Benton’s Gingerbread House Kit

Last Updated on December 15, 2017

Aldi brings out a classic gingerbread house kit every year as Christmas approaches. Let’s take a look at the Benton’s Limited Edition Gingerbread House Kit.

Benton's Gingerbread House Kit

For starters, this kit is part of something new for Aldi: Limited Edition collection. The back of the box says, “Introducing ALDI’s Limited Edition collection, a range of products that extends across the brands you love. From your family favorites to something new, we bring this holiday collection chosen for you.”

This is a complete kit that includes candy treats for decorating, pre-made icing, and pre-baked gingerbread pieces. Beyond the basic gingerbread house pieces and icing, the candy these kits contain is a little different every year. This year’s kit includes the gingerbread house pieces as well as one gingerbread man and one gingerbread Christmas tree that can both be placed on the included plastic display stand that the entire house gets built on. The kit also has one bag of white EZ-Build Royal Icing with two styles of decorating tips. The candy pieces include round red-and-white peppermints, gumdrops, gummy trees (these were delicious and apple-flavored), and some hard Sweet Tarts-like holly leaves and red “berries.”

Benton's Gingerbread House Kit

Directions:

The back of the box features illustrated directions for assembling the house:

  1. Icing Bag Preparation. Knead or massage icing pouch for 1 minute to a soft, smooth consistency (like a toothpaste texture).
  2. Cut Icing Bag. To start the flow of icing, remove the cap and snip the tip to a 1/4-inch opening. Be sure not to cut the opening too large.
  3. Arrange House Pieces for Assembly. Lay out house pieces on table. Line the four canals of EZ Build Tray with a strip of icing. On the reverse side (rough side) of the front and back panels of the house, pipe a thick line of icing along the edges.
  4. Erect Walls. Using the EZ Build Tray, insert the back panel of the house into the canal, then press the side wall up against the icing strip on the back panel. Repeat the process with the front panel and second side wall. Adjust walls to create a good rectangle prior to putting on the roof pieces.
  5. Apply Icing to House Peak. Pipe a thick strip of icing along the roof edges of the front and back panels.
  6. Add Roof. Attach roof panels to house peaks and hold in place for 1 minute. Then line a strip of icing down the middle of the house. Hold in place for another minute while icing sets. Wait for 15 minutes or until icing is dry prior to decorating the house.

Benton's Gingerbread House Kit

Once the icing is dry, you can being decorating by piping frosting wherever you want on the house and sticking on candy.

The Assembly Process:

The gingerbread house was easy to assemble. The directions were clear and easy enough that my kids and I put the house together with no difficulties.

It takes some muscle to squeeze frosting out of the tip of the frosting bag, and it was hard even for me to remove some of the frosting tips to change them. We also could not get the small gingerbread Christmas tree to stand upright and stay that way for more than a minute or so, even after using a large amount of frosting and holding it in place for a few minutes so the frosting could set.

Benton's Gingerbread House Kit

Benton's Gingerbread House Kit

The kit includes plenty of frosting and candy pieces for decorating, although my kids wished there were a few more gumdrops. My kids also noticed the photo on the box shows small candy pieces on the gingerbread man and gingerbread tree that are not included in the kit, although they may be gumdrops cut into small pieces; I’m not sure.

The Finished Product:

Benton's Gingerbread House Kit

We ended up with a cute little gingerbread house. My kids didn’t understand the concept that a gingerbread house is more of a decoration rather than something to eat. They began plucking candy off the house as soon as we had taken pictures of the finished product. I wouldn’t recommend eating the actual gingerbread from this kit. It’s hard. If you’re curious, though, the kit contains 30 120-calorie servings.

The Verdict:

Aldi’s Special Buy (ALDI Find) Benton’s Limited Edition Gingerbread House Kit comes together nicely. Directions are easy to follow, and the finished house is cute. I wouldn’t recommend eating this (unless you only pluck candy pieces off the house) because the gingerbread is almost teeth-breakingly hard. It’s definitely more for decoration than for eating. Recommended.

About Rachael

Rachael is the Co-founder of Aldi Reviewer. When she isn't busy shopping at Aldi, she enjoys cooking, gardening, writing gothic romance, and collecting more houseplants than she probably should. You can learn more about her at rachaelsjohnston.com.

11 Comments

  1. Tried the Benton’s Gingerbread house this year (2018). And against the advise of the author we ate the house. We found the cookie to be not hard at all. The ginger flavor is great and the candies went well with the cookie. I would definitely recommend the gingerbread house and we will be getting this again next year!

  2. Didn’t stick together and the cookies don’t fit in the mold I would not recommend this house

    • I agree wiht Carter. They did not go together and they sure didn’t fit in the mold. Benton’s needs to do some product testing with children. It was very obvious they didn’t actually test their product as it is very obvious the pieces don’t fit together in or out of the mold. Would not recommend.

    • I had the same issue with the pieces not even coming close to fitting the mold. They were larger than the slots on the tray. The gingerbread itself wasn’t bad, I just never could get it assembled. The icing was difficult to get out of the bag, to the point the bag actually burst. My daughter had fun decorating the individual pieces, but she was disappointed that we couldn’t make an actual house.

      • My son tried to make this with his sisters and could not get the pieces to fit in the mold. I went over to help and noticed that he hadn’t them horizontal instead of tall and vertical. Then it fit. Look at the picture provided on the box.

  3. Mine was an epic fail nothing fit wouldn’t stick even the candy was aweful never again

  4. very hard to build the pieces that had the windows were very small it left a big gap

  5. I wish I had read these reviews before buying this kit. The pieces did not come close to fitting and it was a real waste of money and disappointing to the “construction crew”.

  6. Wish we had read the reviews before purchasing. As an actual gingerbread house it was abysmal but the cookies and candies are amazing by themselves, though.

  7. Well this was a huge disappoint, we live out of town so couldn’t take back, , there was no icing in the box, a very very disappointed 4 year old

  8. my KIDS WERE GREAT WITH THEIR KIT, THE HOUSE IS STANDING AND THE CANDY IS READY TO GO ON… LOOK AT THE CANDY INGREDIENTS… YA’LL THERE IS NO NO NO FOOD COLORING>>.
    IT is FROM CARROTS>>> AMAZING>.
    my kids were bumbed that the candy part was off limits…. until I LOOKED AT THE INGREDIENTS.. I WAS AMAZED<>>> no blue, red 40, nothing like that… praise the KING OF KINGS

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