Applesauce Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

I'm officially in the Christmas spirit!  The decorating has (slowly) started and my shopping is almost complete!  Time for the Christmas crafts to begin.  I love making ornaments to give as gifts.  One of my favourites are Applesauce Cinnamon Ornaments.  They're easy to make, child-friendly and smell oh so good!  Big-A and I made our first batch 2 years ago and they still smell delicious enough to eat!

Here are Big-A and I in 2008 hard at work making our first batch of Applesauce Cinnamon Ornaments.  I was 6 months pregnant with Lil-J at the time.  We had a blast rolling and decorating, and these ornaments have made their way on our Christmas tree every year since.

The recipe is very basic - only three ingredients.  Your little ones can help you, every step of the way!

Applesauce Cinnamon Ornaments

Ingredients:

1 cup store-bought applesauce

1 cup ground cinnamon

1 tbsp white craft glue

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the applesauce and the craft glue, mix well.  Add the cinnamon and mix until it forms a firm but moist dough ball. 
2. Using your hands, gently knead the dough ensuring that the cinnamon is thoroughly combined. 
3. Place the bowl of dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 
4. Roll out the dough on a flat surface to at least a 1/4 inch thickness.  Any less will make the finished ornaments weak and breakable. 
5. Cut shapes with cookie cutters or free-hand.  Poke a hole in the top of each ornament using a toothpick. 
6. Place ornaments on a cookie sheet and allow to air-dry for at least 24 hours (larger ornaments may take up to 2 days to dry).  Do not touch the ornaments until they are completely dry.

*TIPS*

1. Add a tsp of ground cloves to the wet mixture for a more aromatic ornament.

2. Immediately after cutting out the shapes, decorate with shiny beads or whole cloves, pressing them into the soft dough.  They will dry into the ornaments.

3. Once dry, decorate with glitter glue or paint.  Using silver glitter glue is a perfect way to write a personal message on the back of the ornament if you're giving them as gifts.  Thread a shiny ribbon through the hole and you have beautiful keepsake ornaments that are a perfect gift for anyone on your Christmas list!

 2010 - Here is Big-A mixing the dough.

 Big-A with the completed ball of dough, ready for the refrigerator.

 Patting down the dough before rolling it out.

Showing off his decorating skills.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe!