What are the best candies to use for gingerbread houses?

With candy cane fences, gumdrop pathways and frosting everywhere, gingerbread houses are a popular way to decorate for Christmas. The best designs can take weeks or months to prepare and come complete with marzipan statuettes, intricately piped royal icing and lighted windows made of sugar. read more

CANDY CANE Gingerbread House The key to decorating any gingerbread house is to make sure you plan your design. For this candy cane house, we used Assorted Christmas Candies ($32 for a gift box), Dylan’s Candy Bar Signature Holiday Paint Can ($30), as well as gumdrops, peppermints and candy canes. read more

Hard candies are the best, because they stick to the royal icing and don’t melt or fall apart. Gum drops are also traditional. Starlight mints come in a bunch of colors, and are very decorative, and miniature candy canes are good. read more

(Left to right, back to front: Twizzlers, chocolate mints, malt balls, gumballs, orange gummies, gum, peppermint suckers, bubble gum tape, crushed root beer candies, gobstoppers, sour cherry balls, fruit tootsie rolls, cherry gummies, jelly bean rocks, and two kinds of gum). read more