How to Make Cinnamon Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments
These DIY Cinnamon Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments are very easy to make with everyday ingredients. This is a great activity for children.
We just celebrated Thanksgiving and as is tradition in many families, the Thanksgiving weekend is the time to kick off the Christmas season. Many people go out to buy their Christmas tree – if they use a live one. Then, they love to gather for tree-trimming parties.
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My German Christmas traditions
Since I am from Germany, there is a nice blend of German and American traditions in our gabled home.
I love the Christmas season! I love our home when it’s all decorated for the holiday season.
Thus, it has been easy for me to adopt many New World traditions.
Growing up, my father brought the Christmas tree in on December 24th and my mom decorated it behind closed doors.
Why You’ll Love These Christmas Ornaments
This is where these beautiful DIY cinnamon salt dough Christmas ornaments come in.
They check all the boxes:
- They are simple to make
- Cinnamon salt dough ornaments are just so beautiful
- They are made from healthy ingredients, and
- Yes, they are very sustainable and reusable
History of Salt Dough Ornaments
Have you ever seen one of those paper angels that are supposed to cover keyholes? Yep! Those would be used to cover the keyhole to the living room so that they children couldn’t get a sneak preview of the decorated Christmas tree.
Fortunately, my family never did this decorating behind closed doors but the tree was part of the Christmas eve “surprise”.
Most years, I am totally in love with our Christmas tree. Actually, it’s too bad to only have it up for 12 days. The tradition of trimming the tree on the Thanksgiving weekend was an easy one for me to adopt!
While we don’t have an official tree-trimming date, we like to get it up early so that we can enjoy it during the holiday season.
The Ingredients
The salt dough only requires a few ingredients that you probably already have in your house:
- Ground cinnamon
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
Helpful Tools and Equipment
- Medium mixing bowl
- Rolling pin
- Cookie cutters
- Tooth pick or skewer
- Silicone mat or parchment paper
- Cookie sheet
How to Make them
- In a medium bowl, simply mix these ingredients with water. Knead them into a uniform dough.
- Let the dough sit in the refrigerator for about one hour.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator.
- With a rolling pin, roll it to about ¼ to ½ inch thickness. Poke a hole into the top of the shape with a toothpick. That is for putting a string through it.
- Cut out shapes. You can freeform them or use Cookie cutters. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- Bake them at 225˚F for about one hour or until firm.
- Let them cool down on a wire rack.
These DIY cinnamon salt dough Christmas ornaments look great on your tree, especially if you like a more rustic or farmhouse look.
Furthermore, they make great stocking stuffers or decorations for Christmas presents. Or why not use them as decoration around the house?
DIY Cinnamon Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sea salt
- ⅓ cup cinnamon
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl combine all the ingredients.
- Knead well. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 250˚F.
- Roll out dough to about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out shapes. Make a small hole in to top with a tooth pick.
- Place shapes on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour.
- Remove baking sheet from over, flip all the ornaments and bake for another hour, until very firm. Let cool.
Video
Other DIY Christmas tutorials:
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Hallo Anja, ich habe deine Website über die Create Your Blog Dream Facebook Gruppe gefunden! Die Salzteig-Anhänger werde ich definitiv in den nächsten Tagen mit meinen Töchtern ausprobieren (die Weihnachtsferien haben Corona-bedingt früher begonnen und ich suche nach vorweihnachtlichen Aktivitäten, da wir das Haus nicht verlassen können). Je nachdem wie viele deutsche/internationale Leser du hast, wäre es vielleicht eine Überlegung wert, die Mengenangaben in deinem Rezept auch in ml/g anzugeben. Ich finde das Umrechnen immer etwas mühsam.
Viele Grüße und frohe Weihnachten, Annika
Hallo Annika, wie nett von Dir zu hören! Dein Tip mit den metrischen Angaben macht echt viel Sinn, den ich ab sofort beherzigen werde. Hoffe, Ihr konntet die Salzteig-Anhänger backen 😊 Ganz viele liebe Grüße zurück in die Heimat von Anja
Hallo Anja,
ja, wir haben die Anhänger gebacken und sie sind richtig schön geworden. Obwohl ich nicht mehr so viel Zimt hatte und sie daher etwas heller als Deine sind. Ich habe sie nicht nur als Weihnachtsbaumschmuck, sondern auch als Geschenkanhänger verwendet.
Hallo Annika, das ist ja echt prima! Und klar, die eignen sich hervorragend als Geschenkanhänger – oder Türengel. Frohen 4. Advent von Anja
How wonderful! Can’t wait to make these – thank you for the inspiration!
Oh, yay! You’ll love the cinnamon scent wafting through your house 🙂
I’m going to need to make these! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you and I hope you are having as much fun making these as I always have 🙂
My husband and I BOTH have a ton of German Heritage and this is one of the main reasons I love following your blog. We put our tree up on Christmas Eve here and celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. This year I really wanted to begin the tradition of opening a gift each of those 12 days, but living away from family and traveling through the holidays ruins that for now… in fact our “Christmas Eve” is actually Dec 21, because we celebrate Christmas at the house on the same day we travel to spend Christmas with family.
Aww … thank you, Dana! As you can tell, I love cultivating my German roots and traditions and am so honored when people love reading about them!
These are so cute! My kids would love making them. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, they are a great activity with kids. Enjoy making them!
These are so pretty, Anja. I can’t wait to make some for myself this year! I love the rustic look, and you’re right, they would make great stocking stuffers!
Thank you so much and have fun making them!
I had no idea that they used to cover the keyhole to prevent peeking!! I love that! Thank you for teaching me something new. I love the smell of cinnamon ornaments!
Thank you! I think that knowing the history and reason behind traditions makes them even better 🙂