Fun, Easy Christmas Recipes - Ornaments to Bake - Great Family Fun!

Family activities are such fun, especially during this festive season. One of my favorite Christmas crafts, besides making wreaths and Christmas greeting cards, is playing with salt dough modeling clay. Kids particularly love rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters to create their ornaments - almost as much as they love painting and decorating the baked ornaments.

Some folks think holiday fun and Christmas ornaments cost too much money - well this fun activity will certainly prove that you can have a ball and create beautiful, handmade ornaments for only pennies each. I came across the recipe for this fun, easy, kid-friendly craft some years ago in a ladies' magazine, but lost it when we moved. It wasn't until several years later that I found the recipe again. Sometimes, I make up a few smaller batches in different colors, instead of painting the Christmas ornaments after baking. The colors are not so bright when they are premixed into the dough, but the softer effect is quite lovely.

Please note - this modeling dough is NOT edible.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 cups salt
• 1 -1/2 cups warm water

Instructions:

• Combine the salt and flour in a large mixing bowl
• Gradually add the water, kneading until the dough becomes elastic
• Add more flour if dough is sticky - if it's too dry, add more water, a few Tbsp at a time

For colored dough, you can put a few drops of food coloring, or a few drops of watercolor paint to the water before adding the water to the dry ingredients.

Once you've got your dough at a consistency you can work with, bring on the rolling pins, cups, bowls, straws, cookie cutters, plastic utensils, and let the fun begin!

Roll out the dough about 1/4 inch thick, and use cookie cutters, cups, or plastic toy shapes to cut out your ornaments.

Add interesting texture by scoring your ornaments lightly with the tines of a fork or lemon zester. Pressing a grater gently into the dough. This embossed design will also add an interesting texture to a basic shape.

You can use straws or pencils to wrap strips of dough around and make curls, spirals, and puffed shapes.

Add narrow strips of dough to the basic shapes for decorative trim. You can further decorate the trim strips by lightly poking shallow hole with the point of a pencil or toothpick.

To make your own dough buttons, roll small pieces of dough into round shapes and flatten them. Add tiny indentations to simulate button holes.

Once you have completed decorating your ornaments, set them aside to dry - at least overnight - or bake at 200 F until dry.

When you paint an embossed design, try a dark color, or gold paint, in the indentations, and a lighter on the raised parts.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 cups salt
• 2 Tbsp dry mustard
  
• 1 -1/2 cups warm water

Instructions:

• Combine the salt and flour in a large mixing bowl
• Gradually add the water, kneading until the dough becomes elastic
• Add more flour if dough is sticky - if it's too dry, add more water, a few Tbsp at a time

This recipe adds some powdered mustard to the mix, which causes the dough to darken slightly during baking. When ornaments made from this dough are baked (at 200 F) they have a lovely, rich brown color, just like old wooden ornaments.

You can heighten this effect by using a lemon zester to add a slight grain to the uncooked ornament.

The darker color of salt dough also works beautifully for salt dough "Gingerbread" Men and Ladies.

Salt dough ornaments can be left to air dry, but curls, swirly bits, and puffed areas may need to be propped up from underneath with crumpled tissue to prevent them collapsing before they are completely dry.

Use a toothpick to make a hole in the unbaked ornament so you can attach a ribbon for hanging after the ornament is dry.

You can also attach a metal loop for hanging the ornament if you prefer. Press the hook or loop into the unbaked dough. Once the salt dough is dry, it becomes very hard.

Decorative pieces and add-ons (such as buttons on a Gingerbread Man) can be added before baking. Brush the back of the add-on with water or a very runny mixture of water and flour.

Avoid using glue if the piece is to be baked, as the glue is not meant to be heated. The heat of the oven will release chemicals in the glue, as well as create a very bad smell.

Freshly baked salt dough stays hot for a long time. Make sure the ornaments are completely cooled before being touched by little fingers.

Decorations and add-ons can be baked separately and then glued in place with white glue. Pieces may need to be braced in place until the glue dries.

It is possible to store your salt dough in a sealed container in the refrigerator, but it will only keep well for a couple of days.

Remember to spray sealer on the ornaments out of doors, to avoid inhaling the fumes.

Wash your hands and utensils thoroughly after making the ornaments. Salt dough might make little hands itchy if allowed to dry on their skin. As well, it will be very difficult to remove from any baking utensils after it has hardened. I have lost more than one cookie cutter to the salt dough "cement monster."

I am always impressed by how creative people can be, especially children, when turned loose with a batch of salt dough and some basic tools. Kids and adults alike have such fun playing with the dough and making lovely Christmas ornaments. I hope you enjoy this creating your own special ornaments and building many happy memories of fun with your family.

© 2010 Text by Elle Fredine, All rights reserved