This Pop Tart gingerbread house is so fun to decorate and perfect for the holidays! Once you make a gingerbread house out of Pop Tarts you'll never go back to graham crackers again.
You might also like my graham cracker nativity scene, gingerbread cookie boxes or gingerbread teddy bear cookies!
We all knew that when we made Pop Tart haunted houses earlier in the year, a holiday version would make its way to the site. Seriously, friends, once you switch to Pop Tarts, you'll never go back to graham crackers. I even made a Pop Tart nativity scene instead of a graham cracker one!
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!
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🥣 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
Pop Tarts are superior to graham crackers when assembling gingerbread houses for a variety of reasons:
They are bigger than graham crackers so you get a bigger house.
They are easier to cut than graham crackers and don't crumble as easily, but can still break if you aren't careful.
They come in so many colors and flavors.
They are sturdier than graham crackers and look more like a boxed gingerbread house kit.
They are frosted so it gives them a fun texture and decorative look.
One reader shared that they made these on Zoom with the 8-11 year olds at their church. She said they delivered boxes of pop tarts, candy, sprinkles and store-bought icing (plain ol' vanilla that you use for frosting cakes) to the kids and it worked out great! She said, "Everything stuck great, almost no wait time. Even the heavy candy went right on and stayed put."
So there is another option. Easy for kids, holds the heavy candies well. May not dry as hard as royal icing, but works great!
How long will your pop tart house last? Pop-Tarts are basically already stale, so you don’t need to worry about your gingerbread house going soft like graham crackers sometimes do. This house will last all season.
More Pop Tart Houses To Make
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Pop Tart Gingerbread House
Equipment
- serrated knife
- plastic sandwich bag
Ingredients
- 6 pop tarts
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons water
Instructions
- Place 6 pop tarts on the cutting board.
Roof
- 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.
Front and Back Walls
- Take 1 pop tart and place it on its side, right next to another pop tart.
- Cut on a diagonal from the corner of the pop tart that it on its side, to the center of the middle pop tart. Repeat on the other side.
- You should now have a pop tart that looks like a house. Repeat this step so that you have 2 house-shaped pop tarts.
Side Walls
- 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.
- You should now have two roof pieces (un-cut), 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. Glue the 4 walls together with icing and hold in place for a minute or so.
- Add the roof pieces and hold in place for a minute or so.
- 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.
- Dip decorations into icing or pipe icing onto houses to decorate.
Notes
- Icing should be the consistency of craft glue.
- When cutting pop tarts, use a serrated knife and gently saw. Don't press down hard with the knife.
- To add heavier candies to the houses, like M&Ms, add a line of icing to the house and let the icing stand for a couple of minutes before placing the candy on it. This will allow the icing to dry a little and become tacky.
- You may need to hold the candy in place, or readjust the candy that starts to move as you wait for the icing to dry.
Nutrition
Anderson Jill says
I can’t wait to do something like this for Easter and Halloween!!!
Lesa says
Hi,
I just ran across this idea, and am planning on doing it with the elementary age kids I work with at my job at a public library in about two weeks. Today, I tried to put one together....and it did not go well for me. I used a serrated knife to saw instead of cut, and it worked well enough--that wasn't really the problem. The problem came next...the poptarts are too crumbly when handled. I don't eat poptarts usually, so I didn't realize they are pretty much a pastry. Corners away from the cut parts were falling away, a side ended up breaking off, even the roof, that wasn't cut, started crumbling when I tried to put it together. I was being as gentle as I could, and just not having any luck. I'm looking at these boxes of poptarts and now I'm very fearful and nervous about facing trying to put together with kids. Any suggestions? I thought about opening packages and see if they dry out and harden, but my co-workers thought they would actually just get softer. Help!! Thank you.
Brandy says
Hi Lesa! I'm sorry that you are having issues with crumbly pop tarts! Are you using generic or name brand? I've actually found that the generic brand (I used the ones from Walmart) are a little thicker than the name-brand ones. Might be worth a shot. I've used both and they turned out great, but I did think that the generic ones were a little easier to cut. Hope that helps!
Anita Laughlin says
Can you use an electric knife to cut the pop tarts? That’s what I use to cut my Graham crackers for my houses every year. A professional baker gave me that helpful tip for my Graham crackers, and I don’t have nearly the breakage. I teach kindergarten and we make houses every year (for the last 20 years).
Brandy says
Great idea!!
Monica Walsh says
My grandchildren loved making these houses and it was so easy.
Michelle says
Thank you! Gingerbread kits and graham crackers are hard to find in Panama, but I was able to find Pop Tarts so the tradition continues!!
Nikki says
Evey year we make Gingerbread houses, and we did so again this year. But I saw this tutorial and decided to try it with my girls in addition to our other houses. While we opted to not make our own icing and purchased tube frosting it was by far the easiest version of house making we have done in 10 years! My girls were able to do it with almost no help from me ( I did cut the poptarts). We will definitely be making these again! Thank you so much for this awesome idea!
Christi says
This was so much fun!!!! The kids said it was easier than gingerbread. Thank you!
Dani says
I did this with my kids and it was the best alternative to gingerbread houses ever! So easy, cute, and best of all, edible! Awesome idea.
Angeline says
Pop Tarts made this house stay up so easily!! Best idea ever!!
Katie says
We’ve made a number of gingerbread kits in years past, but this was the most successful house we’ve built to date. It was fun to pick the colors we wanted for the walls and so easy to cut the house pieces for assembly. Making your own royal icing is def the way to do this. And the houses were a perfect size for my young kids. Loved it!
Amy says
Assembled these with grandkids ages 12, 8, 6. We used cookie icing in a tube for the ‘glue’, to connect the poptarts. Let that dry overnight. Very successful decorating session the next day, recommended to all my friends!
Melissa says
Turned out great! What a sweet idea!
Cynthia says
This was wonderful. We will do it this way again!
Kat says
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cathy says
This was the BEST! It will be a new tradition for grandkids...and my friend and I made 16 for her 5th/6th grade class at church. So creative, so fun, and turned out so cute! Thank you!