Homemade food gifts

[readingchick]

Mom makes Grandma Hubbard's peanut butter fudge at Christmas, also Grandpa's soda cracker fudge and (I think) her nobake cookies.

[Amara]

I usually make savory-flavored butters, often giving four different flavors (the four cubes that make up a pound) for each person. They're easy to make yet seem so gourmet, and most freeze well. I will also be making vanilla sugar; just put some good vanilla beans in sugar for a couple of months. I also have decided to make, for my sister and brother who also love spicy things, my Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce and package that along with the pasta, frozen chicken breasts and onions that make up the dish. It will have to be kept very cold until present opening time, but they have tasted it before and are crazy about it so I will also include my recipe. (Or, hmm, maybe I'll just put all the ingredients together and then make a batch with them because there are no specific measurements. I'll need to think about that.)

Then there are pickled onions and so on. Not sure yet, but am looking at those.

[MindsEye]

I make...
Marinara sauce
Hot salsa
Bread-and-butter pickles
Jalapeno jelly

All with stuff that we grow in our garden.

And I know that they are eaten and enjoyed because every year starting around Thanksgiving I get anxious emails/messages from friends and relatives to check that I have made "enough" for them to get some.

I love making and getting edible gifts. 

[SDG31000]

In the past I have made jam, fruit butters, different flavoured shortbread and cookies, chocolate truffles and turkish delight.

This year I am making different flavour marshmallows, shortbread, homemade graham crackers and maybe fudge.  These will be packaged along with instructions to make s'mores.

[Raina]

Homemade Biscotti wrapped in pretty cellophane bags in a pretty mug with some nice coffee beans or hot drink extras in a gift basket.

Brownie in a Jar, layered like the colored sand jars that you see (Flour, cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar, chips/coconut etc) so the different ingredients are the different colors.

Salty and Sweet Nuts in a pretty bag (nuts, whipped egg whites, salt and sugar and a spice or cayenne if you like)

Hot Chocolate mix in a pretty jar (cocoa, powdered sugar, powdered milk, etc)

various Nut Brittle with peanuts, pecans, almonds or a mix

This year, I'm actually giving as one of my gifts a crock pot with a homemade recipe book of simple recipes, and several tupperware containers filled with some of the cooked recipes from the book so the recipient can try the food before attempting to make it themselves.

[TootsNYC]

My husband makes his own granola to give to certain people at Christmas.  I get a kick out of him because he doesn't do the usual quart jar filled with granola and a fancy decorated lid.  He fills one of those great big freezer bags with the zip top.  People love it.

Bijou--will your DH share his recipe on the Recipes board here?

[cicero]

i've made jams and i also in the past have made (cured?) green olives and given some away. i've made home made cream cheese with diffrent toppings (roll them into balls and the roll in paprika, chopped nuts, parsley etc)

oh and one time i made those chocolate dipped spooons that were a big hit.

(I don't celebrate christmas, but have done food gifts on other occasions)

[Greyalien]

I lovemaking homemade gifts for people. In the past I've made fudge, peanut butter cups, rocky road, cookie mix in a jar and this year I'm going to make lemon curd.

I think I have more fun making these kinds of gifts than shopping!

[Mikayla]

Homemade goodies are always part of my Christmas baskets.  My latest go-to dish is peppermint bark, simply because it's foolproof and so easy.  There's a ton of recipes for it, but I use the easiest:  a cup or more of crushed candy canes and 2 lbs of white chocolate.  Melt the chocolate (microwave or double boiler), add in candy cane, stir, spread on lined cookie sheet, refrigerate for an hour and then just break up the pieces.

I also always put in a homemade dry dip mix.  The one people like the most is dill dip with chives and parsley.

And of course homemade Kahlua, which is basically just coffee and vodka.  I use fancy brown beer bottles for it. 

[MamaMootz]

I always make a ton of Christmas cookies and give tins to random people. Usually, people I work with all year that work at the post office, or I like to surprise people who work in retail at a convenience store I always frequent, or something like that.

The cookies are always appreciated and people often ask me for my gingerbread recipe as it was my grandmother's but I tweaked it to make it less molasses-y.

Cookies that usually go in the assortment:

Chocolate chip
Sugar
Peanut butter
Gingerbread
Butter cookies dipped in chocolate and sprinkles

Last year, I also made homemade peanut brittle, as I have a killer recipe for it from a chef at the CIA.

[BabyMama]

Don't be afraid of toffee! You can make it without a thermometer.

Recipe: English Toffee

2 c. unsalted butter
2 c. white sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water

1 12-oz. bag chocolate chips
1/2-3/4 c. chopped nuts


In a large, nonstick pot, combine butter, sugar, salt, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Once mixture reaching boiling, turn heat down to medium and set a timer for 30 minutes.

Continue stirring toffee until timer goes off (or mixture reaches hard crack stage/290F+). Set your timer for 30 minutes--that should be just about the right time, if you don't have a candy thermometer. Have a glass or bowl of cold water nearby. Carefully drop a bit of the mixture into the water. With a free hand, fish the candy out of the water. The "soft ball" stage is about 250F. When you take the candy out of the water, it should be firm but pliable.

The "hard crack" stage is what you want, around 290+F. At that point, the candy coming out of the water should be hard, brittle threads.

Pour mixture onto ungreased cookie sheet. Let sit for a couple of minutes.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over hot toffee. Once chips have melted, use a knife or spatula to spread chocolate all over toffee. Sprinkle melted chocolate with nuts.

Once toffee and chocolate have fully cooled, break toffee into smaller pieces.

[BabyMama]

Last year I made vanilla extract and vanilla sugar to give. My sister actually requested more vanilla extract this year. I've got some working! (Which is good, I'm just about out of the vanilla I made last year. I went through a 750mL bottle!)

I make Chex mix that's just Cheerios (I love how the Cheerios soak up the flavor.) My mom loves it so I make a whole batch just for her.

[elephantschild]

I'm all about the cookies, fancy decorated ones and other varieties, too.   And I make three different kinds of chocolate bark. (People seem to really love the spicy kind with nuts.)

Last year, I made peanut brittle for the first time. Super easy! I found a recipe for actually making it in the microwave.

[KenveeB]

I always make Christmas candy to give out. It's my mother's recipe -- she used to give them to neighbors and such when I was younger, and once I got out on my own I took up the tradition. I'll start making the first batches any day now and fill whatever space I have left in my freezer. Then I'll empty it as I fill all the boxes that get shipped out. But then I make more and re-fill the freezer with the stuff I give to local people, including coworkers.

This year my boss requested some Oreo truffles I made for a party, so I'll be giving him those instead of the usual candy.

[Minmom3]

I make jams and jellies for holiday gifts of all sorts.  This year I ended up with 8 dozen jars.  And they will all be gone (or at least spoken for) before the new year.  :>

Oh My!  I love to make cookies at Christmas.  LOVE to.  My biggest year, I was merrily baking away, making dozens and dozens of dinky little cookies that would fit inside a gift box.  DH asked me to make the family chocolate chip cookies for his work.  And, not the dinky size I had been churning out, please, make them the size 'they're supposed to be'.  Well, yeah, his family always made these monster cookies, and I know how to make them that big, I was just making the little ones for gift purposes.  I had tins and tins of cookies sitting around in my room, waiting for distribution. 

So, DD#3 and I pulled everything out onto the dinner table, and started sorting into the gift boxes.  Counting as we went.  I made over 800 cookies that year, and it would have been closer to 850+ if my last batch hadn't been the big ones for DH.  Lotsa cookies...  I used pounds and pounds of staples and nuts and chocolate.