Cinnamon Creations for the Holidays...

    Such a busy week!  Only a few more days until Christmas, and I am only starting to get into the mood of the holiday.  After thumbing through some of my craft books looking for inspiration, I dusted off the memory of creating cinnamon ornaments.  The aroma of the cinnamon definitely stirs holiday memories for me.  I still have a lot of cinnamon left from the huge jug I bought several years ago.  It doesn't take much of a recipe to create the ornaments.  For every cup of ground cinnamon add about a 1/4 cup of applesauce to the spice.  I managed to buy my quantity of cinnamon at a bulk wholesale pricing, but if you purchase it in small quantities, it can be a bit pricey.  The cinnamon dough should be worked into the consistancy of any cookie dough.  If it's too dry, add a little more applesauce, too wet, add more cinnamon.  Roll the dough out at about a 1/8 th of an inch thick.  Use any holiday cookie cutters to cut out the ornament cookie shapes.  Set the oven temperature to approximately 200 degrees.  Once the oven is fully heated turn off the heat and place the tray of cinnamon ornament shapes into the oven.  Leave the oven door open while drying the cut-outs.  The idea is to dry out the shapes, not cooking them.  Check them periodically to keep from burning them.  Check one of the cookies to see if it is dried through.  Touch the back center area to see if it is firm.  Using a fruit dryer is another way to dry out the cookie shapes without potentially burning them.  Once the cookies are firm and cooled down you can decorate them like cookies using colored markers or acrylic craft paint and add a string or ribbon for them to hang on the Christmas tree.  Adding a drop of cinnamon oil on the back of the ornament will keep it fragrant.  If you make a small hole in the ornament before drying it a ribbon could be threaded through it.  If you prefer to not make a hole in the ornament, hot gluing a cord or ribbon on it will work just as well.  The ornaments aren't edible, so don't be tempted to nibble them.  I found that over the years using a bit of white glue in the mixture helps keep the ornaments solid and less brittle as they dry.  Sometimes I use the ornaments as gift tags and labels for herbal vinegars.  Using a cinnamon ornament as a label for a small package of mulling spices makes for a fragrant and tasty holiday gift, too.  It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas at Johnson House!