Easy Baked Cinnamon Ornaments
These Easy Baked Cinnamon Ornaments are an easy fun crafty for kids that smell amazing hanging on your Christmas tree!
Today I’m going to share with you the easiest (and most delicious smelling) homemade ornaments ever: Homemade Baked Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments.
Several weeks ago I signed up for an ornament swap with a whole slew of other bloggers. I was really excited about the whole thing!! A fun way to share the Christmas spirit with a stranger and maybe make a new friend, broaden my “blog” world, etc.
We were all paired up and when I got my assignment, it was Kimberley from Orange Marigolds. We were given a little info about what our partner liked and Kimberley loved homemade ornaments.
Urgh… I might be in trouble. As I’ve mentioned before (here and here and here to mention a few), I am not crafty. At.All.
Decorate a cake? Absolutely!! Pull out the glitter and glue and construction paper with my kids and make something cute? Not so much. Make a homemade ornament… um…. (insert head-scratching…)
Anyway, my very first thought after realizing I probably shouldn’t attempt making ornaments was Mercy House.
I had just seen that they were doing really pretty handmade heart ornaments and had them for sale in their shop! It was a perfect solution!!! I could send Kimberley a handmade ornament and support a fair trade ministry that is near and dear to my heart.
Except well… lots of people apparently fell in love with the Mercy House ornaments and mine didn’t ship as quickly as I’d planned. And then what should have been 3 days in the mail turned into 7? or 8? I lost track.
I waited, and waited…and tried to be patient. And then I panicked. I had committed to mailing the ornament by December 1 and I was already late. And I didn’t have a plan B.
Homemade Baked Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments
And that, my friends, is how it came about that I made these Easy Baked Cinnamon Ornaments. First I got on Pinterest to look at homemade ornaments. Um, bad idea for a non-crafty person. I was pretty sure I couldn’t even make the stuff deemed doable for pre-schoolers. I was in way over my head.
But then it occurred to me. I needed to get back in my comfort zone. So I googled cookie ornaments and baked ornaments and now the internet was speaking my language. I saw Salt Dough Ornaments, Gingerbread Ornaments recipes and on and on and on with the ideas….
My first thought was, I’m craving these gingerbread cookies. 😁 But then I had to get back on track…
I really wanted to try the Gingerbread Ornaments recipe, but when I finally landed on this recipe by McCormick, I was sold! Two simple ingredients. Ready in just a couple of hours. No painting or gluing or being overly “crafty” required.
Steps to Make Baked Cinnamon Ornaments:
- Make dough (I can do that).
- Roll it out (I can do that).
- Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes (I can do that).
- And bake… YES, I can do that too!
And they smell amazing. Relief washed over me.
A few hours later, I had these really pretty (if I might say so myself), amazing smelling ornaments that made my heart happy! I had made ornaments… WOW… I HAD MADE HOMEMADE ORNAMENTS. Easy Baked Cinnamon Ornaments!! I was pretty excited!! Haha!
Note: these ornaments cannot be eaten. I mean, they can – the ingredients are edible, but you really shouldn’t. Trust me – one of my kids wanted to try!
I packaged them up and got them ready to mail to Kimberley that same day and even though (very) late, I was crossing my fingers and hoping she liked them and could forgive my tardiness!
So – do you wanna learn how to make them? They’re oh-so-easy-peasy… if I can do them, anybody can! Let’s get busy:
Easy Baked Cinnamon Ornaments
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 3/4 cup applesauce
- 1 – 1 1/4 cup ground cinnamon (about 2 bottles)
- Cookie cutters
- Drinking straw
- Colorful ribbon or baker’s twine
Preheat oven to 200°F.
Start by mixing up 1 cup of cinnamon and the applesauce in a small bowl. The mixture will be soft but add more cinnamon, a little at a time, until it’s not too sticky and you can form a ball with it.
Update: over the years, I’ve had a few readers complain about the texture of the dough. This comment from reader Cheyenne just made my day and might help you:
I had absolutely no problem at all and I didn’t even measure. I dumped in 2 bottles of cinnamon and then added apple sauce until I was comfortable with the dough. Not sure what the issue that everyone seemed to be having was? It’s to dry? Add more applesauce. It’s too wet? Add more cinnamon. Lol, thanks for the recipe!
Dust a smooth surface with more cinnamon and also dust the top of the ball to get ready to roll out your dough.
Roll it out evenly to about 1/4″ thick. I used my cookie guide sticks from my EZ Dough set to roll it out evenly.
Then cut out your shapes and lay them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. I did all stars but you could do any shape… snowmen, snowflakes, Christmas trees, candy canes… the sky is the limit! I like the winter cookie cutters! (I had to ball my dough back up and roll it out again a couple of times to use up all the dough)
Use a drinking straw to poke a hole in each ornament before baking!
Once you them all ready, pop them in the oven and let them bake away slowly for 2 hours! I think I ended up with around 15 ornaments total (two different size stars).
The only thing left to do is add a ribbon or twine and hang them on your tree! Or in my case, package them up and send to a friend!
And that’s it! PS. My Mercy House ornament arrived two days after I mailed Kimberley’s ornaments and is proudly hanging on my tree 🙂 Do you make homemade baked ornaments? Tell me about them!
Here’s the printable recipe for ya:
Baked Cinnamon Ornaments
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 15 ornaments 1x
Description
Easy Baked Cinnamon Ornaments. Only 2 ingredients and super easy to make!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup applesauce
- 1 – 1 1/4 cup ground cinnamon (about 2 bottles)
- Cookie cutters
- Drinking straw
- Colorful ribbon or baker’s twine
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°F.
- Start by mixing up 1 cup of cinnamon and the applesauce in a small bowl. The mixture will be soft but add more cinnamon, a little at a time, until it’s not too sticky and you can form a ball with it.
- Dust a smooth surface with more cinnamon and also dust the top of the ball to get ready to roll out your dough.
- Roll it out evenly to about 1/4″ thick. I used my cookie guide sticks from my EZ Dough set to roll it out evenly.
- Then cut out your shapes and lay them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. I did all stars but you could do any shape… snowmen, snowflakes, Christmas trees, candy canes… the sky is the limit! (I had to ball my dough back up and roll it out again a couple of times to use up all the dough)
- Use a drinking straw to poke a hole in each ornament before baking!
- Once you have them all ready, pop them in the oven and let them bake away slowly for 2 hours! I think I ended up with around 15 ornaments total (two different size stars).
- Let them cool and the only thing left to do is add a ribbon or twine and hang them on your tree!
Notes
Having trouble? Take advice from reader Cheyenne: I had absolutely no problem at all and I didn’t even measure. I dumped in 2 bottles of cinnamon and then added apple sauce until I was comfortable with the dough. Not sure what the issue that everyone seemed to be having was? It’s to dry? Add more applesauce. It’s too wet? Add more cinnamon. Lol, thanks for the recipe!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Craft
- Method: Baking
Any possible substitute foe applesauce ? i have apple allergy, and inhaling it, never mind working with it, even with gloves, not ideal.
thanks v much !
None that I know of, sorry!
How long will these last? Will they get moldy?
I’ve used mine for 2 Christmas’ with no mold so far. I haven’t gotten them out yet this year so we’ll see!
We made something like this long ago when I was a child and still have a few kicking around. I can therefore confidently claim that they will last at least 20 years (assuming they don’t break). The smell will diminish a bit over so much time, but they do not mold.
It is just a mess, no good at all what a waste of time and money, why does people post stuff like that. I did a recipe with no apple sauce years back and unfortunately I can’t find it, zut.
I really don’t understand why it didn’t work for you because it absolutely did for me – I took these pics WHILE making them and we have them hanging on our tree. I’m sorry!
I used this recipe…they turned out amazing. I’ve advanced to using “puffy paint” to decorate them like gingerbread, and it turned out so adorable! I threw glitter in another batch and those were great too. The only mistake people may be making is using too much cinnamon…that will make the dough too crumbly. I use two sheets of parchment paper and a little extra cinnamon to dust when I rolled mine out, and that really does the trick. This is a wonderful base dough and I’m loving the different results…creativity knows no bounds
So happy to hear it Kristy!
Mine came out great , in the oven now ! Thanks ! Merry Christmas!
So happy to hear it Jen!! Merry Christmas to you as well!
If you roll the dough out between two sheets of wax paper, it won’t stick to your rolling pin or become a sticky mess. Either it is too dry, then in that case you add a bit more applesauce. If it is too wet, then you add a little cinnamon. Don’t give up. It works.
Thanks for the great tip Cherrell! Merry Christmas!
I just made these with my boys and they turned out great. They were a little crumbly at first so I just added about an extra TBS. of applesauce! Kids had so much fun. Thanks!!!!
Thanks so much for your feedback! Merry Christmas Bailey!
I had absolutely no problem at all and I didn’t even measure. I dumped in 2 bottles of cinnamon and then added apple sauce until I was comfortable with the dough. Not sure what the issue that everyone seemed to be having was? It’s to dry? Add more applesauce. It’s too wet? Add more cinnamon. Lol, thanks for the recipe!
Your comment made my day and I actually added it to my post! Merry Christmas xoxo
I made these with my daughter and her best friend and they came out perfectly! I’m not sure why some people had trouble with the dough, I just added more applesauce or cinnamon as needed and it worked great! I like these way better than the salt dough ornaments and they smell divine
I was excited to do this with my kids. I’m very crafty and do lots of baking so I figured this would be a snap. Turns out, not so. The dough does not work well. It cracks and will not stick together. I added more apple sauce and then more cinnamon. Back and forth over and over. It just doesn’t come together well. We eventually did out best with it but have very wonky cracked ornaments and disappointed kids.
Great recipe! You can add a little more cinnamon if it’s too sticky and it comes out perfect!
I made these today and really I just dumped the two ingredients together until I got the consistency I was looking for. The only problem I had was a few broke right where I placed the hole. And here’s a helpful tip. I used an emery board to sculpt the baked ornament to make even lines. Can’t wait to paint them with the grandkids tomorrow.
Mine looked beautiful going into the oven but many cracked and broke in the oven. My oven was low at 200 and they were only in for 2 hours. I think those struggling might be using a more challenging cookie cutter shape, like me. Stars were fine.
yummy and beautiful. i think if the recipe is on pdf it will be grateful
I made this recipe today with my granddaughter and it worked great for us! We had a lot of fun and they turned out beautiful ❤️
My almost 95 year old mom and I made these just like the recipe. Added two extra spoonfuls of applesauce to help the dough stick together. We used parchment paper. Didn’t dust with extra cinnamon. Came out perfect and smell heavenly. Thanks so very much. A very special time with my mom!
Awww – I love this Barbara! That is just amazing! Happy New Year!
Just made hearts to use for valentine decorations. Love the way they look and house smells great! Going to use homespun fabric to make a garland and same fabric to hang some as ornaments. Thank you for the recipe!
I wish I’d gone with one of the cinnamon salt dough recipes, but wanted the scent I knew these would provide upon baking. My kids are so disappointed. I followed the directions exactly, including the tip to add/reduce the cinnamon or applesauce to get the desired consistency. I bake frequently (especially things like sugar cookies) and had them at the perfect state to roll and cut out. Despite this, as others have stated, they curled up and broke before they even hit the 1.5 hr mark at 200 degrees. Massive waste of time and ingredients.