“Christmas isn’t a season, it’s a feeling” as the saying goes, and once December comes along, the anticipation just keeps building! Christmas tree is the most exciting time in our family. Many To-Do Lists get made – one for the calendar of lunches and dinners for different groups of family and friends, one for the gifts, one for the menus and their ingredients and more!
2021 was not quite the return to normal that we were looking forward to. That means this year too we expect a scaled-down Christmas celebration. Our focus is to continue to do as much as possible on our own, at home. With many people still working from home, and children desperate to be occupied, we thought it would be a good idea to give you all some DIY ideas to herald the Christmas season.
So, here is the first fun project for grown-ups and children alike – make your own Christmas ornaments for the Tree! These make lovely gifts as well.
While you could use a sweet dough for edible ornaments, I recommend using salt dough. Not only are salt dough ornaments much firmer, but if stored carefully in boxes, they will last for more than one season. Sweet dough edible ornaments, on the other hand, are very likely to disappear really fast especially if they look yummy! And besides, they are more fragile and tend to get mouldy in a few weeks.
Ingredients
4 cups refined flour
1 cup salt
1 ½ cups warm water
Assorted cookie cutters
Toothpick or straw for holes
Mix the flour and salt well. Add warm water in a stream, keep stirring till the flour comes together and the water is over. Gather the dough and knead till it is smooth and pliable. Pluck out a nice round ball of dough, put it on a parchment sheet. Cover the ball with another parchment sheet, and roll out to about 1/8” thickness.
Remove the top sheet and using your cookie cutters cut out Christmassy shapes – like trees, candy canes, stars, round and oval ornament shapes, stockings, Santa hats etc. Remove the excess dough, leaving the cut cookies on the parchment paper. The next step is to make the holes on top of the cookies. You could do this with a toothpick for smaller holes to thread coloured cotton twine, or with a straw for bigger holes to thread ribbon, for a richer look. If you decide to use a straw, remember to blow out the plug of dough after piercing each ornament!
Next, add texture! Use forks, texture stamps, scrapers, steel wool or anything lying around in the kitchen that can texture your cookies. Then, on to baking. Put your parchment paper on a baking tray and bake at 300F for 40-50 minutes. The cookies should be hard. Let cool completely. Repeat till all the dough is used up.
Now comes the fun part. Since these cookies are not going to be eaten, they can be spray painted, or hand-painted in different colours. Don’t skimp on the sparkle, it’s Christmas after all, and the sparkle will catch the lights from your Christmas Tree. Cookie decoration can be a great family event, with everyone around the table having loads of fun. Some delicious hot cocoa, eggnog or hot mulled wine would certainly add to the festive feeling!
Photos : Shutterstock
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A homeschooled chef even before she joined Catering College in Bombay, Christine’s gastronomic journey started with mother and grandmother. Polished with a degree and 10 years of experience in the Hospitality industry, Christine’s love of food, drink and everything gastronomic has been sharpened and honed with travel across the world. Today, she shares the wealth of her foodie experience and adventures across the world with Travel and Food Network, so look forward to much more from Chrsitine!
