3 major Holidays in 3 months. Thanksgiving of course is my favorite. All that food. Cooking the night before and all through the next day. Then we sit down and eat for 15 minutes. And then eat again and again.
I would have to say Christmas is the most stressful for me. I don't like to get out into the crowds. I do love the Holiday but I try and make sure that I have all my gifts bought or made by August and then I spend October and November focusing on how I am going to wrap gifts and picking up or making those last minute gifts. December is about the tree. I spend a month just on the tree.
Last year I bought these tiny trees that I can sit on the bar area in my kitchen. They look pathetic. But for .50 cents, I can change that. I bought them with the intentions of sitting them on the bar in the kitchen and putting cinnamon dough ornaments on them. Cinnamon always reminds me of Christmas. With that in mind, I need to make the ornaments now, so they ready by December 1. I'll make a small batch here and there and make the house smell good and then they will be ready when I need them.
Here is my recipe for cinnamon dough ornaments:
I use a 2.37 oz of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of applesauce
I first put the cinnamon in a bowl and then add 1/4 cup of applesauce. I mix this and then add 1 tablespoon of the applesauce. I mix this with my hands. We are trying to comes up with a consistency that isn't too dry or too sticky. I needed to add another tablespoon of cinnamon and it made it a little sticky. At that point I just sprinkled cinnamon lightly from the container and mix until the dough was not sticky and didn't have cracks in it. Below is a picture of what we are trying to obtain.
Once the dough is mixed you will want to lay it out on wax paper and put a piece of wax paper on top of the dough. Then roll it out to about 1/4" thick. Then remove the top piece of wax paper.
I then use my cookie cutters and cut out my shapes. Since I am going to be making these periodically, I focus one one design at a time. With this small heart, I was able to cut about 20 ornaments.
Once you cut them out, poke a hole in them with a toothpick and lay on a foil covered pan. Any left over dough, just form back into a ball and start the process over again.
I use my toaster oven for this project. Set it at 200 degrees. Turn them every half hour or so. If I don't have enough room for all the ornaments, then I just set a piece of foil on the top of the toaster oven and put the excess ornaments on the foil to air dry. I turn them as well. If your using your oven it is the same process with the exception they they will all fit in the oven.
It only takes a couple of hours to bake. I have to admit though that I stretch that out, just because I love the scent.
When they are done, place a ribbon or twine through the hole on the ornament and tie the two ends together and they are ready to hang on your tree, use as gift tags, or whatever your imagination comes up with.
I store mine in airtight containers until ready to use.
Recipe adapted from: http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Other/Cinnamon-Ornaments
Enjoy,
Debra
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