Festive Salt Dough

This is a Christmassy twist on classic play-dough which includes cocoa, cinnamon and essential oils. You can even mix in a little gold or silver glitter. It makes a lovely, creative gift for young children in a container with a few cookie cutters, interesting rocks and gum nuts to play with. See instructions below for how to make baked salt-dough decorations with it which you can hang on your tree.

Festive Salt Dough
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You will need:
- 1 3/4 cups plain flour + 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup fine salt
- 2 tbsp oil 
- 4 tbs cream of tartar
- 2 cups water
optional: add a few drops of essential oils such as sweet orange and clove

Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture thickens and comes away from the sides of the pan. Tip out onto a clean plate and roll dough into a ball and let it cool before playing with it.

** You can make decorations with your salt dough by rolling it out flat, cutting out your desired shapes. Gentle poke a hole near the top of each shape (the end of a pen or pencil works well) - this hole will be what you can thread ribbon or string through so it can be hung up. Arrange your shapes on an oven tray, and bake for 15 minutes in a moderate oven at 180’c. They will harder as they cool. Once cold you can paint your decorations or brush with glue and glitter etc. Thread ribbon or strings through the holes and hang on your tree **