Molded Cinnamon Salt Dough Ornaments to Make Now!

     

Equipment Needed

 

• • Cookie sheet  or  baking sheet

• • Parchment paper  

• • Cooling rack

• • Offset spatula or bench scraper

• • Springerle molds aka wood molds,  cookie cutters,  rubber stamps, or  cookie stamps

• • Rolling pin

• • Glass measuring cup

• • 1 cup measuring cup

• • ¼ measuring cup

• • Whisk

• • Large  mixing bowl

• • Wooden spoon

• • Plastic straw or  wooden skewer

• • Baker's twine or thin ribbon

• • Foam brush  

• • Mod Podge  or matte  Polyurethane spray
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Use the Following Ingredients

  The best thing about salt dough is it uses  simple ingredients  already in your kitchen or pantry. Using these pantry staples create beautiful salt dough ornaments with these essentials: 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of salt, ¾ cup cinnamon, ¼ cup ground cloves, and 2 cups of warm water. Add optional essential oils!   Cindy's Tips: Adding a lot of cinnamon gives your handmade ornaments the gingerbread look. The best way to get the dough the right consisitency, is add a little bit of warm water at a time to the flour mixture.         Preheat 200-degree Oven   Preheat oven to 200 degrees f. and line a cookie sheet or baking sheet with  parchment paper. Baking at a  lower temperature  for a  couple of hours prevents your gingerbread salt dough ornaments from cracking and puffing up.  

Step 1: Mix Flour Mixture for Gingerbread Ornaments

  Add 3  cups of flour  and one  cup of salt  to a large  mixing bowl. Next, add ¾ cup cinnamon and ¼ cup of cloves to the flour mixture and whisk the  dry ingredients.  Adding a lot of cinnamon is the  best way  to add the look of real gingerbread ornaments.    

Step 2: Combine Water and Flour for Smooth Dough

  Next, I slowly add a  cup of water  to the  dry ingredients  a little bit at a time.  Mixing this  salt dough ornament recipe  is best done with your hands. Knead the dough for 10 minutes to achieve a smooth dough that's the right consistency to make the perfect  homemade salt dough ornaments. Add  essential oils  or  food coloring  to the warm water and stir.   Cindy's Tip: I added 10 drops of cinnamon fragrance oil to the cup of water and stirred well.   Combined with the ¾ cup cinnamon, this salt dough ornament recipe smells amazing! Personal note, I used rubber gloves when mixing my salt dough because I have fingernails. Okay, it's not about vanity, the dough would have been under my nails for hours. I removed the gloves when the warm water combined with the flour mixture.      

Skip a Floured Surface Use Cinnamon Instead

  Instead of using a  floured surface  for my  salt dough recipe, I used a tablespoon of cinnamon adding a little bit at a time on my pastry board,  rolling pin, and pinecone wooden mold. This is the  best way  to ensure the  entire ornament  doesn't stick. It gives the  finished ornaments  the coloring of real pinecones.  

 

Step 3: Mastering Wooden Molds for Gingerbread Salt Dough Ornaments

  Begin adding your  salt dough ornament recipe  to the  wooden molds. Because I never used  wooden cookie molds  before this was a little bit of a learning curve. But I'm happy I can share this  extra step  with you. On my first try for molded cinnamon salt dough ornaments to make now, I added the dough to the mold and pressed it into the mold to get my design. As a result, the pinecones had extra dough. I needed to trim the dough with a small pairing knife and wanted a better process. I took sections of dough my  rolling pin  to 1/4 inch thick, and placed it on my mold.   Taking the time with this  extra step  makes adding the batch of dough to my  wooden cookie molds  easier.        

Step 4:  Remove Excess Dough  

  After adding my cinnamon ornaments to the  wooden molds, I trimmed the  excess dough with an offset spatula  a little bit at a time. This was a great way to get a polished look  for my finished ornaments.  

Step 5:  Prepare the Ornament for Hanging

  Place the  finished ornaments, on a  parchment paper-covered  cookie sheet. Use a plastic straw to make a  small hole  on the  top of the ornament  for hanging with a  pretty ribbon  or baker's twine.   Cindy's Tip: If you don't have a plastic straw use a wooden skewer or the end of a small craft paintbrush to make a small hole. Make it big enough at the top of each ornament for a thin ribbon to hang on the Christmas tree. Add these ornaments with orange slices, to each place setting and let family members take them home. They can hang them on their own tree next holiday season.      

Step 6: Bake  Beautiful Salt Dough Ornaments with Ease

  Next, I placed the  baking sheet  with my  homemade salt dough ornaments  in a 200-degree oven for the  drying process. Baking salt dough at a  lower temperature  is a must! Because these are thicker ornaments the  drying process  for these  salt dough Christmas ornaments  takes a  couple of hours.  

• • Bake for 1 hour

• • Flip over (Don't worry about the design from the mold, it will be fine)

• • Bake for another hour

• • Total process:  2-3 hours

Let the gingerbread ornaments cool on a  cooling rack.     Cindy's Tip: The best way to know the drying process is finished, is if your homemade ornaments are hard. During the last hour of baking, check and make sure your ornaments aren't too  dry to avoid cracking.  

Step 7: Seal Your  Ornaments

  Add a thin coat of  Mod Podge  or matte  polyurethane spray  to the  entire ornament. This is a  great way  to protect your  salt dough Christmas ornaments  from moisture and ensure they last a long time.  

Step 8: Remove Excess Cinnamon

  Use a pastry brush or paintbrush to remove the excess cinnamon from ach  Christmas tree ornament  before hanging. The cinnamon from the mold leaves behind.