christmas craft #3 {salt dough ornaments}

Last Christmas post - I think!

We made some salt dough for a project in Kiddo's class at school, so we decided to make a second batch for ourselves!  I found a basic recipe here.  I combined it with the recipe we got from Kiddo's teacher (hers had spices and a lot more salt), and then quartered  it, so my recipe went something like this:

1 cup flour
1/2-ish cup salt (maybe closer to 1/3?)
3 tsp ground cloves
3 tsp ground allspice
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
enough water to make the dough workable (I'm guessing somewhere around 1/3 cup, but I just kept adding a little bit at a time until I liked how it felt).

Roll out, cut with cookie cutters.  We used a straw to cut out small holes so we could thread them with ribbon later (for hanging).

Bake until hard and dry.  The original recipe said to bake at 325, but several of the reviews said that was too high and resulting in puffy cookies/ornaments.  We tried 300, but our ornaments puffed, too.  I caught it soon enough that I just smooshed them back down again with a scraper and then sandwiched them between two baking stones before putting them back in the oven.  I lowered the temperature, and then pulled them out a little early and let them air dry the rest of the way.  It was not a scientific way to make ornaments, but it worked for us (this time - other experiments in my kitchen have not gone as well).

The next day, Kiddo painted and decorated.

I tied some ribbon on them, and they were ready to hang on the tree.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well they turned out - and Kiddo proudly shows them to anyone who comes to visit.