We made gluten free salt dough cookie cutter ornaments for Christmas! This is a wonderful alternative for those who can’t touch wheat flour and gluten!!

My dear friend, Betsy, brought her son over for another play date last week! This time, she came equipped with a fun Christmas craft plan. Betsy found a gluten-free ornament recipe, since as you know, John is allergic to gluten and can’t touch wheat flour.

Thank you, Betsy, for playing with the boys and for writing this wonderful post!

{The full recipe is below!}

We started off by mixing Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour mix, table salt, and water. It was really soupy, as John compared it to pancake batter. So, we added more flour and some cornstarch, just eyeballing it for consistency. The dough finally got a lot stiffer and even a little crumbly, so I was actually worried it would hold together — but we were pleasantly surprised.

The boys had so much fun helping measure, and once I rolled it out (about 1/4″ thick) the boys went to town with my assortment of cookie cutters. John’s favorites were the bell and the elf; Toby’s were the train and the tin soldier.

We filled up the first cookie sheet with plenty of dough to spare – our end tally was 16 ornaments, we probably could have made 8-16 more. We poked holes for hanging the ornaments with a plastic straw (another fun tactile activity!). The boys checked on the cookies occasionally while they were baking in the oven, and I pulled them when they started to look really browned. After the cookie ornaments cooled, the boys got busy decorating their ornaments. We started with dry erase markers but the Do-A-Dot markers proved more popular and exciting. I wrote names on the back (plus the year), and tied a loop of red ribbon on each ornament for hanging.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well these have stayed together. One was accidentally dropped on the wood floor, and it didn’t break! They are hard and not brittle. I think they will last a long time, but only time will tell if they hold up this season and for years to come.

Beautiful Christmas ornaments to keep and give as gifts for friends and family!

Sweet May loved playing with the dough too!

Gluten-free Cookie Cutter Ornaments

Ingredients:

2.5 c gluten-free flour
.25-.5 c cornstarch
1 c salt
1 c water
2 T cinnamon (optional)
ribbon
markers/paint

Directions:

Combine all ingredients, reserving 1/2 c flour and 1/4 c cornstarch.
Add in remaining ingredients to reach desired consistency – you want to be able to roll it out, but not have it be too sticky.
On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4″ thickness, and use cookie cutters to make ornament shapes.
Place on a cookie sheet as you work, then use a straw to poke holes in each ornament for hanging.
Turn oven to 350 and place ornaments inside while preheating.
Bake for 1-1.5 hours, checking every 30 minutes for the first hour, then every 10 minutes or so thereafter.
The dough will get a little puffy, and eventually start to brown.
Leave in oven until crispy and well-browned, but not burnt.
Remove and cool; then decorate with markers, paint, or even glue and glitter.
Tie 4-5″ lengths of ribbon through each ornament, then hang on your Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas!