Molded Cinnamon Salt Dough Ornaments
The winter holidays are upon us, and Jill and I have been enjoying getting ready for Christmas much earlier than we ever have before. We read recently that people who prepare for Christmas early are overall happier, so why not bring as much joy and light into our lives when we can? Usually we do not start posting about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but it seems like everyone is ready for the good feelings that this holiday brings everywhere we go. We are excited to join in on the fun and share some wonderful winter treats, meals, and decorating ideas with you.
We were gifted this set of beautiful wooden cookie molds from Ella of Christmas Cookie House. These traveled to our farm all the way from England! While we are making ornaments in today’s post, we will share a molded cookie recipe with these soon!
the history of salt dough:
Salt dough have been around since ancient times, but its popularity rose in America when German immigrants made their homes in the states and began selling their charming painted ornaments. They became a staple for celebrating the holidays.
This video on Youtube is a fascinating look at how salt dough was made and used to create ceramic art in Ancient Egypt and beyond!
the method:
These ornaments are a bit stiffer and drier than my Chocolate Salt Dough ornaments, which are meant to be rolled and cut like sugar cookies. This salt dough does use as much water so that it is easily pressed into the mold and pops right out with hardly any effort. We found that this recipe worked much better.
You can make this recipe without cinnamon by replacing the cup of ground cinnamon with cocoa powder or more flour. White salt dough ornaments are fun to paint, and I can only imagine these ornaments would be absolutely beautiful painted. It makes a really fun project for children to do as well!
We like to use a bench scraper to make our molded ornaments and cookies. There is always some extra dough piled on the back of the mold, and this creates a flat and smooth surface to the cookie while removing all of the excess dough in a clean sweep.
shop the molds:
We were generously gifted these beautiful molds from Christmas Cookie House on Etsy. I thought that you might want the direct links to the molds that we chose! There are several other options, including more holiday themed versions, which are just fantastic.
Jill has been busy working to get a head start on our handmade ornaments, and I am looking forward to sewing a few! We have a little shoebox full of our previous years’ handmade ornaments, as we have been enjoying decorating for Christmas with a more primitive style of dried citrus and natural elements. Then we add on our homemade trinkets. We decided this year that we may need to remake quite a few of them, as the ornaments that we made over ten years ago are starting to look a bit out of place with our color schemes today. They will still be fun to keep, though, and see if the children want them when they are older. You never know!
I hope that you enjoy this little tutorial. Happy ornament making!
xoxo Kayla
Cinnamon Salt Dough
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup ground cinnamon
- 1 cup salt
- 3/4 cups water
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and salt until it is well combined.
- Mix in the water with a fork or wooden spoon until a dough begins to form. Finish kneading the dough together with your hands. It will be moldable and a bit dry, like play dough. It should not be wet or sticky.
- This dough can be rolled and cut out like cookies, or it can be pressed into cookie molds.
- To make into cookie molds, flour the molds generously and press the dough into the mold so that it is filled fully. With a bench scraper or spatula, scrape away any excess dough. Shake or knock out the molded dough onto the countertop.
- To cut out the ornaments, roll the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutters.
- Do not forget to make a small hole in the tops of ornaments with a toothpick before baking!
- Bake the ornaments at 200° F for about 30 minutes or until the ornaments are hardened. Let cool completely, place string or twine through the hole, and hang on the tree!
