Technically you can’t eat salt dough ornaments, but they are made from edible things (flour, water, salt). My parents still hang ornaments that I made as a little kid (30 some-odd years ago) – that’s how durable they are. This is a fun kitchen project to do with kids – just keep in mind that they take around 2 hours to bake, and at least another hour to cool before you can decorate them. I made ornaments in the shape of food (of course) but let your creativity run wild. You can also put a coat of shellac on the ornaments to make them shiny.

Dough ornaments in the shape of food - clockwise from top left: empanada, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, hotdog, strawberry, and hamburger

Strawberry and pizza ornament

Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 cup flour (this depends on the humidity and temperature outside)
1/2 cup table salt
1/2 cup water

Special Equipment: Cookie cutters, glitter, glue, acrylic paint, ribbon or string for hanging

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 250ºF.
2. Mix the flour and salt together.
3. Add the water and mix until a dough forms.
4. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface. Knead a few times, or until the dough is very smooth. You may need to add additional flour – you do not want the dough to be sticky at all. Don’t add too much – if the dough gets too dry, it will crack when you bake it.
5. Roll out to 1 to 2 inch thickness and cut out shapes with cookie cutters, or make free-form ornaments by sculpting the dough. (It helps to flour your work space.) Don’t forget to poke a hole in the ornament so you can hang it later! I used a chopstick to poke the holes.
6. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Baking time depends on how thick your ornaments are. Very thin ornaments only need about an hour and a half. Very thick ornaments may need over 2 hours.
7. Cool completely, then decorate to your heart’s desire.

Hotdog!