Day 59: Give Homemade Presents

The day before we left to Arizona my boys and I made some homemade cinnamon ornaments to bring to Arizona to give as gifts this year. It was a simple recipe and they turned out so cute and smell just wonderful. My boys love helping me bake and this was just like making cookies, except there were no beaters to lick afterwards :) After mixing the dough you roll it out just like sugar cookies and my boys had fun choosing what shapes to make and cutting them out! When we got home yesterday from our trip our oldest son Keston was able to deliver some of the ornaments we made to our neighbors too to share a little Holiday love for our Good Human Act. Here is a recipe we based our ornaments off of, and our adjustments, from McCormick 

Cinnamon Ornaments

Makes 12 to 15 ornaments.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 2 1/2 hours or 1 to 2 days drying time

3/4 cup applesauce (we used 1 cup)
1 bottle (4.12 ounces) Cinnamon (we used 1 cup, plus a little more) 

(we added some nutmeg, some ground cloves and a few drops of doTERRA's Holiday Joy Oil too)

Supplies needed:Cookie cutters
Drinking straw
Colorful ribbon

Rolling Pin

1. Preheat oven to 200°F. Mix applesauce and cinnamon in small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed. (You may need use your hands to incorporate all of the cinnamon.) Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel off top sheet of plastic wrap. (We just sprinkled a little cinnamon on the counter and rolled out the whole ball of dough without plastic wrap) Cut dough into desired shapes with 2- to 3-inch cookie cutters. Make a hole at top of ornament with drinking straw or skewer. Place ornaments on baking sheet. 

2. Bake 2 1/2 hours. (Our oven cooks hot so we cooked for 2 hours at 175 degrees) Cool ornaments on wire rack. (Or, to dry ornaments at room temperature, carefully place them on wire rack. Let stand 1 to 2 days or until thoroughly dry, turning occasionally.)


3. Insert ribbon through holes and tie to hang. Decorate with opaque paint markers, found in arts and crafts stores, if desired.

Our Cinnamon Ornaments