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
(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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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.)
(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.)
( 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.
(You could also hang them in the window or use them as a decoration on a gift package.)
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.
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.
