Valentine cinnamon heart

A warm-hearted project for a crisp autumn evening. Perhaps the air in the kitchen is still gragrantly moist from making applesauce that had just a flick of cinnamon in it. And a whisper of clove still hangs in the air.


6 tablespoons applesauce

9 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

extra cinnamon for rolling dough

pastry cloth and rolling pin; small cookie cutters in various shapes; tracing paper and pencil; small sharp knife; small skewer (or other sharp pointed tool); small spatula; cookie sheet

Ribbons in variety of colors. 1/16 to 1/8 wide; quick-drying craft glue;small dried flowers (optional)



1. Combine applesauce, cinnamon and cloves. Stir until well blended; work mix with your hands until it has a smooth claylike consistency.

2. Generously "flour" pastry cloth and rolling pin with cinnamon. ROll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick.

3. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out various shapes from the dough.

4. With a small skewer, mark details on cutout shape; make holes where ribbons will be threaded through for hanging . (Make holes large enough to thread a ribbon through but not so large as to weaken the shape. )

5. Lift shapes using a small spatula and move them to a cookie sheet.

6. After shapes are cut from rolled dough, gather scraps, re-roll dough and continue cutting out shapes until all dough is used up.

7. Heat oven to 120F and place cookie sheet in oven.After about 11/2 hours. turn heat off. Leave cinnamon cutouts in oven 5 to 6 hours or overnight.

8. Tie ribbons onto shapes or thread ribbons through the holes in shapes for hanging. Glue ribbon in place, when necessary, for stability. Glue dried flowers in place where desired. Store dried cutouts in an airtight container, layered in tissue or paper towels. Makes about twenty 2 inch shapes.


Hang one over a stove because heat helps disburse the fragrance. Or tie some onto a grapevine wreath or a Christmas tree to add a dimension of fragrance to holiday decorations.

Tie a cinnamon scent into a bow on a gift-wrapped package

Save tins with tops . Buy real cotton dish towels on sale. Fold the towel to fit into the tin then pack it by folding it back and forth accordion style. lay a cinnamon scent or two in each fold. It will protect them and make a super scented kitchen towel gift as well. Seal the lid on with tape around it and put the laden tins aside to have gifts at the ready.

I also have them in my dressers and hanging on some of my hangers in the closet. I put them in my Christmas gifts as well ontop. They seem to keep their scent up to a year or more. I have some a few years old and still have scent to them, depending on where you put them. If they are near heat the scent dries out faster then if they are in a dresser or closet.Makes sense.