How to Create Beautiful Salt Dough Ornaments

I used a basic salt dough recipe from this site from this site here and some springerle molds to make beautiful Christmas ornaments!

5 from 1 vote

1 cup salt
1 cup water
2 cups flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 straw
molds or stamps* * Fancy Flours has beautiful molds here- one of my favorite websites for decorative baking! The French bird mold I found here and here is the rose mold.

Combine first 5 ingredients into a dough a knead until smooth. If the dough is a bit tacky initially that is okay.
Roll out dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. (Tip: I do not recommend using wax paper to roll out on- the dough sticks badly to the paper.)
Flour the surface of the dough and press cookie mold firmly onto dough and use the desired cutter (circle or square, etc.) to cut out the shape as for example, I used a circle cutter for the rose. If your mold is one like the bird mold shown with a predetermined shape then fill the mold with dough and smack mold down to release dough.
Using a straw, poke a hole in the top of ornament for string or ribbon.
Cut out cookie and gently lift onto parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees until cooked all the way through. They will be brown on bottom and starting to brown on edges. This may take a while- 1-2 hours depending on the thickness. Thicker ornaments may puff during baking.
Let cool and decorate or glaze with clear gloss as desired.

Flour your dough to allow for easy removal of mold. You may want to lightly dust the inside of your mold with flour as well.
If your mold is very detailed it is important to press firmly on all parts of mold. I use the weight of my elbow to press down on each part of mold.
Don't roll dough too thick. The best imprints are dough rolled to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. Keeping the dough thinner also helps to avoid puffing during baking. Also, keeping the dough thinner will give you a lighter ornament for hanging on the tree as opposed to a heavier one that will sag on the branch.
Don't overbake until brown (unless you want them brown). If you want them to stay creamy white then bake only until edges are browning.
Some molds (like the bird one above) require the dough to be pressed into the mold carefully to get all the detail. After filling the mold with dough I smack the mold down firmly to allow the molded dough to release neatly.
It is okay to practice for a bit to get the hang of it, so you create crisp images. The dough is forgiving and can be re-rolled.