Sweet-Tooth Friday: Baked Ornaments

By: Christine F

Happy Sweet-Tooth Friday!  It’s Christine here, and this week I’ve got a fun baking project that makes a great Christmas gift!  These glittery citrus and apple slices look so nice on a tree or formed together into a wreath.  Best of all, these ornaments are inexpensive and totally easy!

Making Spirits Bright

Making and receiving homemade gifts is my favorite part of the holidays.  I’m lucky because my whole family gets into it!  Over the years I’ve bottled up and gifted organic limoncello, homemade vegetable broth, and even marshmallow fluff.  Last year my dad made everyone homemade jars of barbecue sauce.  For my birthday, Matt made me some running mix cds and a batch of frozen gnochhi.  My mom is an awesome sewer- she’s made some lavish lounging pillows for Matt’s dogs, and this year I think I’ve convinced her to sew me some frilly aprons.  And Erin bakes and packages up the yummiest biscotti ever.

I don’t want to come off too sappy, but the time and thought put into homemade gifts really does make them extra special.  If you haven’t made a gift by hand since that kindergarten macaroni necklace, fret not!  These decorations are pretty much fool proof.  I used edible glitter because that’s what I had on hand, but regular clear or opal glitter (not silver) will look nice too.

I baked the citrus pieces directly on the oven racks, but the apples needed more support to keep from curling, so those I placed on a smaller wire rack I usually use for cooling baked goods. When making the apple ornaments, I found that I could only get about 4 attractive slices from each apple that included the seeds. With the leftover apple, toss some chunks in cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.  Baking up the spiced apple chips makes a delicious snack and will smell amazing.

Dried Fruit Ornaments

Supplies:

• assortment of apples, grapefruit, oranges, and lemons
• bay leaves
• mod podge or any decoupage glue
• paint brush
• hot glue gun
• ribbon
• glitter
• sprinkle of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, optional

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.

Slice the fruits into 1/4 inch slices.  Lay on paper towels and pat dry as much as you can.  Use the leftover lemon ends and squeeze lemon juice over the apple slices to prevent browning.  Sprinkle extra apple pieces with spices.

Lay the citrus pieces directly on the oven rack and the apple pieces on a smaller wire rack.  Bake for 2 to 3 hours until dry and firm, but not blackened.  The apples and lemons will be done before the grapefruits and oranges.  Turn the pieces over at least once during baking to keep the sides even and flat.  The spiced apple pieces that you want to eat need much less time, just about an hour.

When the slices are cool, brush them with mod podge and sprinkle with glitter while the glue is still wet.  (Obviously, don’t eat anything you put glue and glitter on).  If you want you can glaze the backs too once the fronts are dry.  Brush the bay leaves with mod podge and dip in glitter.  Attach ribbon loops to the backs of the slices with the hot glue gun, and bows if you want.  Use the hot glue to attach the bay leaves to the fruit and add little tags on the back of the ornaments.

If you want to make a wreath, glue the glittered pieces either on a cardboard circle or an actual wreath base.

I had a nice time making these and was really pleased with the professional results!  Plus it was so nice to have my home smelling Christmasy.  So skip those couple hours you otherwise would have spent at the mall and get down with your crafty self!  See you next Sweet-Tooth Friday for more holiday ideas!

xoxo Christine

P.S. Don’t tell my fam what I’m making this year!