If you're looking for an easy DIY Christmas ornament to do this year I'm going to put my vote in for these scented ornaments made with a dough of just equal parts applesauce and cinnamon. Not that you asked.
I'm going to talk about ornaments in a minute, but first a little backstory, because the backstory always makes the current story better.
About 3 years ago I got a cold that turned into a really bad cold. That really bad cold turned into Sinusitis. That Sinusitis turned me into an angry, angry, robot person who couldn't smell lasagna. Or other people's toots.
So there was good and bad to it all.
One of the symptoms of Sinusitis is the loss of smell and taste. I lost it all.
You have no idea how important the sense of smell is until you lose it. Sure you can't smell anyone's gut-rot-abscess breath, but you can't smell your own either. You can't smell yourself at all. I went through 14 sticks of deoderant, 18 packs of gum and 142 cases of Tic Tacs that month.
As soon as I got my sense of smell back, I started smelling everything in my path.
Now that Christmas is approaching, my nose is moving into high gear again. I expect everything I pick up to be scented. Pine cones, candles, cookies. If they aren't, I get angry.
Christmas isn't just the season of joy. It's the season of stink with the scents of Christmas (Cinnamon, Vanilla, Pine, Burning Money) wafting through the air.
So when my mother told me about something her quilting buddy told her about, I knew that I had to tell you. How's that for an elegant sentence?
So how do you make these homemade ornaments?
Cinnamon Apple Sauce scented ornaments. All it is, is equal parts cinnamon and applesauce. That's it. Roll it out, cut it with cookie cutters and let it dry.
DIY Scented Ornaments
Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 200 ° F.
Mix together equal parts applesauce and cinnamon until it forms a dough.
If you want to use other spices like nutmeg or cardamom, mix your dry ingredients first, then add them to the applesauce.
It'll look like regular cookie dough. Shockingly so, in fact.
Roll it out to around ¼ of an inch.
At this point if you want sparkles ... add sparkles.
I roll over them once with the rolling pin to make sure the sparkles are smashed in there good so they stick.
Now cut out your shapes with whatever cookie cutter you're using.
I went out and bought this Moose shaped cookie cutter for the occasion. (around $2) You can get a similar one (nicer shape actually) here. PLUS it comes with a bear shaped one too.
Carefully lift the "cookies" up and place them on a cookie sheet.
Using a straw, poke a hole in the "cookie" so you have somewhere to add a ribbon or hook later.
Place the cookie sheet in the oven at 200° F for at least 3 hours.
You can also dry them on the counter but it'll take days.
Now you can string them together like a bunting ...
... or hang them in a window or on your tree.
Easy DIY Scented Ornaments.
Just equal parts applesauce and cinnamon make these easy and fast to whip up, plus you can customize them however you want with a cookie cutter.
I've added links to some worthy cookie cutters for 2020 in the "Notes".
Ingredients
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 cup cinnamon
- nutmeg (optional)
- cardamom (optional)
- clove (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 F.
- Mix together your dry ingredients if you're using more than just cinnamon. (you can use any mix, just make sure the total of dry equals the total of applesauce).
- Mix the dry ingredients with applesauce with a fork and then with your fingers until you have a dough.
- Roll the dough out to ¼". If you'd like to add sparkles do it now by sprinkling them over the rolled out dough. Press them in by going over them once or twice with a rolling pin.
- Cut the dough out with any cookie cutter of your choice. Using a straw, cut a hole in the shape for you to run an ornament hanger or string through. Transfer "cookies" to a baking sheet and bake at 200 F for 2 hours or until dry.
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Did you notice? The finishing touch I added. Or do I need to draw your attention to it? If you didn't notice, take a look at the above photo again.
That's right. And it too smells like apples and cinnamon. Unless you happen to have have sinusitis.
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It's very humid here. The citrus slice ornaments I made in October have already tried to re moisten, grr.
Do you think adding some school / crafters glue to the dough might help them last longer?
I'm a bit concerned about molding. Since everything here does / or at least gives it a really good go of it.
Could these be painted once dry?!
Or would that cover the scent? :(
At the very least maybe after cutting out shapes I can sprinkle glitter on in patterns and press (gently).
Kinda thinking boring rounds or snowy flake shapes for all year. Then add different colored glitter for stripes or polka dots. Or something. (I hate polka dots. They make no sense! Lol. Maybe just stripes then.)
I made these yesterday! You inspired me with your affiliate links, so I bought the middle finger cookie cutter to make "FU 2020" or "FU Covid" decorations. The recipe turned out great. Thanks for sharing!
I made these many years ago - pretty much the same directions, but instead of cookie cutters I pushed the dough into ceramic cookie molds to get an imprint on them before drying them. They lasted forever!
Love it - and my dog would love these hanging on a tree in the house, especially if there was a piece of furniture adjacent to the tree that allowed him to eat the ones higher up on the tree too.
And I love the framed chalk board idea
I can't function without a chalkboard somewhere in my house, lol. ~ karen!
excited to try these, thanks
Just reading this post now and I can't believe I am the first to ask where did you find that adorable moose cookie cutter? I have been all over Cambridge searching for one to no avail.
Thanks!
I did so expect the chalkboard to say Merry Christmoose.
Nice!
For those near an IKEA, the last time I was there, they had a cute cookie cutter pack that included a moose, fox, squirrel, hedgehog, bear and snail.
OMG! REALLY!!!??? I must go. NOW. That sounds like a GREAT package. ~ karen
Love your chalkboard artwork, too....I made the ornaments with my kids many years ago and kept them for a few years....doubt if the smell lasted tho. Also, same thing with me after a bout with sinus...no taste...many years ago...don't have it back to this day...and it is awful when cooking. Funny thing...or not...hubby can't smell.....we make a weird couple! LOL. I tell myself how good stuff tastes anyway so no lost weight:( And the moose poop made me laugh!
It's incredibly impressive that you knew to poke a hole in one of their antlers so that they would hang perfectly like that when strung up. Wow, just wow.
I *tried* making these tonight. Total FAIL. How is that possible? Well, my oven runs 50 degrees hoter than whatever setting you put it on and 200 is the lowest setting which means my oven is really 250 degrees, DO NOT think that you can make these if your oven is 50 degrees off. You can't. And since I still can't smell, they didn't just burn, they burned for 2 1/2 hours. Noses are important, even if they do smell farts sometimes.