Homemade Christmas Cinnamon Ornaments
Growing up, one of the best parts of decorating for Christmas was when my mom pulled out our family’s ornaments. They told the story of growing up in our home, of school projects and moments from seasons past.
I wanted to create this same cherished tradition within my own home. And our homemade cinnamon ornament collection was born.
The best part of this little project was that adults and kids alike could contribute during all stages of the process, from the mixing, to the shape-cutting, to the decorating. We actually made the ornaments last Christmas, but I never got around to sharing the process with you all. I can confirm that our ornaments survived storage and still make our formal living room smell incredible.
Here’s the recipe we used:
- 1.25 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1.5 cups of cinnamon
- 2 tbsp school glue
We mixed everything together with our hands and rolled out the dough underneath plastic wrap. Once rolled, we cut out shapes using cookie cutters and then used a straw to poke holes where we planned to attach string to hang. Keeping the ornaments on the thicker side (approximately a half inch) we found was important to keep them from cracking through. On the second batch, I added just a smidge more applesauce and found that surface cracking was more reduced on that bunch.
Baking for about two hours at 200 degrees produced a batch of about 12 to 20 ornaments, depending on the shapes.
After being left alone overnight, we spent the following evening decorating them with puffy paint and glitter. The kids loved adding our names and other fun touches and had even more fun revisiting the craft as we unpacked them and decorated our tree this year.
Our family’s Christmas tree isn’t swoonworthy, but it tells our story in just the most perfect way. I hope our boys continue to love the process of unpacking them for years to come.’
Cheers from the cottage,
Colleen
