Recently I was given a cookie mold with lovely teapots in it…
… it even came with a booklet with cookie, salt dough and beeswax recipes… (and a pig on the cover, eating watermelon!)
So, today I decided to test out the cookie mold with the salt dough recipe from the booklet…
1. I mixed some cinnamon into the dough to give it some colour and texture. Then I pressed it into the mold with the heel of my hand (as per the booklet’s instruction).
2. Dough, pressed.
3. Dough came off the mold pretty easily. I cut them apart with the back of a butter knife.
4. I then placed them on a silicon baking sheet to make sure that they wouldn’t stick. They were going to be tree ornaments so I cut a small slit at the top of each with the tip of a butter knife for ribbon.
5. Baking… at low temp. for a long, long time. (about 2 hrs. Probably not the smartest thing to do in a small apartment in the middle of summer, but lingering aroma of cinnamon was nice.)
6. And the moment of truth! This is the one that turned out the best, I think. I was disappointed that the salt in the dough seemed to have risen to the surface during the baking process, and so now we can’t see the cinnamon :( I should have remembered this from previous dough craft attempts!
Surely there is a way to prevent this salty crust from forming? Hmm… need to find out. But I’m going to paint this batch of ornaments, and will keep you posted about how it goes!
I still have half a batch of dough left (my hand got a bit sore from pressing dough into mold), so I think I might make some owls, like this one I made years ago…
And now, a haiku to summarize today’s adventure:
Flour, water, salt
Where did the cinnamon go?
Great fun nonetheless.
hmmm…would black pepper work? but it won’t smell as nice as cinnamon…
and i think you should take out the “and” in the first line to make a true haiku.
oooh! is it because “flour” a two-syllable word?
i’m not sure why it didn’t work. i remember making dough bunnies long ago and they all turned out dough-like, not pale with a salty crust like this, but i don’t remember what i did…
There’s a great recipe for “Cinnamon Pomanders” in the Brown Bag Idea Book (from the same folks who made your cookie mold), which isn’t like salt dough at all — it just uses cinnamon and applesauce. They reproduce the design well, smell wonderful, and, as far as I can figure, they last forever- LOL! I’ve had some for over 10 years. They look wonderful with touches of gold or silver paint, too.
I’ve posted a link to this blog on our Facebook Business page — http://www.facebook.com/pages/VicTory-Farm-Designs/134528323231028 — it’s wonderful for our Fans to see the things that can be done with Brown Bag (and other) cookie molds. Thanks for sharing the step-by-step process. :-)
Thanks Mary! the cinnamon pomanders recipe sounds interesting — will have to look it up!
I have a copy for sale in my eBay store, if you’d like to see what’s in it. (I’m not pushing for a sale here, just that I don’t usually see anyone list all the contents of this book, and I did, so you’ll have a better idea whether it’s worth it to you before you go shopping for it.)
http://stores.ebay.com/VicTory-Farm-Food-and-Craft-Molds
I will add one caution, though. Because it uses so much cinnamon to make these, I always buy the cheap 88- or 99-cent ones in my local salvage/discount store. I don’t know if that’s why, or if any cinnamon would do it, but I did use one mold a LOT for making cinnamon pomanders, and it’s slightly “tinted” reddish brown now. And, of course, if you don’t want your hands stained, you should use gloves — LOL!