Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been buying gingerbread kits at the supermarket for years, but always disappointed when I open it up and find broken pieces and discover that they taste like cardboard. This year, I decided to make them myself so that we could actually eat them after the holiday. This is a good quality mold, and good price for a complete gingerbread house (4 walls & v-shaped roof), plus a door, 2 separate gingerbread people, 1 gingerbread couple, 2 trees, 1 snowman, Santa on sled, 1 candy cane, 2 gift boxes, and a bunch of little roofs - if you want to make some rectangles and make little houses, I guess? I took off 1 star because there were some gooey red chunks of silicone stuck to the inside of the mold, but they were simple to pick off. Make sure to wash and dry the molds very well...mine were not that clean to begin with. There are a lot of gingerbread house recipes online, so I thought any one would do. Boy was I wrong. First of all, light molasses isn't easy to find. The stores usually just carry regular molasses (which is pretty dark). The first recipe I used was from foodnetwork dot com, and it was a disaster. You also have to triple the recipe to be able to use all three mold sheets. It uses way too much cloves and it rose over the mold and cracked. The second recipe I found was perfection! Tip: Don't fill the molds to the top...leave 1/8" to allow for the gingerbread to rise when it bakes. You can find the second recipe here: http://m.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--1332/how-to-make-a-gingerbread-house.asp The recipe fills up all of the molds EXCEPT for the 6 little roofs. But it's enough for the house, big roof for the house, and all the extra little guys. It also uses just regular molasses and not light molasses. I used a little spray Pam on the mold before pressing the dough into the mold. Just for added insurance! There are some air bubbles, even though I made extra sure to press all of them out, but I don't mind...it makes it look like a rustic log cabin!