Scents play a huge role in our seasonal celebrations. We love the smell of lilacs in spring, roses in summer, evergreens in winter, and spicy cinnamon in autumn. No autumn is complete without making a new batch of Autumn Cinnamon Ornaments to add to the delicious aroma of baked apples and pumpkin pies! Below is the recipe we like to use. Next week I will share some ideas of how to use your Autumn Cinnamon Ornaments.   

Recipe for Cinnamon Ornaments :: Makes 12 – 15 ornaments

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup ground cinnamon 
  • 3/4 cup applesauce (smooth NOT chunky)
  • optional – a few drops essential oils for more aroma
  • autumn cookie cutters 
  • straw
  • waxed paper or plastic wrap
  • rolling pin

Gather your supplies.

I just bought these Wilton Cookie Cutters. Perfect for autumn!

Mix your applesauce, ground cinnamon and essential oils together. Note: I about an 1/8 a cup short of ground cinnamon. I added some ground allspice, nutmeg and ginger to make my 1 cup. Smells wonderful! If the dough seems too sticky, add a wee bit more ground spices. Likewise, if it is too dry and crumbly, add a little more applesauce until the dough can be rolled.

When done mixing, form into a ball with your hands.

Using about half the dough, roll out to 1/4″ – 1/3″ thick. Note: I have been trying to use less plastic products, so I used waxed paper like I always do to roll out cookies and pie crusts. This dough is rather wet. After rolling a couple balls of, the waxed paper fell apart. No problem. I just used a new piece. To prevent this you can use plastic wrap, which I don’t have.

Positions your cookie cutters on the dough and cut out your shapes. Keep rolling out your dough and cutting more shapes until you’ve used up all the dough. I got 15 “cookies” from this recipe.

Place your rolled cookies on a cookie sheet.

Using a drinking straw, remove a plug near the top of each cookie. Make sure you don’t get too near the top. You don’t want the cookie to crumble when you go to hang them. Tip: If the plug won’t come away from the cookie, you can “suck it up”. Obviously, be careful not to inhale the plug 🙂 

Place in the center of a 200 degree preheated oven and bake for 2 1/2 hours. Watch them the last 15 minutes. You just want them to dry out completely, not to start browning. Note: If you do not want to back them, you can leave them out for a day or two to air dry, although I’m never that patient 🙂

After they have baked, remove to a wire rack to cool completely. When cooled completely, you can string twine or ribbon through the holes and hang as desired.

Perfect for your autumn decorating!

When you can done using them at the end of the season, wrap in tissue paper and store until next year. If they have lost some of their scent, you can put a drop of essential oil on the back to give them new life!