How to Make a Tree Table Decoration With Christmas Cookies
A fun and inexpensive way to adorn your holiday dining table is a small Christmas tree decorated with homemade cookie ornaments. This is an easy project for kids to help with--both the cookie-making part and the painting part. Plus, they'll appreciate seeing their ornaments displayed so prominently on your table's tree. The ornaments can also be used as gifts for neighbors and coworkers, as well as gift tags when tied into a gift's bow.
Things You'll Need
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 cup flour, plus extra for kneading
- 1/2 cup water
- Medium-sized bowl
- Wooden or plastic spoon
- Rolling pin
- Miniature Christmas cookie cutters
- Cookie sheet
- Toothpick
- Acrylic paints
- String, wire, ribbon or yarn
Instructions
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1
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Mix the salt, flour and water in a medium-sized bowl with a wooden or plastic spoon to form dough.
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3
Knead the dough, adding flour if it is too sticky, on a floured surface until it is smooth and stretchy. Don't add too much flour--this can dry out the dough.
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4
Use a rolling pin dusted with flour to roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch-thick sheet. Then use your miniature cookie cutters to cut out as many shapes as you want.
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5
Place the cut-out shapes on ungreased cookie sheets, and use a toothpick to make a hole near the top of each shape. Make a circular motion with the toothpick after inserting it to widen the hole. Make smaller holes if you plan to use string or wire to hang your cookie ornaments; make larger holes if you plan to use ribbon or yarn.
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Place the cookie sheets in the preheated oven and bake for two hours. Then remove the sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool completely.
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7
Use acrylic paints to decorate your cooled cookie ornaments. When the paint is dry, thread string, wire, ribbon or yarn through the hole on the top, and tie a knot or bow. Now hang them on your tree.
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Tips & Warnings
For snowman shapes, use a base coat of white paint. Paint the hat, eyes, nose, mouth and buttons black. You can also paint on a colorful scarf.
For stars, use a base coat of white or gold; add glitter paint along the edges, if desired.
For Christmas tree-shaped ornaments, use a green base coat and add gold and white accents as garland. Use red paint for ornaments. You can also use glitter paint for tinsel.
The uncooked dough does not keep, so use all of it for ornaments or throw away what you don't use. You can also use half of all the ingredients to make a smaller batch of dough.
