(This holiday season is coming a little too fast for me, so I’m not writing about green Christmas or alternative gifts–yet.  But this may be a project you can do with your kids while they are on holiday break.)

My friend Jenny tried long ago to convert me to homemade play dough. She gave me a recipe, told me how easy it was, and sang the praises of the dough. Soft, clean smelling and easy, she claimed.

But as I looked at my provisions, pantry snob that I am, I knew it would entail a shopping trip. I didn’t have cream of tartar and no way was I going to waste my organic flour and sun dried sea salt on malleable, moldable dough for Georgia to play with. So, off we went to the store, with visions of the play dough making process dancing through my head.

The mess.
The wait.
The meltdown.

When we got to our local Freddie’s I got the cream of tartar, the cheap salt, and the least expensive all purpose white flour. Then I changed my mind. I led Georgia right to the toy aisle, and directed her to pick out some Play-Doh. She merrily chose the multi-pak in various neon colors. It was cheap and, best of all, easy. Georgia played with it for weeks until it was all mixed into a military grey and finally got left out, turning into a crunchy mess of dried out Play-Doh snakes and bugs, pies and cookies.

Then came the day, a rainy day when Georgia wanted some more Play-Doh. She was a little older, more patient and reasonable. She loves to cook. Maybe now was the time to try Jenny's recipe? I certainly didn't feel like going out to the store and getting all wet.

I got out the recipe. How hard could it be to make? OK! We’d try it! We mixed up the ingredients, added a few drops of food coloring and some cinnamon essential oil, put it on the stove and a few (well, maybe several) mixing minutes later we had a nice, smooth mound of dough. I turned it out onto the counter and waited for it to cool a bit, I pushed my hands into it and… ooooh, so warm and soft! Mmm, cinnamoney! Georgia loved it. It was great!

So, I am a homemade play dough convert. Once it cools you can put it in a bag or airtight container and it lasts a long time. Georgia’s school uses the older play dough for sculptures, adding buttons and googly eyes and bits of fabric before setting it out to dry. I like that you can choose your own colors and scents. One could even make several colors, put them in decorated small yogurt containers and give them out as gifts. Hey! Maybe the holiday spirit is catching up on me?

You can find recipes on the net, but I like the one Jenny gave to me long ago. I tweaked it a bit, because I can never leave a recipe alone. I mix the salt and the water before adding the flour to avoid the gritty part of the process. I also like to add a drop or two of essential oil: try peppermint or vanilla, or anything you like. Here’s my tweaked recipe:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups salt
2 Tablespoons cream of tartar
4 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups water
Food coloring
Essential oil

In a large bowl, whisk together flour and cream of tartar.
In a medium bowl, combine salt and water and stir until salt is dissolved. Add oil.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.
If you are making only one color, now is the time to add food coloring. You can also add the essential oil now. (I think it’s easier to mix in at this point, but you can also separate the cooled dough into as many lumps as you want and knead it in later.)
Transfer the gloppy mixture into a large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The gloppy mix will start to transform into a lovely, smooth lump.
It’s done when it’s all smooth and dough like.
Cool it a bit, then turn it out for a bit of kneading to get it all uniformly smooth.
Cool completely before storing.