Baby It's Cooooold Outside!

[MyAngels]

I have never made these before, and loved the ideas I saw here. We made ours today and I baked them at 200 degrees for at least three hours, but they are not completely hardened. Will they continue to harden out of the oven, or should I bake them some more?

Thanks!

[Heidi]

mine where still a little soft in the middle, so I have them on a cookie cooling rack. We did ours last Friday, and they seem to be drier now.

[daycare]

wee made these last year and some of them just never seemed to set. they were soft and I did everything I could including sealing them.

But then some of the kids were perfectly hard.

Have you painted them already? I think maybe they got painted too soon????

[greenhouse]

mine where still a little soft in the middle, so I have them on a cookie cooling rack. We did ours last Friday, and they seem to be drier now.

I ended up turning the temp up to 250 for the last Hour

[MyAngels]

No, we have not painted them yet. We just did them this morning. The outer edges are pretty set, but the inner part is still a bit soft. Maybe I will stick them back in the oven for a bit - couldn't hurt, right?

[daycare]

i think that is a good idea. I think my group painted them too soon. One of the mom's just told me that she took it out to put it on the tree this year and it was still soft....

Maybe increase the temp a little???

[MyAngels]

Holy cow - I put those buggers back in the oven for another 1.5 hours, this time at 250 and they still are soft in the middle ::. I guess I will just let them dry over the weekend and we will paint them up next week.

[mema]

We made some last week and when I looked at them yesterday, 1/2 of them had cracked so we will be doing something else I guess. I'm thinking I didn't cook them long enough, but who knows.

[Meyou]

Sometimes they stay a little soft in the middle. It doesn't affect them at all. It also doesn't mean they will spoil. I have salt dough ornaments I made when I was a child and they look exactly the same.

[MyAngels]

Sometimes they stay a little soft in the middle. It doesn't affect them at all. It also doesn't mean they will spoil. I have salt dough ornaments I made when I was a child and they look exactly the same.

That's good to know - I've been having visions of the parents opening their Christmas boxes next year to the smell of something rancid .

[Meyou]

It's basically a recipe for thick glue with salt. The "glue" hardens in the oven like super thick paper mache. The salt will continue to wick out any moisture and act as a preservative.

[KEG123]

We did ours yesterday, some recipes I saw said to just let them sit out for some days, some said to cook. We cooked ours for maybe 3 hours at 250 and then they also sat out all night... they're still a wee bit soft, but mostly hard.

[littlemissmuffet]

I always bake ours at 200 degrees (any higher tends to brown the dough) for 5 hours. We make them from 8:30am-9am - they bake from 9am-2pm, I let them cool for a half hour, paint or decorate, let air dry for about 20 minutes and then seal with a quick-dry spray varnish and they're ready to send home at 4:30pm!

[KEG123]

I always bake ours at 200 degrees (any higher tends to brown the dough) for 5 hours. We make them from 8:30am-9am - they bake from 9am-2pm, I let them cool for a half hour, paint or decorate, let air dry for about 20 minutes and then seal with a quick-dry spray varnish and they're ready to send home at 4:30pm!

I used half whole wheat flour, so mine were going to be brown anyways... plus they're going to get painted anyways, so who cares if they brown!

[MyAngels]

I always bake ours at 200 degrees (any higher tends to brown the dough) for 5 hours. We make them from 8:30am-9am - they bake from 9am-2pm, I let them cool for a half hour, paint or decorate, let air dry for about 20 minutes and then seal with a quick-dry spray varnish and they're ready to send home at 4:30pm!

I'm seriously impressed ::. I thought this would be a one day project, but it seems to be turning into a one week project instead.