The Best Scented Playdough Recipe (Gluten Free!)
Get all six mix-in recipes at Joy of Advent!
Holiday scented playdough? Beautiful consistency and long-lasting? Yes, please!
Nothing says Christmas quite like fresh-baked cookies. And nothing says Christmas Fun to a child like helping roll, cut, and decorate those delicate treasures.
We can’t make Christmas cookies every day (can we?!?), and many little hands don’t always make light work, as the proverb says. What do we do when it’s not cookie-making time, or littles are quite ready for the real thing?
Holiday Playdough For Everyone!
We’ve been making gluten free playdough for years, ever since I had to eliminate gluten, quickly followed by two of our children. I’ve come to prefer our homemade playdough over store brands, despite the work involved. All because of the mix-ins!
This recipe is cross-posted at Joy of Advent. Check out Joy of Advent for six Christmas-themed mix-in recipes that will meaningfully accompany certain days of Advent and Christmas!
Step 1: Gather your ingredients
Growing up, my mom made homemade playdough only once. I don’t know what her recipe had, but whatever it was tasted awful (baking soda?) and … molded in just a few days. We have NEVER had issues with mold with our gluten free variety and have generally kept using a batch until it was thoroughly dried out, mixed up, un-usable. Months.
I think one of the key mold-preventatives is the salt. Our recipe uses a lot of salt! I’ve found the most cost-efficient salt is a canning and pickling salt that’s packaged to be used in large quantities.
Step 2: Measure out your dry ingredients
Cream of tartar is one of those odd kitchen staples that I always have and (almost) never use. And White Rice flour (for the gluten free recipe) is something I almost never have and can’t always find.
“You WILL get a workout with this recipe!”
While I’d love to say that white rice flour is not essential and can be substituted, it really IS ESSENTIAL. This flour gives the playdough a pale off-white color before adding mix-ins and the perfect texture. I’ve used brown rice in a pinch, but the texture is not as natural (it’s more grainy) and just not near as lovely as the white rice. I would not recommend trying any other glute free flour blend. Part of what makes playdough so deliciously doughy is the pull-ability.
The gluten in regular flour is what gives playdough its lovely texture both commercially and in homemade. But for those of us who can’t manage wheat gluten, all hope is not lost! Other grains have binding properties, and rice has one of the highest. Combined with the cornstarch, you get a dough almost identical to wheat flour. Gluten free flour blends can have any variety of flours: oat, potato, rice, corn, and starches and binders all tested to approximate wheat flour for baking. Those flours may behave unpredictably in this recipe.
Step 3: Add your wet ingredients
The recipe calls for grapeseed oil because it’s light and very neutral. Other oils can be used, but be aware they’ll change the dough’s consistency and even odor! Olive oil can smell a little off when it ages, and coconut oil might be great—in the right recipe! I suggest whisking the mix well before turning on the heat beneath your pan.
Step 4: Stir till your arms are noodles
Three minutes isn’t long … unless you’re stirring a pot with a quickly-thickening goo while trying to keep any from scorching on the bottom of the pan.
You WILL get a workout with this recipe! Consider it your arm day and skip the gym. (I find making crispy rice treats does the same. Which makes that treat my favorite to eat, but not to make.) I find a heavy silicon spatula works well for this step, as long as it’s not too bendy.
DO stop stirring promptly when your timer goes off. It’s unlikely you’ll need to cook longer. The dough will be VERY thick and will hold together, not really being stir-able anymore.
For Step-by-Step pictures, visit Joy of Advent.
Step 5: turn out and knead
Don’t wait too long to turn the dough out. It should be cool enough to handle carefully within a minute of being finished. Knead while warm and see what the texture is like.
If it sticks to your hands more than a very small bit, dust your surface with cornstarch (for GF) and knead while it air dries a bit.
If your hands are very sticky, you’ll need to knead in more cornstarch. Keep kneading until it’s only slightly sticky and is thoroughly combined (some areas may seem more “cooked” than others).
Now for the fun!
Step 6: Mix in your mix-ins!
This is my favorite part! A single batch of dough will yield about 3 “playdough-sized-portions” that equal what you’d get in a commercial can. I always double my recipe, so get six balls of dough to get creative with. Fun!
One handy tip: poke your finger into your dough to make a small well in the center, and add your coloring, oils, other mix-ins there. You will greatly minimize mess on hands and surfaces!
Check out Joy of Advent for six Christmas-themed mix-in recipes. Each recipe meaningfully accompanies certain days of Advent and Christmas!
The Best Playdough (+GF Option)
Rebecca Grabill | Christmas, 2024
Servings: 4 | prep time: 10 Min | cook time: 3 Min | total time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 Cup salt (canning & pickling salt works great!)
- 2 Teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 Teaspoon grapeseed (or vegetable or coconut) oil
- 1 Cup water, tap hot
- Food coloring and mix-ins as desired
For Gluten Free Playdough:
- 1 Cup white rice flour (no substitutions)
- 1/2 Cup cornstarch
- 1/2 Cup salt (canning & pickling salt works great!)
- 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons grapeseed oil
- 1 Cup water, tap hot
- Food coloring and mix-ins as desired
Mix-In:
- Cinnamon Spice: 1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon and a drop or orange or tangerine essential oil, optional 1-2 drops yellow food coloring
Instructions:
- Without heat, combine all dry ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Whisk to combine.
- Add water and oil. Whisk to combine.
- Turn on heat to low-medium. Stirring constantly and frequently scraping the bottom of the pan, cook for three minutes. Dough will becomes very firm and hard to stir. If dough is still runny, cook slightly longer.
- Turn out onto a silicon mat or parchment paper and allow to cool slightly.
- When cool enough to touch but still warm, knead dough. Add more cornstarch to GF dough or more flour to regular dough if it is still very sticky.
- Separate into play-sized portions and add mix-ins as desired!
Nutrition: Serving Size — 1/4 of recipe | Fat — You'll burn some! | Calories — don't eat the play-dough, please!
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What’s your favorite playdough mix-in combination? Please let me know in comments below! I’m always looking for new scents, color combos, or other ways to make the same old playdough recipe exciting and new! (Plus, nobody comments on blogs anymore — don’t be a Nobody!*)
*Mom joke should be proof that this was written by a human and not AI, shouldn’t it? :-D
