Mom It Down: Homemade Xmas Ornaments
December 14th, 2009
Last week, Emory and I had fun with flour. We made christmas tree ornaments! I hadn’t done this since I was a kid, so my skills were rusty at best. But, boy was it ever fun!
I know this recipe isn’t edible, but if you’re anything like me, you’re looking for ways to amuse a toddler during the cold winter months. So I thought that given the season, I’d share this as today’s Mom It Down.
What you will need
- Cookie sheet
- Cookie cutters
- Cabin fever
- A little bit of patience
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
Mom It Down!
Sift the flour and salt together. Add the water. Mix it up.
When the dough begins to form, you can start using your hands. If it’s too sticky, add some more flour.
Please note: You’ll want to knead the dough for as long as possible. (At least 10 minutes.) You don’t want the dough to rise while it’s baking.
Roll out some dough for yourself and give some to your little people too. My son made a huge mess. He loved it.
Also, this will happen:
And they will likely make this face:
And they’ll probably go in for seconds. And then you may have to take the dough away from them before they get a bellyache.
But I digress…
Roll the dough out as thin as possible. (The handprint on the far right in the picture below is far too thick and inconsistent; that one rose way too much. I lost the handprint almost entirely.)
We did a few hand prints as well—you know, for the grandparents. (The one below was still a bit on the thick side. I ended up redoing this one and rolling it out even thinner.) Don’t forget to add the ribbon holes!
Preheat oven to 250.
If time permits, let them sit out on the counter for an hour or so to dry out.
Bake for at least an hour. (I let mine bake for a bit longer. I wanted them good and hard.)
We haven’t been able to find any food shellac. (I have no idea if that’s what it’s called.) We used poster paint because that’s what we had.
This week, we’ll buy some ribbon and finalize them. I’ll post pictures of them when we’re finally done!
Overcoming Obstacles
The longer you let them sit out before baking, the lighter in color the dough will be at the end. And the thinner you roll out each ornament, the less of a chance each one will rise and/or crack.
I have to admit, we had several mishaps before we got to anything decent. With the first batch, I hadn’t rolled mine out thin enough so the moisture from the inside began to crack the outsides. It was definitely a learning experience! The good news is, he couldn’t have cared less about all my technical difficulties. He just wanted to play and paint. That said, we’ll probably give it another go this week. I think I have a better understanding as to how this is done and goodness knows we could use the indoor activity!
Variations
I read somewhere that someone added a little spice to the dough so they would smell great while baking. I haven’t tried this. I figure if I want to smell that, I’ll make me some homemade applesauce since it’s so freaking easy!
More than ever, I’d love any suggestions and/or pointers on this. Don’t hold back! Learn me something new, people.
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