Want to make the whole house smell like Christmas? Try making Apple Cinnamon Ornaments that will immerse the house in a sweet cinnamon aroma and look super cute strung up on your Christmas tree. Baking these made our house smell so delicious that now I want to make them everyday.
This is a great project to do with kids! My toddler was a big help! She rolled out the dough with her own little rolling pin and used cookie cutters to cut many of the shapes "all by herself." Those are the words I hear from her the most... "I can do it all by myself."
There are a lot of recipes floating around the web for these but many of them call for glue. ICall me crazy, but I wasn't too keen on the idea of baking glue in my oven. I wanted mine to be made with natural ingredients, so I experimented with my own recipe and it worked out perfectly.
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl adding more applesauce or cinnamon if the consistency of the dough needs to be altered.
2. Cover a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Lay another piece of parchment or waxed paper onto the counter where you will be working.
3. Roll out the dough to a 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out the desired shapes.
4. Place the shapes onto your paper lined baking sheet leaving about two inches between each one.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to continue cutting out your shapes. TIP: If the dough seems to be sticking, sprinkle a little cinnamon on the work area and rolling pin.
6. Once all of your shapes have been cut, use a small plastic straw to punch a hole in the top of each ornament.
7. Bake the ornaments for 2-3 hours. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and use a spatula to carefully transfer each one to a plate once they have cooled slightly.
8. Let them completely cool and harden before threading a string through the hole in each ornament. Baker's twine is great to use for this! These are perfect hung on a tree or used an embellishment for a gift. They even make great gifts themselves!
Happy creating!
The days leading up to Christmas are always packed with last-minute wrapping, final preparations, traveling, and splitting time with both sides of the family. Christmas Day has become our day to just stay at home and enjoy the kids and being together. Presents, cider, a lit fireplace, scones, my mom's quiche recipe and Christmas music started out the day. For the last four years, I have put together a large meal at our house and invited both of our families to join us for Christmas dinner. Lydia Grace and Eli had their own separate table to sit at this year--"the kids' table". Eli felt like such a big boy getting to sit with his sissy. Don't you love the Christmas mess in the background behind where the kids are eating?! You can tell that they had fun. The day finished off with us still in our pajamas enjoying movies, crafts, family, gifts, and lots of treats...
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