In today’s post: These 2-ingredient cinnamon ornaments are fun and easy for kids to make, and you’ll love the way they make your house smell!
Ok people, this here isn’t a new idea – it’s been around for years – but if you haven’t tried it yet you should! Cinnamon Christmas ornaments are easy to make and your kids will have a blast! Cinnamon ornaments are cheap enough to make new ones whenever you want, but they will also last from year to year. Plus they smell absolutely heavenly.
This is one of those kid craft ideas that really is as fun and easy as it seems! They do take a while to bake, so plan to make them one day and decorate them the next.
Or leave them plain! The pretty cinnamon color doesn’t really need embellishing…but if your kids are anything like mine they’ll be anxious to go to town with the glitter glue 😉
How to make cinnamon ornaments
You’ll need equal parts cinnamon and applesauce for these ornaments. I used about 1 and 1/4 cup of each and we made 18 ornaments using standard size cookie cutters. When you’re buying cinnamon, look for larger containers of the cheap generic brands – no need to pay more for the name brand. If you happen to live near a WINCO you can get cinnamon in bulk extremely inexpensively. Generic applesauce works great as well!
Here’s a quick video that shows the whole process, and written instructions follow:
Recipe source: McCormick
Cinnamon Christmas ornaments instructions
Mix the cinnamon and applesauce together in a large bowl. You will need to use your hands to get them fully incorporated. When completely mixed the dough should have a stiff cookie dough consistency – you want to be able to form it into a ball that holds together quite easily without it being too sticky to work with. Add more cinnamon or applesauce if needed to get that consistency.
Next, roll out a third of the dough between two piece of plastic wrap to a 1/4 inch thickness. Don’t go thinner than 1/4 inch or the cinnamon ornaments will be too difficult to handle and easy to break. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
Move ornaments to a cookie sheet that is lined with a non-stick baking mat. If you don’t have a baking mat, place a cooling rack on top of your cookie sheet and place ornaments on that.
Using a straw, poke a hole at the top of each ornament. If you’ve made smaller ornaments, you could also use a skewer or toothpick to poke a hole, ensuring it’s big enough that you’ll be able to thread twine through it.
Bake the ornaments at 200 degrees for about two and a half hours, until they feel dry and hard. This is when your house is going to really smell fantastic!
Once the ornaments are cool, you can start to decorate. We used puffy paint, glue and glitter, sticky backed gems, and a few other items from my craft stash. Here are a few I made:
And here are a few that my kids made:
This little snowman was everyone’s favorite:
Thread twine or string through the holes and hang your cinnamon ornaments up on the tree!
My kids LOVED making these, and every time I walk past the tree I can smell the cinnamon. Since they are completely dried, it’s ok to pack these up at the end of the season with the other Christmas decoration until next year. They’re pretty sturdy (although if you try to snap one in half you’ll be able to) and should last for years.
Looking for more Christmas fun? Check out these posts:
Christmas print + fold origami bookmarks
35 pretty DIY Christmas ornaments
20 fun Christmas treats to make with your kids
Free paper snowflake templates and folding instructions
How to make a marshmallow snowman for your hot chocolate
25 handmade Christmas gifts people actually want
Lynne says
THANK YOU!!! I’ve been looking for this recipe for YEARS!!! My oldest son, who is now 34 made these when he was in Cub Scouts when he was 8 and we STILL put them on our tree EVERY year!!! I’ve wanted to make more but I could never find the recipe until now !!!! I cant wait to make some new cinnamon ornaments!!!
Lori says
I made some of these 8 years ago this Christmas. Still have some left. The key is to store them in Tupperware to keep them “fresh” 🙂 and safe from being crushed.
Monica says
If they lose some of the smell over the years, simply use sandpaper to lightly sand the back to bring it back. The ones my kids made lasted over 25 years, until a sewage backup got my ornament boxes. Looking forward to the ones my grabdkids will make!
Betty Lee says
We are doing these again this year!
Nana says
Can I use a different spice, apple?, since cinnamon gives my son a headache?
Jeannie Oliverius says
There’s a recipe for dough using 4c flour, 1c salt, 1 1/2c water. You can then add instant coffee to get the color or leave “sugar cookie” color and decorate as you choose. If you add a few drops of glycerine, they hold up a little brtter.
Kim says
I had to add more cinnamon to mine also…hmmm
Jeannie Oliverius says
I didn’t have this problem at all.
Jeannie Oliverius says
Add a little flour next time. I didn’t have this problem but I used Walmart generic applesauce.
Stacy says
I rolled it out onto the cookie sheet. that way there was no transferring.