Thursday, December 03, 2009

Recipe Request: Spiced Dough Ornaments

One of our Advent calendar activities I listed the other day was to make ornaments. I bookmarked the recipe for No-Bake Spiced Dough Ornaments in The Adventure of Christmas by Lisa Whelchel and since I had all the ingredients on hand, that was our Advent activity for yesterday.

I posted about it on Facebook and had a couple of requests for the recipe, so I'm sharing it here.

It was quick, easy, and the kids enjoyed it! Bonus: Your house will smell amazing!


Spiced Dough Ornaments

1 cup ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp ground nutmeg
1 cup applesauce
2 Tbsp white glue (I used Elmers)
Food coloring (optional)
A few Tbsp flour

Combine the cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl.
Add the applesauce and glue.
Mix ingredients thoroughly, using your hands.
Add food coloring, if desired. (I didn't add any).
Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/4-inch thickness.
Using cookie cutters, cut dough into various shapes.
Make a hole in the top of each ornament using a drinking straw.
Lay the ornaments out flat to dry at room temperature for 3-5 days, turning over often. OR bake for one hour in a 200 degree oven.
When completely dry, attach a ribbon and hang on your tree!

*I didn't have a complete Tbsp of ginger, so I used cinnamon to make up the difference.
*I buy my cinnamon in bulk and it's CHEAP. The package I used yesterday cost $1.64 and was about 1.5 cups of cinnamon.


Here's a picture of our ornaments. It's not a great picture, but you get the idea! I put them on waxed paper to dry and the kids wanted to make sure they knew which ones they made--hence the "boundary" lines. Aren't kids funny?

I'm hoping that white stuff on a few of them is either glue or extra flour from our work surface. If it's still noticeable after they dry, that will definitely be side that doesn't face out on our tree! I have some red and white gingham ribbon that I'm going to use to tie them on our tree. I think they're going to look (and smell) great.

I actually have one more idea I want to try from The Adventure of Christmas book which is due back at the library today. Guess I better get crackin'.

12 comments:

jeanie@mageditor.blogspot.com said...

I especially love "EXTRA" in the middle! That looks like something my kiddos would have done!
We've made those applesauce ornaments MANY years ago. Good memories.

Rae said...

This is the exact same recipe I use and I love it!! It makes the house smell so good too!

Stephanie said...

We made those last year and they smelled so good. I think I'm going to try salt dough ornaments this year with Noelle so that she can paint them when we are done.

Stephanie Kay said...

We made these 2 years ago. After they baked and cooled we used acrylic paint to paint them. Since my boys were only 4 & 3.5 then the painting is pretty funny to look at. :) When I take them off the tree I wrap them in tissue paper and put them in a small box so we can use them each year. I rolled ours out too thin so I expect to have to make more in a couple of years. :)

Gretchen said...

Darling! My kids both made these in 2nd grade as their "holiday" gifts to mom and dad. The whole school smelled great!

Deena said...

We should make these. I love Lisa's book! It is one of my favorites. It really helps me make the most of the busy holiday season.

Megan L Hutchings said...

What a great idea! I think your family does the sweetest things together :)!

The boundary lines make me chuckle!

Christy said...

I want to try that, I was just thinking about cinnamon ornaments earlier today. Been praying for you during this holiday season. Thanks for commenting on my post...this pie you actually just bake into one of those grahmn cracker crust...very easy. I don't even own a springform pan, I always thought you couldn't make cheesecake without one, but this one is tasty and easy. Have a great holiday season.

Tami said...

How cute! Making ornaments is on our list for this month and I am going to add this as a possibility. I haven't figured out exactly what to do with the kids yet.

Elizabeth said...

The kids told me they totally want to do this tonight! And I have that book waiting for me at the library now so we can do some other fun things.

sara said...

this is great! I think I will make these for our staff!!!

sara said...

btw, I don't think ever responded to your comment on my blog....sorry. I did know you were from Arkansas!!! Maybe you will come back for a visit and we can meet!!!