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!
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 straw
- molds or stamps *The French bird mold is here and here is the rose mold.
Instructions
- Combine the first 5 ingredients into a dough and knead until smooth. If the dough is a bit tacky initially, that is okay.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. (Tip: I do not recommend using wax paper to roll out on, as the dough sticks badly to the paper.)
- Flour the surface of the dough and press the cookie mold firmly onto the dough, and use the desired cutter (circle or square, etc.) to cut out the shape; 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 the mold down to release the dough.
- Using a straw, poke a hole in the top of the ornament for a string or ribbon.
- Cut out the cookie and gently lift it onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake at 325 degrees until cooked all the way through. They will be brown on the bottom and starting to brown on the 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.
Notes
Tips for best results:
- Flour your dough to make it easy to remove from the 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 the mold. I use the weight of my elbow to press down on each part of the mold.
- Don't roll the 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 the edges are browning.
- Some molds (like the bird one above) require the dough to be pressed into the mold carefully to get all the details. 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.