Salt Dough Ornaments

 

 Today is December first. That means Christmas decoration lovers can no longer feel guilty about having their trees and snowmen out for the last month. I love Christmas and the decorations that go along with it, but anytime before Thanksgiving is just too soon for me.

But now it is time!

I am adding a new decoration this year: salt sough ornaments. This is one of the first things from Gingerlocks' Kitchen that you cannot eat. I suppose you could eat them, but they would be gross. The addition of so much salt makes them shelf stable and not very tasty.

 This year was the first time I made these myself, but I did grow up having a few on the tree. They are super easy to make and you can cut out, color and decorate them however you choose. 

Many people like to add dye to the dough, but I made a "red" batch that never looked quite right. I would recommend putting some acrylic paint on the ornaments once they have been baked and cooled to get the look you really want.

Ingredients

2 cups flour, plus more for rolling out

3/4 cup salt

1 cup of water

Combine the flour and salt. Then add the water slowly. Add half and mix well before adding the rest of the water. This should look like cookie dough when you are ready to let it rest in the refrigerator.

When the dough is able to come together in a ball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 20 minutes in the fridge to let the dough firm up.

 After letting the dough chill, sprinkle the counter with a good amount of flour. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch width. If the dough is too thick, your ornaments will be crazy heavy and will not stay on the tree.

 Once the dough is rolled out, choose the cookie cutter of your choice and cut out the shapes. Keep re rolling the dough until all of it is used up. Make sure you poke a hole is a sturdy corner to hang these pretty things.

Place the cut out dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake these in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 300 degrees. Make sure the ornaments are firm, but do not brown. 

Once these are cooled, paint them with acrylic paint or you can add glitter or other sparkly adornments of your choice with some craft glue. 

I hope you try these out and have so much fun with them!