaves in the front and back. Switch decorating bag to tip 2. Pipe loose chevron to fill in 3/4 in. sections. Pipe rope technique down the middle of chevrons, going from top to bottom. Starting at top in middle 1 in. section, switch bag to tip 48. Use rope technique to pipe flat rope, from top to bottom, keeping twist tight. Overpipe overlapping sections to give dimension. Switch bag to tip 2. Do each twist section, separately, pipe v's following twist. Pipe 2 to 3 across, depending on width of rope section. Repeat for back panel.
5. - Decorate sides. Pipe the ¾ in sections first, same as the front (tip 2, loose chevron, rope technique in middle of chevron). Switch to tip 5. Pipe beads In the 1 in. sections, alternating directions, (they will look like v's). Work one column, then do a second one, fitting beads into space from first column. The furthest inside beads should cover the edges of the tip 2 chevron. Repeat for other side panel.
6. - Decorate roof panels. Repeat Step 4, starting with the ½ in. sections and tip 2, then switching to tip 5 for the 1 in. sections.
7. - Decorate seams. Switch bag to tip 3. On side seams and edges of eaves, pipe rope technique. Cover roof peak with zigzags.
8. - Decorate roof peak with pompoms. Roll fondant into six ¾ in. dia. balls. Prepare a decorating bag with tip 233 and fill with red icing. Insert toothpick in top of ball. Turn upside down. Starting at bottom of ball, pipe pull out fringe, covering half the ball. Turn right side up, place on roof, remove toothpick, and finish covering ball with pull out fringe. Repeat with five remaining balls of fondant.
9. - Decorate base. Use remaining white icing to spatula ice board around house.