Recipe: Salt Dough Ornaments for Brown Bag Molds

SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS
Brown Bag Cookie Mold Recipe
by Hill Design, Inc.
Reprinted with permission to recipelink.com

4 cups flour
1 cup table salt
1 1/2 cups cold water
vegetable oil
pastry brush
toothpicks
acrylic or tempera paints
brushes
spray gloss
polyurethane or shellac
narrow ribbons

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add the water and stir until the flour has been incorporated.

2. Turn the dough out onto a smooth counter top and knead vigorously for about 5 minutes. If you don't plan to use your Salt Dough right away, seal in an airtight plastic bag so that the surface doesn't dry and form a crust.

3. Preheat oven to 225F. Lightly oil cookie molds.

4. Break off a piece of Salt Dough and press firmly into mold, using the heel of your hand to make the back smooth. Make the Ornaments on the thin side as they will bake more evenly and won't puff up as much.

5. To unmold the dough, hold the filled mold perpendicular to a wooden board and strike the edge sharply several times.
If the dough doesn't come right out, rotate the mold and repeat. Drop the formed dough on a baking sheet. Lightly re-oil your mold, and continue until all of the dough is used.

6. Take a toothpick and make a small hole in your Ornaments so you will be able to string them with a ribbon after they are baked. Once baked, they will be too hard for you to be able to make a hole. If you forget, you can glue ribbons to the backs of the ornaments with a hot glue gun.

7. Bake Ornaments in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. To speed up baking time remove them from the baking sheet and onto a wire rack in your oven. Bake until they are dry and hard about 1 1/2 hours more.

8. Cool on a rack. Once the Ornaments are completely cool, spray them lightly with polyurethane to seal. Paint with acrylic or tempera paints. When dry, spray finished Ornaments with a good coat of polyurethane or shellac. String with a pretty ribbon.