Homemade Cookie Shaped Ornaments

For the Thanksgiving holiday some of our out of town family joined us to celebrate. It is always so wonderful to catch up in person and to get the kids together. We had a blast playing and sharing stories. The meal was the center of the entire 3 day get together and man was the food delicious. After the naps were over and the kids had played together for hours my cousin and I had the bright idea to make Christmas ornaments together. We had briefly discussed what types we would like to make and knew we wanted something that would be personalized and after browsing Pinterest we had several ideas. The first idea we had was apple sauce and cinnamon but after reading the instructions were realized that we would need 1 whole cup of cinnamon. I am not sure that I have ever seen one whole cup of cinnamon in one place in my whole life so that idea was out. The next idea was one that I had made before, cornstarch ornaments. They are simple and fun. The only catch was that my mom did not have enough of the two main ingredients: cornstarch and baking soda. Well, us two girls were determined so we bundled up against the 19 degree weather and headed to the grocery store at 5:30 pm on Thanksgiving day.

As we drove around we quickly realized that this was going to be more difficult than imagined: store after store was dark. We finally happened upon a Kmart that was open touting their black Friday and Thanksgiving day sales. We diverted our eyes away from the sales and went straight for the baking aisle grabbing exactly what we needed and also checking to see if one could really get 1 whole cup of cinnamon at the store. We then dashed back through the store and quickly payed for our pitiful haul.

Once home we were proud of our adventure but quickly went to work preheating the oven and mixing our ingredients for our kids soon to be masterpieces. Once the dough was mixed, then cooled and rolled then cut we thought we were home free. 3 hours later the ornaments were done baking and our tired littles were running their eyes. Us mamas admitted defeat for the night and settled the kids on for sleep vowing to resume in the morning.

After a night of sleep we were back at and this time the ornament were completed. They all turned out beautiful and the kids were so happy and proud of their creations. We will definitely have the most beautiful Christmas trees this year and most likely on of the best ornament making stories.

By the way we never did see 1 whole cup of cinnamon not even on the store shelf. I guess that will be adventure for another day. Here's the recipe for our ornaments and don't worry it is not really as hard as we made it out to be.

Cornstarch Ornaments

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cornstarch

3/4 cup water
10 drops of essential oil (optional)
we used holiday for one batch and peppermint for another

Preheat over to 160 degrees

Add all ingredients to a pot 

Heat over medium heat stirring continuously

Once it has thickened up remove from pot and place in bowl to cool

Cover with damp cloth

After about 30 minutes roll dough on to corn starched surface

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters

Put hole for hanger or ribbon (using a straw works well)

Place on cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour at 160 degrees

Remove from tray and allow to completely cool

Paint (we used acrylic paint)

Add ribbon

Hang on tree

Admire for years to come!