Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

Even though we aren't through Thanksgiving yet. I want to share this with you. I will be honest and tell you these aren't my pictures. I haven't made mine yet this year. It is on my agenda for this coming weekend. I want to show you these and tell you how much I love them. Not only do they smell wonderful and fill your house with wonderful spice smells, they have a very warm place in my heart. 

Many years ago I lived in Germany. I was there about 6 years. My time there was marked with beauty and culture. My time there was also marked by sadness of all kinds. One Christmas I got a box from my Mom. It was full of all these handmade ornaments. There were these dough/baked ornaments, pasta ornaments, and then these little gingerbread men shaped ornaments that smelled like heaven. I have never told my mother this but it was one of the most welcome things. I remember running my finger over them knowing her hands had touched them just a few weeks before. I was so homesick. I hung them all on my tree and held onto everything. Year after year they would break and fall apart. So year after year I would lose a little more of all the handmade ornaments my Mom had sent to me. When I finally got back state side it took over ten years before we (my Mom and I ) made more. We made them last year. It was so much fun. I didn't tell her what they really meant to my heart. To this day these smells bring back that moment I opened that box and smelled the scent of things my Mom's hands had touched. So here is the recipe and I hope you give them a try. They are wonderful. I'm going to hang them all over my house from clear string from the ceiling. Just in corners (so no one knocks into them with their heads.) My kids will come in and smell them and have wonderful warm fuzzies for a second. What more could I ask. 

In the past I have always used cookie cutters. This year I am going to try and find some stamps and make stamped ones like the very top picture. Wish me luck. I may look for the German cookie stamps. 

I know I don't have to tell you this but to be safe: THESE ARE NOT EDIBLE. They smell so good you may want to eat them, but don't.

Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

1 Cup Cinnamon

1/2 Tbl. ground cloves

1 Tbl. nutmeg

3/4 Cup applesauce

2 Tbl. Elmers white glue

other materials you will need:

Rolling Pin

Plastic wrap

Cookie cutters

Wire rack (for drying. or just leave them out on the plastic wrap and turn them over after the top has dried

bowl and spoon

Drinking straw (to poke hole for string to hang your ornaments)

Ribbon or string to hang your ornaments

paints (I like the little squeeze bottle paints you can get at craft stores, but acrylic paint and brushes are great too.) optional

glitter glue in squeeze bottles (if you want glitter on your ornaments) optional

cover work surface with plastic or a cheap shower curtain liner. 

1. Combine the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in bowl

2. Add applesauce and glue. Stir together

3. Work mixture with your hands for 2-3 minutes until dough is smooth and all ingredients are mixed.

To Make Ornaments:

1. Divide dough into thirds. Roll out each portion to 1/4 inch thickness (cover the dough your not using so that it doesn't dry out.)

2. Use cookie cutter to cut desired shapes in dough.

3. Use the end of a drinking straw to make a small hole in the top of each ornament.

4. Place ornaments on wire rack or wax paper to dry at room temp. for several days. (I think ours dried within a couple days.)

Hint: Each time you roll out a piece of dough, knead it first 4 or 5 times. This keeps it moist and prevents cracks.

5. Once the dough has dried you can decorate them as you want. Paint, glitter etc......

I wish you the happiest of Holidays.

In my biggest Oprah Winfrey guest announcement voice "EDAMAME!!!!"

I'm having a love affair. Please don't tell my husband. Yes, it's true. I'm in love with Edamame! This wonderful little bean pod of pure scrumptiousness found it's way into my heart by accident. We had placed our regular once a week dinner order from our favorite little Sushi bar right around the corner. When we dug through the bag salivating with anticipation for our Miso soup and California rolls with extra ginger. I like a little sushi with my ginger. There was a little box with these green pods inside. I had never seen this stuff let alone ever heard the name. My husband told me he had had them and to suck on them (for the salt. oh my...) and then bite them open and eat the beans inside. You never eat the pods. Ok, here I go. Two minutes later there were no more Edamame and my husband had only managed to eat one or two without losing his fingers. I was spell bound by the salty flavor of these little packages of pure yumminess. Needless to say they were part of our weekly order from then on.
On our last trip to Costco (yay!! for Costco) I'm walking through the frozen food section and there before my eyes is a HUGE box of Edamame! How could I say "no"? So like a moth is drawn to a flame I made my way over and grabbed a box. Visions of a dark room and secluded Edamame eating going through my head. Wooh, I was getting light headed with the exhilaration of it all.
Fast forward to today. After dropping off all my big boys at college and husband has gotten on his beloved motorcycle and headed off to work. I'm putting a few groceries away and I open the freezer and there is that box of Edamame. OH MY GOSH! I had forgot about them. I grabbed the box and ripped it open and out fell one of the  little bags of Edamame. I turned the box over read the microwave directions, and off I went. Forgetting all about the protein smoothie I had intended to have.
So here I sit in my quiet house typing away to you about my love affair with Edamame. My bowl sitting close by as I suck the salt and eat those wonderful little beans inside this little pod. Life is really good right now. Gosh, If I smoked I would go have an after Edamame cigarette. But I don't smoke. So I will just have to make those "aaawwwww" sounds of pure culinary satisfaction. Who knew something so simple could be so pleasing.
Here is a little run down on Edamame from Wikipedia

Edamame (枝豆^?) (English pronunciation: /ˌɛdəˈmɑːmeɪ/) is a preparation of immature soybeans in the pod commonly found in Japan, China, and Hawaii. The pods are boiled in water together with condiments such as salt, and served whole.

Outside East Asia, the dish is most often found in Japanese restaurants and some Chinese restaurants, but it has also found popularity elsewhere as a healthy food item.

The Japanese name edamame (枝豆^?) is commonly used to refer to the dish. The Japanese name literally means "twig bean" (eda = "twig" + mame = "bean") and refers to young soybeans cropped with its twig. Edamame refers also to the salt-boiled dish because of its prevalence. Edamame is a popular side dish at Japanese izakaya restaurants with local varieties being in demand, depending on the season. The salt is also important for edamame. In Japan, arajio is the preferred salt, because it is a natural sea salt. This coarse salt is wet with brine, thus loaded with ocean and mineral flavors.

In Chinese, young soybeans are known as maodou (Chinese: 毛豆; pinyin: máodòu; literally "hairy bean"). Young soybeans in the pod are known as maodoujia (Chinese: 毛豆荚; pinyin: máodòujiá; literally "hairy bean pod"). Because boiling in the pod is the usual preparation for young soybeans, the dish is usually identified via a descriptive name, such as "boiled maodou", or "salt-boiled maodou", depending on the condiments added. Simply saying the name of the bean, maodou, in a Chinese restaurant will produce salt-flavored, boiled maodou.

Leaf Lard! What the What?

When I was little I can remember seeing those cans of lard in the fridges of numerous houses. They always had a piece of foil on top rather than a lid. After I grew up I just thought is was a southerner trash thing. Now I wonder if it wasn't home rendered lard. I have to apologize to all those southern ladies that I thought terrible thoughts of after I was grown. I can only say I grew up in a culture where the blue can with the hydrogenated white stuff was what you used and all I knew. So I didn't understand such things. Through my numerous web searches I came across the topic of lard in baking pies. Of course my first instinct is to throw up just a little in my mouth when I think of lard. In the hydrogenated white stuff world I have grown up in lard took on a baaaaad name. So when I started reading about how great lard is I was a little intrigued. I will leave the research to you, but here is the Readers Digest version of what I found out. Leaf lard (I don't know about any other kind. This is what I looked at.) comes from the visceral  fat surrounding a pigs kidneys. I know, I know totally gross. It has no flavor and is better for you than butter as far as the fats go. It is suppose to make killer pastries. I am thinking some good biscuits and a great pie crust.


Here is a chart I found that gives the run down on the  fats and includes the numbers for lard. So decide for yourself.

Comparative properties of common cooking fats (per 100g)

	Total Fat	Saturated Fat	Monounsaturated Fat	Polyunsaturated Fat	Smoke Point
Sunflower oil	100g	11g	20g	69g	232°C (450°F)
Soybean oil	100g	16g	23g	58g	232°C (450°F)
Olive oil	100g	14g	73g	11g	216°C (420°F)
Corn oil	100g	15g	30g	55g	232°C (450°F)
Peanut oil	100g	17g	46g	32g	232°C (450°F)
Vegetable Shortening (hydrogenated)	71g	23g (34%)	8g (11%)	37g (52%)	182°C (360°F)
Lard	100g	39g	45g	11g	188°C (370°F)
Suet	94g	52g (55%)	32g (34%)	3g (3%)	200°C (400°F)
Butter	81g	51g (63%)	21g (26%)	3g (4%)	177°C (350°F)

I have placed my first order. A lady who lives near me and blogs said this is where she orders hers. I can tell you talking to them was an experience. I ordered 10 (1lb.) containers. So I will let you know what I think. We are doing away with anything hydroginated in my house so this is our first step. This is where I ordered from if your ever brave enough to give it a try.
http://www.dietrichsmeats.com/
I expect to be winning country fair contests with my amazing lard baked goodies. Ok, probably not. But it wont be the lards fault.