Make a Pop Tart Gingerbread House

It all started when I couldn't find chocolate graham crackers at the store to make haunted gingerbread houses. My husband suggested using chocolate pop tarts. I was skeptical, but bought a box to humor him. They turned out awesome! With over 23 million views, this viral house has become a holiday tradition in many homes!

Why I Like This Recipe

• Easy to use. Toaster pastry (pop tarts) are sturdy, easy to work with and are already iced!
• Inexpensive. Making a pop tart house is cheaper than purchasing a boxed gingerbread house kit. I highly recommend using a generic store brand vs. name brand Pop Tarts. Not only are they more affordable, but they are thicker too.
• Fun for groups. My sister has a gingerbread decorating party every year with friends, and switched to pop tarts in 2020 when I first published this post. She said they worked well with such a large group! Nursing homes and libraries have also reached out to me and shared photos of pop tart houses that they made in a group setting.

📢 What Others Are Saying

Made these with four grandkids ages five and under and it worked. great. Adults built the house, then the kids decorated them. We used powdered sugar glue to make the house and canned icing for the decorations. They loved it. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for making our first attempt at Holiday House Decorating successful and fun!! The grandkids loved it!! It made it very doable for 3 and 4 year olds!

I made these tonight and we’re decorating them tomorrow. This recipe is so great and easy! The icing is simple and holds together really well! I didn’t have any houses fall apart! Also, no egg whites or meringue powder is a plus! Thank you for sharing!

🥣 Ingredients

• Pop Tarts: You'll need 6 pop tarts. I used strawberry because it already had red and green sprinkles on the frosting.
• Decorations: We all have our favorite holiday candies to use for gingerbread houses. My go-to candies are mints and chocolate candies in holiday shapes---like Santa, trees or snowmen.
• Royal icing: Royal icing works great on gingerbread houses. Here is a royal icing recipe from Wilton that uses meringue powder to create a sturdy icing. My recipe is simply a mixture of powdered sugar and water. It dries hard and works well. A good rule of thumb is to use ½ cup powdered sugar and 2-3 teaspoons of water. Mix sugar and water together until it reaches the consistency of craft glue. You don't want it to be too runny.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

👩‍🍳 Tips and Tricks For Assembly

• ONLY USE A SERRATED KNIFE. A paring knife will not work. Gently saw as you cut, and you'll end up with nice clean lines.
• Hold in place. Add a bead of icing to the Pop-Tarts and use your hands to hold the 4 walls in place for a minute or two. After that, the icing is tacky and will hold on its own. Repeat for the roof, holding it in place for a minute or so before letting go.
• Let set. These houses are pretty sturdy once the royal icing has had a chance to set. This takes about 15-20 minutes, but waiting at least 30 minutes before decorating is recommended.
• Assemble in advance. For even sturdier houses, assemble them the day before you plan on decorating them to allow the pop tarts to dry out a bit. If you do this, you shouldn't have any issues with your house falling apart.

🏠 How To Make a Pop Tart House

Step 1: Place 6 pop tarts on a cutting board.

Step 2: You will be making cuts on 4 out of 6 of the pop tarts. The 2 that aren't cut are the roof pieces. You can set those 2 pop tarts to the side if you'd like.

Step 3: Take 1 pop tart and place it on its side, right next to another pop tart.

Step 4: Cut on a diagonal from the corner of the pop tart that is on its side, to the center of the middle pop tart. Repeat on the other side.

Step 5: You should now have a pop part that looks like a house. Repeat this step so that you have 2 house-shaped pop tarts.

Step 6: Remember that pop tart that you turned on its side? Go ahead and stand it up again. Place it next to one of the house-shaped pop tarts, lining up the corners, and cut horizontally across. Repeat.

Step 7: You should now have two roof pieces (uncut), 2 house-shaped pieces, and 2 wall pieces.

Combine powdered sugar and water to make a royal icing glue. Add water ½ teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved (2 ½ teaspoons works well for me). Spoon icing into a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off.

Step 8: Glue the 4 walls together with icing and hold in place for a minute or so.

Step 9: Add the roof pieces and hold in place for a minute or so.

Step 10: Let houses stand AT LEAST 30 minutes before decorating. If making these with kids, assemble the houses the day before you want to decorate them to allow the pop tarts to harden a bit.

👩‍🍳 Tips and Tricks for Decorating

Make sure to watch our video to see how we assembled and decorated our house. It plays under the first image in the post as well as at the end of the post in the recipe card.

Obviously, lightweight candies like Necco wafers are easier to work with than M&Ms and starlight mints, but don't let that stop you. I'll share a few tips for working with heavier candy. That being said, if you are making these with a group of children, I'd go for lightweight candy and sprinkles to avoid little ones getting frustrated. 

• To add heavier candies to the trim (see M&Ms in photo):
  • Add a bead of royal icing to the house and let it sit for a couple of minutes before adding candy. This allows the icing to begin to get tacky. Add the candy, then adjust as necessary if you see any drooping. The icing will harden and hold everything after 10 minutes or so.
• To add heavy candies to the roof, you have two options:
  • 1: Decorate the roof pieces before assembling the house and let them dry. Then assemble the house.
  • 2: Use the tip above for heavier candies, adding a bead of icing, let it sit for a minute or two, then adding the candy and adjusting as necessary until it is firm.
• Decorating the walls:
  • If you're only adding a couple of items (like I did) you can add them at the end. Easy.
  • If you'd like to add a bit of decoration to the walls of your house you can do that BEFORE assembling the house. Let it set up and dry then build your house. This is an easy way to make sure gravity doesn't pull the candy down.

❓Pop Tart House FAQs

More Pop Tart Houses & Recipes To Make

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