Pretzel Log Cabin

Longing to live in a log cabin? The house plans on these pages put the next best thing at your fingertips. And a kitchen, not a contractor, is all you need to do the construction! This miniature abode, created by the CW Test Kitchen staff, consists mostly of ready-made ingredients. It's so easy to put together that kids (or grandkids) will love to "hire on" as part of your holiday building cr

1 ServingsPrep: 1 hour 40 min. + standing

Ingredients

ICING:
8 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons meringue powder
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
Green liquid or paste food coloring
LOG CABIN:
12 whole graham crackers
Waxed paper
Pastry bags or heavy-duty resealable plastic bags
Medium dot (#5, #10) and leaf (#67) decorating tips
1 bag (10 ounces) pecan halves
18-inch square base—heavy-duty cardboard or piece of plywood, covered with foil wrapping paper or aluminum foil
Spice jars and tall cans or bottles
3 bags (10 ounces each) pretzel rods (7-1/2 inches long)
Serrated knife and ruler
Assorted creme wafers (2-1/2 inches x 1 inch)
Baking cocoa
Cotton balls, optional
Red-hot candies
Golden raisins or chocolate chip cookies

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Pretzel Log Cabin (continued)

Ingredients (continued)

Spearmint candies
Sugar ice cream cones

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the sugar, meringue powder and 3/4 cup water on
low speed until blended. Beat on high for 8-10 minutes or until
stiff peaks form, adding additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time,
if needed. Remove 1-1/2 cups of icing to another bowl and tint with
green food coloring for decorating and trees. Place damp paper towel
over each bowl of icing and cover tight until ready to use.
To Assemble Roof: Place two graham crackers on waxed paper. Cut a
small hole in the bottom corner of pastry or plastic bag; insert #10
dot tip if desired (or pipe directly from bag). Fill bag two-thirds
full with white icing and refill as needed.
Pipe or frost one short end of one cracker and butt the other cracker
against it, making a 10-in. x 2-1/2-in. rectangle.
Repeat five more times. Set two long rectangles aside for porch roof
an floor. Pipe the 10-in. edge of a long rectangle and butt the
10-in. edge if another long rectangle against it, making a 10-in. x
5-in. rectangle for one side of roof. Repeat for other side of roof.
Working with one side of the roof at a time, frost entire roof with
white icing. Press pecan halves end to end in straight lines along
short sides (see photo). There will be about four rows of 14 pecans
per row on each side of roof. Repeat for other side. Repeat for
porch roof, pressing on two rows of about 14 pecans per row. Allow
to dry, uncovered, overnight.
To Assemble Sides of House: With four pretzel rods lying flat on
waxed paper, apply a 1/4-in.-wide strip of icing along the top edge
of each, beginning 1/2 in. from one end and ending by icing the tip
of the other end.
To form the front of the house, center one iced pretzel rod, icing
side down, 7 in. from the front of the foil-covered 18-in.-square
base. Add a second pretzel rod, again icing side down, at right
angles to the first, placing it so the iced end is 1/2 in. from the
un-iced end of the first rod. Repeat with a third and fourth rod, so
that these first four rods form a square base with 1/2-in. end
extending at each corner.
Add a second row, allowing the 1/2-in. un-iced ends to extend in the
opposite direction (see photo). Prop sides upright with spice jars
for 2-3 minutes until icing hardens, then remove jars. Repeat
process until each side is nine pretzel rods high.

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Pretzel Log Cabin (continued)

Directions (continued)

For Side Peaks: Place seven pretzel rods side by side on waxed paper.
Using a serrated knife, cut the ends of the rods at an angle to form
a triangle with longest one measuring 7 in. and shortest one
measuring 1-1/2 in.
Frost the top of the longest rod; butt the next longest pretzel
against it. Repeat with remaining cut pretzels. Frost bottom of
triangle and adhere to top edge of one side of house (see photo).
Prop with tall cans or jars. Add a small triangle of icing at top of
triangle. Repeat process for opposite side. Allow to dry completely.
To Attach Roof: Working with one side of the house at a time, squeeze
icing on opposite slanted edges of the front of the house. Carefully
place roof piece on the slant high enough so the roof's peak is even
with the points on both sides. The bottom edge of roof will overhang
the side by about 3/4 in.
Repeat with the other side of the roof (there will be a slight gap at
top center). Pipe icing along center peak. Press about 10 pecan
halves end to end into icing.
For Porch Floor: Cut off the extending end of bottom pretzel at front
of house. Spread bottom of porch floor crackers with icing and pipe
icing along one long edge. Add porch with icing side down, butting
it against front edge of house.
For Door: Using two yellow creme wafers, pipe icing on long edge of
one wafer; butt against the edge of the other wafer.
For Windows: Cut yellow creme wafer into four 1-1/4-in. pieces. Pipe
icing on long edge of one wafer; butt against one other wafer.
Repeat for a second window. Spread icing on backs of windows and
door and position on house according to Fig. 1.
For Chimney: Using full width of chocolate wafers, cut wafer to
length with Patterns A through F. Assemble chimney layer as follows:
Pipe icing on short edge of piece A. Butt against short edge of
piece B. Repeat to put together pieces C, D and E. Pipe icing on one
long edge of A/B; butt against C/D/E, aligning bottom edges. Repeat
with the second layer of chocolate wafers; ice back of one set and
press two layers together for a double thickness. Brush icing with
cocoa to cover white seams. Spread icing on back of chimney;
position on side of house as in Fig. 1. For chimney top (F), ice
wafer pieces together for a double thickness. Pipe icing along
slanted edge; position on roof above piece E of chimney. If desired,
pull apart a cotton ball to form smoke. Attach with a small dab of
icing.
For Garlands and Wreaths: Insert leaf tip into another decorating

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Pretzel Log Cabin (continued)

Directions (continued)

bag; fill with green icing. Pipe garlands on base of windows. Pipe
garland or a wreath on the door and chimney. Decorate with red-hots.
To Assemble Porch: Cut four pretzel rods to 4-1/2 in. for posts. Pipe
a dab of white icing on one end of each post. Position evenly 1/2
in. from front edge, on the porch floor. Allow to dry completely.
Pipe icing along one long side of porch roof. Pipe a dab of icing on
tops of the posts. Carefully place porch roof over posts, pressing
frosted side of porch roof against side of house where slanted side
of house roof ends.
To Decorate: Insert #5 dot tip into another decorating bag; fill with
white icing. Pipe along entire edge of roof, then pipe white icicles
on same edge. Use remaining white icing for snow on base.
Make path with raisins or broken chocolate chip cookies. Adhere
spearmint candies with green icing for bushes. Using a leaf tip,
starting at the point, pipe green icing on upside-down ice cream
cones for trees. Let dry completely.
Display throughout the Christmas season! (Note: If stored properly,
your log cabin should last for future holidays, although it may
require some minor touch-ups.)

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 7,727 calories, 233 g fat (21 g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 5,363 mg sodium, 1,368 g carbohydrate, 43 g fiber, 101 g protein.

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Pretzel Log Cabin

Ingredients

Pretzel Log Cabin (continued)

Ingredients (continued)

Directions

Pretzel Log Cabin (continued)

Directions (continued)

Pretzel Log Cabin (continued)

Directions (continued)