This sweet cinnamon smelling salt dough wreath is a great alternative to the traditional wreath. Once made it can be kept from year to year to make your home look and smell festive!
Photography by Caroline Arber
Photography by Caroline Arber
To make the salt dough gingerbread
1 cup (8 oz/225 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 3/4 cups (6 oz/180 g) mix of ground
cinnamon and cloves, plus extra for dusting
Scant 1 cup (8 oz/225 g) table salt
1 cup (8 floz/240 ml) water
1 tsp cream of tartar
Star cookie cutter
1. Preheat the oven to 225F (110C/gas mark ¼ ). Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until the dough is smooth and not sticky. If it does feel sticky, add more ground spices not flour. The dough is ready to use when the rough feel of salt has gone.
2. Lightly dust a board or surface with ground spices (not flour) and roll out the dough. Using spices will give the dough a “gingerbread” look.
3. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and lay them on the baking sheet (no need to grease). Remember to poke a hole in the top of the decorations BEFORE you bake them. Bake in the oven for about 3–4 minutes until they harden; don’t be tempted to bake on a higher heat or they will crack and break. Remove from the oven and let cool.
To make the wreath
36 gingerbread salt dough stars
Hot glue gun
Confectioner’s (icing) sugar and/or glitter, for dusting
String
Silver jingle bells
Tools
Small strainer or sieve
Small spoon
1. Place all of your stars in a pile and start laying out a circle. Using the hot glue gun, add a drop of glue on the tip of a star, and place another star tip on top of it. Continue until you have the circle size you want. Please make sure that you let the glue dry before attempting to move the wreath. The glue is also very hot, so do this step carefully.
2. Keep adding stars to add two more layers to the circle shape. Let the wreath dry for a minute—it dries very quickly!
3. Dust the stars with some confectioner’s (icing) sugar and/or glitter. I find using an old tea strainer and teaspoon gives the look of a light dusting of snow to the wreath.
4. Tie some silver jingle bells onto a few lengths of string and then loosely tie around the wreath to create a hanging loop.
For more festive projects, check out Scandi Christmas by Christiane Myers.