CINNAMON ORNAMENTS

Yesterday we were busy busy busy making those crazy good smelling Cinnamon Ornaments for our trees. We made mini stars for Kensi's tree and larger reindeer (9 to be exact!), trees & gingerbread men for our family tree.

While these suckers were baking, the smell literally woke my dad from his nap. Our oven still smells like cinnamon, but I'm not complaining ;) 

The recipe is ridiculously easy, but I do have a few helpful tips for anyone wanting to make them.

1) You need a lot of cinnamon, don't use Penzy's for this....too expensive for these. We bought the store brand from Target, although the picture below only shows one bottle of cinnamon, I bought two and still needed a little more.

2) If you have any allergies or have sensitive skin, wear some gloves. Mixing with your hands is a must and the cinnamon (3 cups worth) can begin irritating your skin if you're super sensitive.

3) This is a 2 day project. The ornaments need to bake for about 1-1/2 hours then need to sit to finish drying out overnight.

I looked at a few different recipes, including the ones on Pinterest, but I doubled my ingredients and added a few extra spices.

This recipe has already been doubled and makes about ----- cookie ornaments.

Cinnamon Ornaments

2 cups Applesauce (plain)

3 cups Cinnamon

1/2 Tablespoon Nutmeg

1/2 Tablespoon Ground Cloves

1/2 Tablespoon All Spice

In a large bowl mix applesauce and cinnamon together. You will need to eventually use your hands. 

(Be aware cinnamon powder will fluff up EVERYWHERE!)

Add the Nutmeg, Ground Cloves & All Spice. You may need to add a little more applesauce in order to thoroughly mix everything together. Make sure there are no wet spots in your dough. 

Dust your work space & rolling pin with cinnamon and roll out your dough to 1/4 inch thick and use any shaped cookie cutters. Use a straw or a skewer to pierce a hole in the top of ornament (this is where the ribbon will go to hang it). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 200 degrees F for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

(If you make little tiny ornaments check them after 45 minutes so they don't crack).

Remove from oven, place ornaments on a cooling rack and leave them overnight.

Now comes the fun part!

Get out your glitter and glue and start decorating the ornaments however you like, just don't forget to add a ribbon or kitchen twine so they can hang.

These are perfect for kids to make as gifts for Grandparents or a great finishing touch for a gift of homemade goodies.