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Tutorilal: How to make christmas salt dough "cookie" ornaments

Hello and Happy Friday! With all my other projects going on with blogging, home school, Christmas presents, and sculptures I am so happy to have this tutorial checked off and done!  It is such a great craft because it costs next to nothing and is so classic and pretty.  I am a firm believer that one can never have too many ornaments. And that is probably why I have three Christmas trees up in my house. Not counting any trees smaller than three feet. If I count those then I have seven trees in my house. But we're getting off the subject, so on to the tutorial. :)
  These ornament "cookies" are super easy to make.
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You need:
  • salt
  • flour
  • water
  • cookie cutters
  • rolling pin
  • oven
  • parchment paper
  • clear glitter
  • puff paint
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Combine 
1 cup salt
1 cup flour
(Seriously, that's it! Super easy to remember, too.) 
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Add Water
Just enough water to get the consistency of play dough; too much water makes it really difficult to roll and cut into shapes.
(I chilled my dough in the fridge to get it to roll better, but I probably could have added more flour and salt)
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Color
Add food coloring to get a gingerbread look.
I experimented till it turned a nice golden brown, but here is a guideline.
 10 drops of yellow
8 drops of red 
3 drops of green

(Optional: I added cinnamon & ginger mainly for smell, but the cinnamon does add a bit of color, too...I added at least a tablespoon of each, but the ornaments don't smell anymore, so I'll try adding more next time).

I added a lot of color to mine but they ended up darker after baking.  I think mine look a little more like chocolate cookies than gingerbread, but that also could be because I added blue and a little too much red...so, try out the recipe above, and change as you see fit.

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Roll Dough...
1/4 - 3/8 inches thick and cut out shapes on a well-floured surface.
(I rolled a few of mine too thin, and those cookies ended up pretty fragile.)
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Make the hole...
 in the top of each ornament using a straw.
(I found this surprisingly entertaining. The kids loved helping with this as well.)
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Bake
Preheat oven to 250
Place cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake cookies for three hours. Or till cookies are super hard, poke with a fork really hard and if they give they're not done.
(I know it is a long time but if they aren't fully cooked they end up fragile and crumbly. Some of my fave salt dough ornaments are lost due to under-cooking.)
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Cool
These babies are HOT so let them cool before decorating.
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Decorate
Frost each "cookie" using puff paint.
(I used white because I made snowflakes, but you can get creative. I used Tulip brand just fyi)

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Sprinkle...
 generously with glitter.
(I used a rough cut glitter that looked as much like sugar as I could find.)
Shake off any excess glitter.
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Dry...
in a safe place away from kids who might think these are real cookies :)
( No this is not from personal experience but my kids did ask if they could have one. Good thing I had real gingerbread cookies on hand to give them.)
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Hang,
with a string or an ornament hook on your tree. 
(You could also hang them in the window or use them as a decoration on a gift package.)
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Give
Since I made a double batch I have tons of extras to give as gifts.  
My double batch made about two dozen cookie ornaments, so this recipe should make one dozen.
 (I figured out a really easy way to make a cute little window in my origami boxes! Super awesome right?!! If I have time I'll make a tutorial on that.)

So go ahead and try it out! Tell me what you think. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me. :) 
Oh and my new sculpture is up in the shop now.

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14 Comments

Delia said…
These are so so pretty. I probably won't be able to make some this year but next year I want a whole tree full! :)
DIYbyDesign said…
Really nice idea. You did a great job. Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog.
These are so cute! I love that they really look like edible cookies. They look fabulous all glittered up. Thanks for linking them up to Homemade Christmas!
Elsie said…
Thank you for this awesome tutorial.
Your ornaments look stunning! A great idea to use puff paint and glitter for the "icing".

I love salt dough and my granddaughter always has a batch of dough in the fridge to play with.

I'm off to take a look at your other tutorials.

Have a wonderful Christmas

Elsie from South Africa
Jodi Nelson said…
These look wonderful! I'm definitely going to be making these. Just beautiful!
Lorajean said…
thanks everyone for all you wonderful comments! :)
Moe said…
As soon as I saw that box, I said to myself "she made that too! How darn clever!" I would have never thought to cut a window in origami boxes!

All my gifts are going to be in origami boxes this year :)

Thanks for linking up your salt dough ornaments. I haven't done these is ages :)
Hi Lorajean! Just wanted to let you know I featured this today for the Homemade Christmas Gifts roundup. Thanks again for participating! :)
Cindy Adkins said…
These are gorgeous!!!! What a fabulous idea...and I love your box with the see-through window!!!
XO
Delia said…
Hey...I made some and I posted about them...or will in just a minute. :) Thanks!
Anonymous said…
HI!!! THIS IS NEW TO ME!!! THANK YOU FOR THE TUTORIAL. WOULD YOU BE SO KIND TO TELL ME WHEN YOU ADD COLORING? ADELIA FROM ARGENTINA
Anonymous said…
I'm glad I found this! I'm changing up my decoration ideas this Christmas and this will help!
Carol said…
I'm making fake cookies for a library display on baking in the 1950's. They will be displayed in a glass doored covered cabinet for two months. Do you think that they will last that long? Thanks!