How to Make No-Bake Spiced Ornaments

This year I am all about ornaments that connect with a memory. Our candy cane reindeer ornaments remind us of a fun day spent together as a family.

Our no-bake spiced ornaments will remind us of a play date with sweet friends for years to come.

To make your own spiced ornaments you will need:

• 1 cup ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. ground cloves
• 1 tbsp. ground ginger
• 1 tbsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 cup applesauce
• 2 tbsp. white craft glue
• Food coloring (optional)
• A few tablespoons of all-purpose flour

Combine the cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl. Add the applesauce and glue. Work all ingredients until mixed thoroughly. If desired, add food coloring now.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut dough with cookie cutters. Bore a hole in the top of each ornament (a drinking straw works well for this).

Lay ornaments out flat to dry at room temperature for 3-5 days, turning over often. (If you or your child runs out of patience, you can always speed up the process by popping these in a 200* oven for 1 hour.)

When they are completely dry, thread short lengths of ribbon or string through the hole in each ornament. (Recipe found in The ADVENTure of Christmas)

Those are the official directions and here are my side notes: I used about 1/2 cup of flour keeping the ornaments from sticking to the counter. I also used my hand to flatten them out rather than a rolling pin. It took 2 batches of the recipe to make all the ornaments you see in the above picture.

Also, we baked our ornaments and then they set out for 3 days. I turned them over each day because the bottoms kept getting moist. And anytime I used the oven I put the ornaments back in after I turned the oven off. I might have made ours a little too thick but experience has taught me that thin dough ornaments DON'T stand the test of time.

Finally, we painted our ornaments with paint pens to add a little more decoration to them.

Have you made spiced ornaments? They make your whole house smell delicious!

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