Home Made Gift Ideas?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And now that it's here..those gift giving Holidays are right around the corner! We are very tight on funds this year (trying to save so we can move!) and even if we weren't I still think that it is still better to give a well thought out gift, especially one that you've made, and not just something for the sake of giving. Another thead could be non-food items, but I thought for this one I'd see if any of you have ideas for special treats that you give as gifts. Sue

My wife used to make Christmas cookies and flavored oils as gifts. I don't know how to make either, though.

One year I made bread in a jar, a canning jar. I also gave some nice home made jar. You could also had s nice box of tea.There is something special about home made. I also make cookies and candies. Not a food item but how about a pine cone wreath?

A gift that is not very expensive, but time-consuming, andvery impressive is a cookie tree. Every year at Christmas, my Mother would make soft thick sugar cookies, with her regular recipe, in the shape of stars of varying diameters, with a hole in the center of each one. These stars would be frosted with green frosting and decorated with all sorts of sprinkles and balls. She would assemble these stars on a square wooden base (which my Father would make) with a vertical 1/4" dowel rod glued in a hole in the center, the largest cookie on the bottom and the smallest on top, forming a cookie tree. Her cookie trees would be about 8" to 10" high, with the diameter of the base star about 6", decreasing in about 1/2" increments (5 1/2", 5", 4 1/2", etc.) to the top star with a 1 1/2" diameter. Each had a 3/8" (approx.) hole in the center to fit the dowel. This was our family gift each year for many years to major friends and important people we knew, such as the President of Bradley University, where my Father taught.

I've made a big batch of spaghetti sauce and canned jars of it to give as gifts. I've also made Buckeyes which are like peanut butter melt aways, get gift boxes at the Dollar Store and fill them up with the home made candies to give out.

You can also sometimes find inexpensive small metal tins to fill with cookies, shortbread, brownies, fudge, peanut brittle, toffee, or bark, or chocolates. We have a couple of small stores in the D.C. region which sell British foodstuffs. They usually have British chocolates that you don't get in the normal shops here. One year we filled small tins with these and just tied ribbons around them as gifts. This year I have little cellophane bags with festive twist ties to stuff, but you can also just put things in sandwich bags and make little fabric bags to hold them. Most fabric stores have holiday prints which are perfect for this. If you're canning, you can cut circles out of these prints and tie them around the tops of the jars with ribbons.

Here's a recipe for Spiced Nuts that sounds like a great gift. Easy, too.:
http://holiday.allrecipes.com/az/MicrwvSpicdNts.asp

I make these as gifts almost evey year except I skip the chocolate coating and dip them all in the pecans, or you can substitute choped walnuts.

ORANGE CHOCOLATE MELTAWAYS

1 pkg. (11-1/2 oz.) milk chocolate chips
1 cup (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp. grated orange peel
2-1/2 tsp. orange extract
1-1/2 cups finely chopped toasted pecans

Coating:
1 cup (6 oz.) milk chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. vegetable shortening

Place chocolate chips in a mixing bowl; set aside. In a saucepan, bring cream and orange peel to a gentle boil; immediately pour over chips. Let stand for 1 minutes; whisk until smooth. Add the extract. Cover and chill 35 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Beat for 10-15 seconds or just until mixture lightens in color (do not over beat). Spoon rounded teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Cover and chill for 5 minutes. Gently shape into balls; roll half the balls in pecans. In a microwave or double boiler, melt chocolate for coating and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip remaining balls in chocolate coating. Place on waxed paper to harden. Store in refrigerator. YIELD: 6 dozen.

What about home made BBQ sauce or salsa? I made some Pineapple salsa a couple of years back & gave to a few friends (and moi...). Used fresh pineapple and smoked jalepeno's; along with some other "stuff". Quite good. I based 'cipe on sumthing I found on the web. Since I am a "TBR"
cooker (Tastes 'Bout Right); unfortunately have no recipe to offer.

I make homemade fudge, divinity and pralines to give as christmas gifts. I keep an eye out at the dollar store for christmas tins and when they get their shipment I stock up. When my children were little and my husband and I were much poorer than we are now we used to pay for Christmas by making and selling divinity. I have a recipe that has been in the family for generations that will set up even on the rainiest of days, which came in handy when we lived on the gulf coast! We don't make it to sell anymore but its the most asked for item from our circle of family and friends for Christmas treats.

i've seen these mentioned here but they are worth mentioning again-- any type of 'gift in a jar' would serve as a wonderful gift! there are tons of ideas for them - just do a search for 'gifts in a jar' and you'll find tons....
they are inexpensive to do to and fun to let kids help with (if you have any little hands around-- they love to help with this stuff)

we've gotten several over the last few years but the one that stands out in my mind was 'painted brownies' -- it was basically just regular brownie mix but the way it was in the jar was what made it 'painted' .. different color items in layers.. it was cool..
good luck and let us know what you end up with (you know the rest of us are always looking for ideas too! :)
Happy Holidays !!
~~jersey~~

The last few years I lived in Boston I would can bushels of tomatoes from the farm, layering basil from my garden in the tomatoes. In December I would make a huge batch of fresh pasta and dry it. Also polish off a number of bottles of wine so I could have the clear bottles (an excuse to drink a LOT of pinot grigio). Soaked the labels off the bottles and when dry, fill them with dried peppers (cheap! in any Oriental market) and fill with olive oil. Then to Crate and Barrel for a bunch of stoppers with pour spouts to stick in the bottles. So everyone got a quart jar of tomatoes, dried pasta and a bottle of oil!

One of my suppliers has his wife make a plate of chocolate chip pecan cookies. It is on a plastic plate wrapped in plastic with a bow. He drops it by the office and it is gone in a day or two.

I love this thread because it's all about homemade. The luxury of time to make these goodies especially with some very close friends is such a gift in it's self. I spent several years with good girlfriends making our special xmas boxes. Everyone had a couple of specialities;caramels,chocolates,cookies, and we made nice packages for friends and families. They were a huge hit and we had a ball over a couple of weekends. They were pretty cheap too.

Hi guys!

I try to make homemade gifts ( usually food) every year.

I've made bean soup mix , which was fun to make wiht my little boy.

Mix and devide into 5 airtight containers
1# (pound) dried kidney beans
1# yellow lwntils
1# green split peas
1#dried black beans
1# dried black eyed peas
Mix and devide into 5 smaller airtight containers
(***this'll make u sneeze!)
5t.salt
5t.dried basil
5t. dried rosemary
5t.marjoram
5 bayleaves ( one in each)
2& 1/2t. freshly ground black pepper
1& 1/4th t. crushed red chile
5t. curry powder/garam masala powder ( optional)

put a spice mixtue in each bean mixture and attach card that says:

day before: sort and wash beans, soak covered over night.
day of: combines beans, 8c. water and hamhock( optional)
bring to boil, add spice mix, 1c. chopped onion, 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (undrained) garlic ( optional)
cover, reduce heat and simmer 1 hr , discard bay leaf, remove ham hock and shred meat, return meat to pot, season. serve hot.


also ,one year i did this :


Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix in a Jar
Fill a canning jar or glass container with these dry ingredients, decorate with a bow.(It’s okay to pack down the layers if necessary.)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
11/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
Mix the salt and baking soda in with the flour, then layer the ingredients into the jar.


attach a card with the following mixing and baking directions:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sift dry ingredients through a colander to separate the chocolate chips from other ingredients. Beat 1 cup of unsalted butter or margarine in a medium bowl. Beat sifted ingredients into butter until blended. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg with 1 tsp. vanilla. Mix beaten egg mixture into butter mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter, spaced well apart, onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.


HEF

ps
i meant yellow lentils, not lwntils,
sorry....

Spice rubs can be a nice change from all the sugar. The cute little jars are really cheap at Cost Plus or craft stores. This thread has some good recipes:

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=339&SearchTerms=rubs

Also, you can type up some of your best recipes, have the kids "illustrate" them, or add clip-art designs, then xerox and bind...supercheap and truly a meaningful gift from the heart.

quote:

Originally posted by hefried

ps
i meant yellow lentils, not lwntils,
sorry....

Darn! Now how am I suposed to use up all these lwntls I bought?

I was thinking, "How on earth am I going to find lwntls??"

I see round tins that held a pound of Danish butter cookies at the resale shops all the time for not much money. Perfect for food gifts, especially cookies, and most of the tins had a brand name on a label that was removed, leaving no advertising on your tin.

My parents would bake thousands of cookies starting about the first of December. One night they'd make several doughs, the next night they'd bake, and then they'd store the cookies in our unheated attic under lock and key--that's where the presents were, too! We never threw away oatmeal boxes, and you'd be assigned the task of turning that box into a Santa for your teacher. We found out years later the nuns at St. Joseph Academy in Galesburg IL would fight over who got the Gemmell children so they'd get the cookies. Neighbors and coworkers would get them in plainer boxes. We'd always put up a box for ourselves and triple-wrap it, then drop it to the bottom of the basement chest freezer. That box would surface some hot August Sunday when Mom didn't want to bake a cake for dessert. Mom died in 1975, Dad in 1984, and what I wouldn't give for a box of their cookies to be lurking in my freezer today!

Aww Michael. What a sweet story. You're very well written, you know. Those nuns must have been good teachers.

My Granny use to make jars of Pomander Balls for Christmas every year for gifts.

Pomander Balls

1 ( 6oz.) pkg. Semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. Orange extract
2 1/2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup chopped pecans
Sugar for coating

Combine melted chocolate, sugar, corn syrup, water and orange extract in a large bowl.
Add vanilla wafers and pecans, mixing well.
Shape mixture into 1-inch balls.
Roll each in sugar.
Store in an airtight container at least 2 days before eating.

I have given homemade jam and jelly for gifts for years. The neighbors always get a jar of jam, and a hot loaf of bread right out of the oven a couple of days before Christmas and look forward to it.

Homemade frozen quick breads make a great gift. Deliver them frozen and they can be thawed and eaten right away or saved for company. Lemon tea bread, pumpkin bread and banana breads are all easy to make and inexpensive.

Oh there are so many wonderful ideas here! I knew I could count on you all (keep'm coming too!)-

I wanted to update you too on a nice supplement to this thread. Over the weekend we were at my parents house. My mom casually tells me she found a box of video tapes. We took them home thinking they were old taped tv shows or movies. But, as it turns out they are from various vacations, family renuions, and holidays. I didn't even know most of them existed! Bob & I started watching them last night and they brought tears to our eyes - one was even of our first Christmas together with his family. I didn't even know his nephew was filming it - his grandmother (Babcia) and Uncle that had passed away were on the tape opening gifts - what a treasure. We have a tape of one of my Uncles, who has passed on as well, singing at a family renuion one of our "traditional" German songs. And many many of all the kids when they were toddlers and babies. So - in addition to some of the handmade gifts (ideas I'll take from here!!) we are going to edit the videos together and then get them made into DVD's for everyone - with a special viewing Christmas night when we all get together. This find has made my Holidays and boosted my spirit so much I can't even explain Actually makes me wanna cry...but good cry....Sue

One of my Father's cronies offered him some thin marble slabs from a building renovation. He carried several to a local tombstone works and had them cut into very nice candy slabs, which we gave to friends and relatives as Christmas presents. One of my cousins used hers a lot, making lots of hand-pulled mints and other treats. Recently, she dropped and broke her slab. In a panic, she called from Florida to find out if we could make her another. I looked in the basement at what's now my sister's home and in a far corner found the rest of the marble pieces, leaning against the wall. On the back of the last one was a complete toilet paper roll. What everybody had assumed were parts of a soda fountain counter top were actually antique john partitions. I had her a new slab cut, and never said a word.

angeltx...oh my god!!! that is a recipe that my mother has made for 50 years. we all make it at christmas now. I add a little rum or grand marnier and let them sit for a week. I will bet you that the recipe was on the back of the nilla wafer box in the 50's or something like that. I love pommander balls. It's funny, I never knew of any one else making them until your post.

I always make sugared (candied) pecans to give as gifts. Can post the recipe if you like.

I would like to have a recipe for spicy Spanish peanuts.

Yes, please do post that recipe - by God - every recipe I have ever made that you've given is wonderful! Sue

hmmmm another thing i used to make for christmas gifts ( or any holiday gift actually) was home made baileys.... it's really good and easy.. i'd be glad to give anyome the recipe that i use if they want it....
as for the bottles-- any empty clear ones that we could use-- the fancier the better..

I haven't thought about pommander balls forever. Thanks for the recipe. I would love to have the recipe for homemade Baileys. The memories and the remembered smells alone are worth a visit to this site.

Does anyone remember pomander balls that were oranges with cloves stuck in it all over and tied with a ribbon?
i could've sworn that was a pommander?????
and HEY , cool, that is something you can make for christmas or holiday gifts too!!!