These ornaments smell so good that you'll want to eat them-- but resist. They don't taste very good, I can promise you that.(Yes, I tasted some dough. And yes, it was gross.) This dough rolls out very easily, and the cinnamon dough ornaments will last for years. (I have some that are almost 10 years old!)

Ingredients:
1 C. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. ground cloves
3/4 C. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. essential oil (your choice)
2 tbsp. white craft glue cookie cutters or molds
straws
decorating materials

Instructions: 1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cinnamon and cloves. Add the applesauce, essential oil, and glue.

2. Knead in bowl for a few minutes, until you have a firm, pliable dough. Add more cinnamon if the dough is too wet, more applesauce if it's too dry.

3. Dust your work surface with cinnamon (just as you would with flour for regular cookies). Roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, or press into a cookie mold (see photo). For molds, press dough into mold, smooth with rolling pin, remove, and cut away extra dough.

4. While still moist, cut a hole in the top of each ornament with the end of a straw for hanging. Place ornaments on paper towels and air dry for several days. Carefully flip them several times while drying so they won't bend or warp.

5. In a hurry? Instead of air drying, bake ornaments at 200 degrees F for about 3 hours, turning occasionally.

Decorate!

Tip: Use the essential oil of your choice. Try cinnamon to bring out the cinnamon scent, or apple to make apple-cinnamon scented cinnamon ornaments. Vanilla-cinnamon is nice, too!

Decorating tips: You can decorate these with all sorts of things! Use white school glue, and sprinkle on glitter. Glue on eyes or puff balls, or any decoration you want. Puffy fabric paints make great raised decorations, or use acrylic craft paint to paint designs, faces, names, etc. Let your imagination run wild!

© 2008 Divine Dinner Party.com - http://www.divinedinnerparty.com