::craft:: Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

We made these wonderful smelling ornaments last night, and it was so much fun.

You will need: 1 cup cinnamon, 3/4 cup applesauce, 1 Tblsp. nutmeg, 2 Tblsp. glue,

lots of cookie cutters,

and one sweet helper. Combine the cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the applesauce and glue. Knead until it's the consistency of cookie dough. I had to add a little more applesauce to mine, because it was crumbly. Apparently when I did, I added a little too much, so then ended up adding some flour to make it less sticky. Remember these are non-edible, so as long as you can roll them and cut them out, you can't mess them up. Once you've formed your ball of dough, lay out a large piece of wax paper, sprinkle some cinnamon or nutmeg on top of the wax paper and begin rolling out your dough. I sprinkled cinnamon on top of the ball too, just to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.

Begin cutting out your ornaments and place them on a cookie sheet. Use a straw to add the hole at the top for stringing later. Bake at 200 degrees for about 2 hours. I flipped them half way through. My sister gave me this idea, but instead of baking them, she let hers air dry in the classroom. It took about 3 days. Either way would work!

They turned our amazing! I doubled the recipe, and ended up with about 36 ornaments.

Our whole house smells like Christmas now, and from what I've heard, they hold their scent for years.

We left ours undecorated. I liked them better that way.

But, you could add wiggly eyes and rick rack to the gingerbread boys. I'm sure you can guess that Emma's favorite was the reindeer.

I would roll them out thicker, rather than thinner, just to prevent cracking. Some of mine were thinner than others, but so far, none of mine have cracked. They would make beautiful package tie-ons too. Next year, I may package one gingerbread with wiggly eyes, rick rack, and ribbon. Emma could give them to her friends as a "make your own gingerbread ornament." One more piece of advice, I bought my cinnamon in the bulk section at HEB. It was a little over $3 for 2 cups of cinnamon. If you don't have access to bulk spices, I would try wal-mart, sam's, or the dollar store, just to be economical :)

While you are adding ribbon to your ornaments, you can give your helper scissors and a piece of wrapping paper. Trust me when I tell you that she'll be happy for a very long time.

Buddy's still into his train...

And, into the tree...

And, he's getting lots faster these days...

Still not crawling, but heaven help me when he does.

For now, this mommy is Christmas party and Christmas programmed out and SO excited for Christmas. We just can't wait! I better run, Emma just informed me that I need to be quiet. Apparently there are coyotes sleeping upstairs....

I hope she's joking...