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CINNAMON ORNAMENTS
These ornaments smell so good, and they last for a really long time. Handprints are always memorable!
- 4 cups cinnamon
- 3 cups applesauce
- 1/2 cup white school glue (Elmer's® works very well)
In a large bowl, combine ingredients and mix dough. It will be dry and crumbly. Knead until smooth.
Dust surface with Cinnamon and roll out dough, leaving it fairly thick, and cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Press a paperclip into the dough and let dry (2-3 days). Ornaments can be painted with acrylic or fabric paints. Hang with a pretty ribbon.
GINGERBREAD HOUSES
Everyone enjoys making a gingerbread house. Make it from scratch, or buy a kit for less than $10.00 at Target or the Rag Shop (Supplies may vary).
Coconut makes great snow, Necco wafers make really good shingles, and any other kind of cookie or candy may be used: Licorice, marshmallows, gumdrops, m & m's . . . .
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2/3 cups shortening
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 eight-ounce container sour cream
- 2 eggs
To prepare dough: Into large bowl, ,measure 3 1/2 cups flour and remaining ingredients. With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. With hand, knead in remaining 2 1/2 cups flour to make a soft dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or until dough is not sticky and is of easy kneading consistency.
To roll dough: Keep refrigerated until ready to use. Working with half of a batch at a time on a lightly floured work surface with lightly floured hands, knead dough until smooth. Then on a greased and floured 17" x 14" cookie sheet, with lightly floured rolling pin roll dough to 3/16" or 1/8" thickness. You can use dowels ofthe same size at either side of the dough on the cookie sheet to help create a uniform thickness. (For easy rolling, place cookie sheet on a damp cloth to prevent it from slipping.)
To cut and bake dough: Make your pattern pieces of heavy cardboard. Lay them on the dough and using a sharp knife use as many pieces as you can from the rolled dough on your cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2" inch between the pieces. Remove scraps and reserve for re rolling. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (Place cookie sheet in the refrigerator if there is room while the oven preheats. Bake until golden brown and very firm when lightly touched with your finger. Remove cookie sheet from oven and cool on wire rack 5 minutes. Carefully remove the baked pieces from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to cool completely.
Note: If you need to do some trimming do it while the cookie dough is warm out of the oven.
You may need to make several batches of dough to complete your project, but don't multiply and try to do it all at once...the process just doesn't work that way.
MERINGUE POWDER ROYAL ICING
- 3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder (available where cake decorating supplies are sold, (Rag Shop also carries this.)
- 1 1 LB box (3 3/4 cups) confectioner's sugar
- 4-6 Tablespoons cold water
Put dry ingredients together, add half the water, then add more water as needed. The consistency of the icing should be thick, where a knife can be drawn through it leaving a clean path...but not so thick it won't go through an icing tip. Takes about 2-3 minutes with this method. Plastic disposable icing bags are really useful. Use a medium round tip to pipe the icing. Pipe one joint at a time and assemble. You may need to hold the joint for several minutes. Let dry overnight before adding decorations.
Links to great holiday sites
Christmas:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2:1-20
http://www.claus.com/index.php
Hanukkah:
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
Kwanzaa:
http://www.noblenet.org/year/kwanzaa.html
Ramadan:
http://www.holidays.net/ramadan/
http://www.submission.org/YES/child2.html
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