Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

Several years ago, my children and I made these ornaments for our Christmas tree. They lasted several years and smelled wonderful. Almost all of the ornaments have since been broken and tossed out. Now that my two youngest girls are older, it seemed the right time to make them again. While we were rolling out the dough, the older children came downstairs and wanted to make some of the ornaments again. They take several days to dry, so plan ahead if you decide to make some yourself.

Cinnamon Ornaments

Ingredients:

1 cup cinnamon
3/4 cup applesauce
2 Tablespoons white glue

Supplies:

bowl
spoon
counter space
rolling pin
cookie cutters (we used outline cookie cutters)
straw cooling rack
paint, ribbon, sequins, etc for decorating

We were out of applesauce, so we used apple butter instead. It was a little thicker than applesauce, so we increased the glue by 1 teaspoon.

Mix all ingredients together by hand, then kneed gently to make a smooth dough. The dough will be thick and fairly dry, but should not crack when rolled. Pat out on clean surface and then roll to 1/4" thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out dough.

Poke holes in top of ornaments using straw. It is important to leave enough dough above the hole, so that the ornament weight can be supported. Carefully, move the cut out ornaments to the cooling rack.

Take dough scraps and kneed them together and repeat the rolling and cutting process until the dough is gone. If the dough begins to dry out use a small amount of glue and kneed until smooth again.

We made a double batch, and made 20 ornaments, which varied in size from 3 to 4-1/2 inches in size. The ornaments should be allowed to dry for several days. Thicker ornaments will take longer to dry out than thinner ornaments.

When completely dry, decorate with ribbon, paint, sequins, etc