If you love making Christmas memories with your kids, here is a great way to have fun with them while making ornaments to put on your tree, in a wreath or on a package.
These little cookie-like ornaments have a story at our house. We made some one year in the shape of gingerbread men and women. They have to dry on cookie sheets or racks for a day to harden.
My grown son came by that afternoon but no one was home. So, he helped himself to a gingerbread man…
Later that afternoon I found a headless gingerbread boy in the garbage can. It took me a little while to figure out how he’d gotten there, minus a head.
The next day was Christmas Eve. When the family got together, I asked Tony if he liked the gingerbread cookies. He blushed, not wanting to hurt my feelings by saying they tasted odd. We all had a good laugh over it, and he’s never eaten another cookie here without asking what it was first.
You only have three ingredients with his project, a large jar of cinnamon and a large jar of applesauce and white craft glue. Mix your dough in equal parts, according to how many cookies you want to make. A good ratio is one cup of each. Then add one teaspoon of glue per cup of applesauce. (You can also use nutmeg or ground cloves in small increments, and if your dough is still wet, add more cinnamon in small increments until it is stiff enough to roll out) Using some dry cinnamon to keep it from sticking, roll thick dough out on parchment paper, or wax paper. This dough will be firm, and you want to roll it out to about one-fourth inch in thickness.
Using cookie cutters which have been dipped in cinnamon powder, cut out shapes until all of your dough has been used. You can use reindeer, but it will be hard to keep the antlers from breaking when they are dry, the same goes for stars. Heart, gingerbread people and circles and diamonds make much better subjects for this project.
After cutting out your cookies place them on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, being careful not to let them touch. Now, this is important – you must make a hole through which to thread your wire or string. This is how you will hang or attach your ornament.
Using a toothpick, make a hole then move the toothpick around a little bit to enlarge the hole so that it will be big enough to get your thread, ribbon or string through.
Allow to air dry for 24-48 hours, depending on the thickness. Try not to touch or disturb them during this time.
Not only are they cute, they smell heavenly.
I normally paint on zig-zag piping for the gingerbread people’s collars and cuffs and make white dots for their eyes.
For the hearts I tie the tiniest of ribbons in a bow, then glue it on, adding a tiny spring of “snow on the mountain.”
For other shapes, I make polka dots or rickrack patterns.
Use gold thread, wire or ribbon threaded through the hole, attach your ornament to the tree or to a package.
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