Holiday Ornaments

I think I've mentioned that I'm not very experienced with the manual dexterity required for certain baking skills, like kneading and rolling out dough. But today I faced this inadequacy and inexperience head on: we made holiday ornaments.

DD and DS loved mixing the cinnamon dough--cinnamon, applesauce, and glue--which came with many reminders not to eat the dough. It smelled lovely, felt squishy, and was a comforting deep reddish-brown. Right into the fridge it went to set up.

Next we made the salt dough--not as pretty or smelly-good--but much more fun because you knead it with your hands. This we rolled out almost immediately and that was great fun too. Dinosaurs, firetrucks, hearts, gingerbread girls, initials for their names soon appeared in dough form as we rummaged through my extensive collection of cookie cutters.

Rolling out the cinnamon dough proved impossible. The dough was too wet but more cinnamon didn't help. It's a total loss. Though we'll try again because we got the cinnamon in bulk at Costco.

But after 1 1/2 hours in the oven, the salt dough ornaments came out puffy and slightly browned (I hear there is a way to make them porcelain-white with cornstarch). Quite a success.

DD, in fact, took her various ornaments to naptime.

Definitely a do-again.

-=-=-


Cinnamon Ornaments

1 1/2 cups ground cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
1/4 cup white school glue (like Elmer's)
Bowl
Plastic food wrap
Rolling pin
Wax paper
Cookie cutters or a knife
Ribbon or yarn for hanging
Straw

Mix cinnamon, applesauce, and glue together in a bowl. The dough should be as thick as cookie dough. Add a bit of water if the dough is too stiff.

Remove from bowl and knead. Put it back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for at least a half hour.

Remove the dough, knead again to make sure it's smooth. Flatten/roll the dough between waxed paper until it's between 1/4" thick and 1/8" thick.

Cut out desired shapes, use a straw to punch a hole for the ribbon to hang. The circle of dough will pull out with the straw.

Gently place the shapes on a piece of clean wax paper. They will take 3-5 days to dry, and you will need to turn them over a couple of times a day for them to dry evenly and flat.

Don't be surprised to see that the ornaments get smaller during the drying process. Keep this in mind when you pick out the cookie cutters for your designs. You will also notice that if you do not turn the ornaments over often enough while they are drying, the edges of the ornaments will curl.

When dry, thread a piece of ribbon or yarn through the hole to hang.


SHAPE IDEAS: Tree, Apple, House (gingerbread), Bell, Heart, Goose, Gingerbread Man, Star...


Salt Dough Ornaments

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

Mix salt and flour. Slowly add water, mixing as you add it. Towards the end you will have to put dough on a work counter or on a lightly oiled surface and knead well until dough is smooth. This dough can be used to make long lasting ornaments and decorations. Bake at 325 degrees F for about 1 1/2 hours until dry. After they have completely cooled, you can paint them with acrylic paints and tie ribbons around them. If you want to hang them up bake sure that you make holes to hang them before baking. For a smooth, white porcelain like dough, mix 1 cup cornstarch and 2 cups baking soda in a saucepan. Add 1 1/3 cups of cold water and stir until smooth. Heat slowly stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Turn mixture out on a plate, cover and let cool. knead until smooth. Dust bread board with cornstarch and roll out dough. Add more cornstarch to prevent sticking. Cut out ornaments(remember to make holes for hanging!) and place on wire racks to air dry for a few days. After drying you can paint the ornaments and hang on your tree or use as package tie ons. You can use cookie cutters for making the decorations. Use the bigger cutters that don't have small areas for the dough to stick in and can't get it out. Use these doughs for making decorations for any holiday as well as birthdays.
Note from one person who followed this recipe: I ended up cooking them at 325 degrees for about 5 minutes before I realized what was going on. I then took out that batch. I rolled (and was it ever easy) the next batch about 1/8 - 1/4" thick. and used a straw to make the hole for the string (I used raffia). I then baked on whatever temp. I turned it down to until they started to brown. Then I removed them. I made the recipe/ornaments for my Tiger Cub den and we used acrylic paint to decorate them with. It made about 19-20 ornaments and the boys really enjoyed themselves.

(will get internet citation for both of these soon; sorry)