Christmas in August!? Yes... Christmas ornaments that is!
This particular dough today is a softer, non-grainy, pure white dough. But both (either/or) doughs work well for ornaments. You can find the other recipe by typing ornament in the search box to your right.
It's a cross between Crayola Model Magic and Playdough. It's soft, pure white, not at all grainy, there is no salt in it and it doesn't dry out my hands like traditional salt dough does. You can let the pieces air dry or you can bake them to dry faster. You can leave them white, paint them, decorate them, hang them, make a sculptures of it, roll into balls and make beads, or string for Christmas decorations like you would popcorn; basically it's a fun dough to use, period.
I'm making two different styles Christmas Ornaments out of the dough today so I'm using two shapes. I'll post an update to the finished products in a month or two (closer to the Christmas holiday) but today it's all about a fun dough.
Fun Dough
1/2 c corn starch (I use Argo brand)
1 c baking soda (in the yellow bag/box)
3/4 c water
Blend the cornstarch and baking soda in a pan. Add the water and stir to mix. Turn the heat up to medium high and continue to stir. It will quickly go from looking like white glue to a thick gloop and then suddenly start to come together into a dough (much like cream puff dough). Turn off the heat as soon as it comes together and push it out onto a flat surface (like a cutting board) to gently start to press it together (*it's hot) to a dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it set and cool a little bit. The plastic wrap keeps the moisture in so it doesn't start to dry out. After about 5-10 minutes when it's cooled down to work with it a little bit, start to push and pull and knead it back over itself. When it's completely smooth and feels like a soft play dough, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and let it cool completely for little hands to play with or you can start to use it right away.
Roll it out on a cutting board, silpat, etc. and cut into the shapes you wish. Use a straw or small round implement to make a hole if you are going to hang them later. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a 170 degree oven approximately 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on how thick and large you made your shapes. Or you can let them set to air dry - although you will need to let them dry about 2 days and even longer if they are thick balls, sculptures or if you live where there is high humidity levels. (My oven is a digital and the lowest setting it can go to is 170. That is how I came up with that figure.) Carefully turn your ornaments over (flip them) about half way through the baking time as the parchment paper under them traps moisture. This dries both sides. I placed mine on a wire cookie cooling rack for the last 10 minutes of baking but you don't have to do that. I did a second batch and air dried completely on a wire cookie cooling rack.
When completely dry, paint them if you wish or glue baubles on it, glitter, etc. String a ribbon or string them to hang or finish however you wish! If you drop it on the floor they will probably break, but just painting them, etc. is no problem as they are not fragile as long as you are not pressing hard, dropping, etc.
 |
| The cornstarch and baking soda in the pan |
 |
| Adding the water and starting to stir, it resembles white glue |
 |
| The heat starts to turn it to gloop |
 |
| It quickly comes to a dough - place it on a heat safe surface and quickly press the hot dough to a ball shape |
 |
| Cover with plastic wrap and let it cool until you can handle it |
 |
| Use whatever cookie cutter shapes you wish - have a small utensil to make holes for hanging |
 |
| Knead it a few times to get it smooth |
 |
| Roll out as thick or thin as you wish - just like cookie dough |
 |
| Cut whatever shapes you wish |
 |
 |
| Don't forget to add holes before baking if you wish to hang them later! |
 |
| Ready to go into the oven |
 |
| All finished baking! Just let them cool completely and decorate as you wish |
