Growing up, my mother always found a Christmas project for the kids to make. Usually it was an ornament for the tree: felt Santas with sequins, ribbon pinecones, stained glass figures. I love seeing all those handmade ornaments that still hang on her tree. My favorites are the salt-dough angels from the 1970s and the painted wooden ornaments my parents made when they were first married. Here is a recipe for dough ornaments that smell fantastic and are sure to delight the kids in your family. At our Gingerbread House Party we plan to have kids decorate these ornaments with glitter glue and take them home as their party favor. Go ahead and make some ornaments today and memories for tomorrow.
by Elizabeth Savoie Dronet
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup cinnamon, plus more for dusting (Buy about 3 2.37 oz bottles.)
1 cup plain applesauce
1/4 cup white school glue
You will also need:
Rolling pin
Parchment paper
Placemat or other smooth surface to roll dough on
Cookie cutters
Straw
Patience
Method
1. Combine all three ingredients in a mixer or by hand. Mix until the dough forms a ball and is no longer crumbling. If needed, add a teaspoon of water.
2. Turn out dough onto cinnamon dusted surface. Dust the top with cinnamon and roll out with a rolling pin. You may need to turn the dough over and dust the other side once more to ensure it does not stick to the surface. Do not roll dough too thin or it will curl during the drying process. Tip: Look at the cookie cutter you plan to use for an idea of how thick to roll the dough. Some cutters are thinner than others.
3. Place cut out ornaments onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Use a straw to create holes for the ornament to hand from ribbon. This recipe made 15 medium sized gingerbread men and four small stars. This filled two cookie sheets.
4. Recombine the dough scraps either back in the mixer or by hand. Use smaller cookie cutters as the dough amount lessens rather than rolling the dough thinner. We like small stars and hearts.
5. Place ornaments on the parchment lined sheets in a 200 degree oven. Cook for about 2 hours turning them over every 20 minutes. It is important to turn them over to reduce the amount of curling. We have tried the traditional method of leaving them out on a cooling rack for two days, turning occasionally, but this method did not work as well as the oven method.
6. Remove from oven and leave out over the next 24 hours to ensure they are completely dry. Decorate with glitter glue or sharpies. Write the child’s name and year on the back. Hang them on the tree using ribbons or string. You can also use them as gift tags.
7. After Christmas store in a ziplock to help keep them smelling great. You can also refresh the smell with cinnamon spray if desired.
We first made these ornaments for a playgroup three years ago. Those ornaments are still looking and smelling good.