Handmade Christmas Tree!

This year will only be my second Christmas at my house... and I am planning on making the ornaments on our tree this year! Thanks to Pinterest, I've found a couple of definites that I will be trying and will share one of these with you tonight with 69 days to go!

I found a recipe for Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments, through Pinterest, on Katy Elliot's blog. Here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

1 cup of applesauce
1 1/2 cups cinnamon
2 T cloves optional (grind with a spice grinder)
heart cookie cutters in different sizes
string for hanging
Mix 1 cup of applesauce with 1 cup of cinnamon in a large bowl. Mix, mix, mix. This is the kinda recipe you’ll need to use your hands to really incorporate the spices. Make sure you don’t miss any wet spots. Add the additional 1/2 cup of cinnamon, cloves and continue to incorporate. If it’s too wet add more cinnamon, too dry add more applesauce. But be patient. It takes time to mix so don’t add cinnamon or applesauce till you’re absolutely sure it’s well mixed.
Scatter some cinnamon (like if you were rolling out cookies with flour) and roll out applesauce/cinnamon dough to 1/4″ thick. If the dough is too wet it will make a huge mess and stick to your rolling pin.
Use your cookie cutters to cut out the hearts. I noticed the first time around my dough was too wet and the edges were straggly. Once I add more cinnamon the edges were clean.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Place the hearts on a cookie sheet with a silpat. The hearts can be really close together but not touching; they won’t rise in the oven. Using a skewer carefully make a hole through each heart. Stick the ornaments in the oven for an hour or more. The juice from the applesauce needs to evaporate. The range in cooking time depends on your house, humidity and climate. My house is cold so I had them in for 1.5 hours and then I turned the oven off and left them to set overnight. They should be rock hard. If they’re not, give them some more time in the oven.
The next day loop a string through each of the holes to hang on the tree, string together to make a garland or attach to a package. Enjoy!


Photo courtesy of http://www.katyelliott.com/blog/2011/12/cinnamon-applesauce-heart-ornaments.html

Hopefully this encourages you to try to handmake something for your Christmas tree or gift wrapping! I will post photos when I attempt them!!