Assembling House:
Prepare gingerbread dough and roll out to 1/4" thickness. Roll on a silicone baking mat so you do not have to move your pieces. Place cobblestone texture mat on top of dough and firmly push rolling pin across dough. Use perfection strips to allow you to get the perfect thickness. Use pattern pieces following the PDF link below to cut pieces or make your own design. Use a pastry wheel to cut around patterns. Transfer silicone mat to baking sheet and bake until done- will vary depending on size of piece. Repeat process until all pieces are baked. Allow pieces to cool.
Mix royal icing according to directions on package. Put in pastry bag and cut small hole in end of bag. Pipe line of icing along edge of one outside piece and along bottom edge; attach to another outside piece. Continue like this, attaching everything with a generous amount of royal icing, building all the outside walls first and then finishing the interior walls. Using a serrated knife gently cut off approximately 3/4" of large end of ice cream cones and then attach to top of castle walls. Allow royal icing to harden for at least a couple hours before beginning decorating.
Decorating:
Cover entire board with royal icing and use a small offset spatula to make an indention in the icing all the way around the castle, this will form the moat. Once the icing has slightly hardened you can fill the moat by mixing clear gel with blue food coloring and gently spreading in the indention. To make the bushes use royal icing to attach several green mini marshmellows together and then brush clear gel on one side of the marshmellows and sprinkle with tiny green non-pareils. Use the other pieces of candy to decorate the rest of the castle. Once castle is fully decorated lightly spray all surfaces with pearl spray to give a whimsical winter look.
