Introduction: How to Make Pumpkin Spice Ornaments
If you're looking for a fun and festive way to decorate your Christmas tree, then these DIY pumpkin spice ornaments should do the trick! Make any shape you'd like with your friends and family, and soon you'll have the sweet aroma of pumpkin spice drafting through your home.
This Instructable will share the ingredients and recipe required to craft these holiday air-fresheners.
Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients
- 1 cup of pumpkin spice
- ¾ cup of applesauce
- 2 tablespoons of white glue
- Wax or parchment paper
- Baking sheet
- Toothpick
- Cookie cutter or X-acto knife
- String, wire, yarn, or dental floss
- Food coloring (if desired)
These supplies will grant around 15 ornaments if they average 3x3 inches in size.
Glue is not necessary but recommended as it makes the dough easier to work with and improves the strength of the ornaments.
Step 2: Mix the Pumpkin Spice Dough
Combine the ingredients starting with the applesauce followed by the pumpkin spice then glue into a bowl and mix them with a spoon until it forms a dough.
If the dough is crumbly, then keep adding small amounts of applesauce until it can be easily rolled into a ball.
*Note: The glue is optional, as it is only used to keep the dough intact.
Step 3: Flatten the Dough
Take the dough and place it in between two sheets of parchment paper. Then, with a rolling pin (or any cylindrical item), flatten the dough to be about a 1/4th of an inch thick.
Step 4: Cut Out Your Imaginative Ornaments
It’s time for your imagination to kick in. Take out those cookie cutters, toothpicks, or X-acto knives and carve out your favorite designs. Hearts, stars, your college mascot, smiley faces, candy canes—the options are endless!
Don’t forget to punch holes at the top of your ornaments so that you can later string them to your tree.
A tip for an easier clean-up is to place your flattened dough on parchment paper and cut the dough around the ornaments out so they don’t have to move much. Feel free to use your fingers to smooth out the edges of the ornaments so they look beautiful when they come out of the oven!
Step 5: Bake Them in the Oven
Now it’s time to bake your ornaments, so set the oven to 200 F and cook them for 3 hours. Every hour the ornaments should carefully be turned over—they're really hot! Your house is about to smell like a pumpkin spice explosion, so make sure everyone you live with enjoys pumpkin. If everyone loves pumpkins, then make sure to have an edible pumpkin treat ready, because the smell will make them crave some pumpkin baked goods. Remember, these pumpkin spice ornaments are NOT edible because of the glue.
It is also possible to dry the ornaments slowly by letting them sit out in the air but this can takes days or weeks depending on how moist the dough was. Using the oven is recommended to speed up the process.
Step 6: Hang and Enjoy!
Once they are dried, feel free to add paint or glitter to your ornaments. Remember to string them with colorful yarn to give your tree an extra festive flair. Your pumpkin spice ornaments are ready!