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Make your own Christmas Prezzies!
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05-12-2010 10:48pm#1Last year I made a number of food-related christmas gifts and they were a hit with everyone. I thought this year with all the doom and gloom we could get together and post some recipes for home-made food gifts that can be made cheaply and packaged well to make a load of lovely gifts.
So I'll start. Suggested rules are that you must figure out the overall cost (roughly), and make suggestions on how to package to preserve and make pretty/handsome
Last year I made Nigella Lawson's Chilli Jam [as suggested by the folks here] and it was a big hit.
Recipe:
Ingredients:- 150g long fresh red chillies, each deseeded and cut into about 4 pieces.
- 150g red peppers, cored, deseeded and cut into rough chunks
- 1kg jam sugar
- 600ml cider vinegar
- 6 x 250ml sealable jars, with vinegar-proof lid, such as Kilner jar or re-usable pickle jar
- Sterilize your jars and leave to cool.
- Put the cut-up chillies into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the chunks of red pepper and pulse again until you have a vibrantly red-flecked processor bowl.
- Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a wide, medium-sized pan over a low heat without stirring.
- Scrape the chilli-pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan. Bring the pan to the boil, then leave it at a rollicking boil for 10 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool. The liquid will become more syrupy, then from syrup to viscous and from viscous to jelly-like as it cools.
- After about 40 minutes, or once the red flecks are more or less evenly dispersed in the jelly (as the liquid firms up, the hints of chilli and pepper start being suspended in it rather than floating on it), ladle into your jars. If you want to stir gently at this stage, it will do no harm. Then seal tightly.
Overall cost of pretty chilli jam gifts for 3 people: €19.99 or €6.66 each.
Costs can be lowered if you use non-kilner jars, but recycle old jam/coffee jars. The kilner jars add to the present as a storage jar for afters!
Any takers?
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Yes! Great idea! I did this last Christmas with a friend (thus sharing the 'workload') and we put together hampers for friends and family. Everyone really loved them, so we're doing it again this year!
Baskets: We sourced light wicker baskets on eBay. This year we got 3 packs of 4 baskets (12 in total) delivered for about €27 (about €2.25 per basket).
Cellophane: We also bought a roll of cellophane wrap last year (20m x 0.8m = €10 delivered, which covered 16 hampers with (hopefully) enough to use this year too). Last year we made chocolate biscuit cake and biscotti, so we bought some cellophane bags to package them up - pack of 100 A4 sized bags for €8 delivered (also eBay) so about 1.5c per bag. They were self-sealing (sticky strip at the top) so if you were to give them on their own, just grab a cheap bag of bows in Lidl and you're done!
Jars: We saved all nice (and not too big) glass jars through the year and packaged them nicely using squares of gingham. Bonne maman jam jars are great - so pretty with gingham lids - and a nice size (and the jam is often on offer for €2 during the year, so I stock up then). When you are keeping jars, always think about the size. It takes alot more to fill a massive dolmio jar than a smaller jar that originally had a relish or something in it. Just as impressive, but works out a bit cheaper for you!
Fabric covers (for jars): Last year we got a pack of 50 wine gingham squares on eBay for about €7.50 delivered - worked out at about 15c each. Still looking around for a good price on these this year. We used some gold twine to hold them in place.
Labels: We designed our own labels for the jars and printed them off on the colour printer in the office (sshh!).
I might have a pic of the finished baskets on my computer at home. Will check.
So, what to put into the jars! We made chilli jam too (similar to Eviledna's recipe, but with tomatoes as the base. Recipe from the Good Mood Food Blog). Seriously, the amount of recipe requests (and general raves) about this stuff! I heard stories of getting home from the pub and dipping leftover turkey and ham into the jar! We also made lemon curd which went down very well last year, and isn't expensive to make.
This year we used The River Cottage recipe for Lemon Curd. We made 6 batches (or 3 double batches) which filled 16 jars of various sizes.
Lemon Curd
Ingredients:
2 eggs plus one egg yolk
3 lemons
175g caster sugar
100g butter (the recipe states unsalted, but we just used regular)
Method:
Zest and juice the lemons into a saucepan along with the butter and sugar. Beat the eggs and egg yolk together and add to the saucepan. Over a low-medium heat (don't wander off!), stir the mixture continuously until the butter melts. Keep stirring as the mixture starts to heat up and thicken. The curd is ready when the back of a metal spoon dipped in the mixture stays coated.
Pour the hot curd into warm sterilised jars and cover immediately either with a sterilised lid or with a waxed disk and a cellophane cover.
We bought all the ingredients in Aldi, and (looking at receipts) it worked out at about €14.00 in total - so about 86c per jar (excluding packaging).
We made a plum & apple preserve too (plums and apples were on offer in the Aldi super 6!) and mini Christmas puddings (which have been maturing for the last month or so). We are going to make mince pies (mincemeat has also been maturing) and some biscotti. I can post the recipes (and a rough costing) if anyone is interested.
But I think that epic post is enough for now 0 -
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I've made fudge a few times and have actually gotten requests for it as Christmas presents - everyone loves it! It takes a bit of time to make (be prepared to stand at the stove for a good 30 mins) but it's well worth it. This recipe makes a big batch too, I cut it up small enough and get about 50 pieces of fudge.
This is vanilla fudge but I've also made it with a dash of spiced rum in it and it was lovely. I reckon Baileys would work well too, or whiskey. This is cheap to make and just ridiculously gorgeously delicious and decadent.
Ingredients:
450g (1lb) sugar
113ml double cream
170g (half a tin) evaporated milk (NOT condensed milk!)
50g (2oz) butter
1 tsp vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla pod
1 tablespoon booze of your choice (optional. If adding booze don't add too much or the fudge won't set properly and will be quite sticky. I'm guilty of this offence)
Method:
Get a good deep saucepan (you will need it as the mixture will bubble up a LOT) and put in the sugar, cream, evaporated milk, vanilla and butter.
Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.
This is the slightly tedious part: you need to bring the mix to the boil and let it bubble away for 30 mins, stirring very frequently to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
For the next part it's helpful to have an assistant. Get an electric beater and put it into the saucepan on low. BE CAREFUL! This is mad hot. While you hold the beater in the pan, get your assistant to gently lift the saucepan and place it in a basin of cold water so that the mixture begins to cool quite quickly. If you don't have the beater in when you plunge the pan, the fudge will become toffee and will make your pan near impossible to clean. (Again, I have done this in the past, yargh)
Beat for 5 mins and add some booze if you want. The mixture will get very thick and impossibly heavy but stick with it.
Pour it into a greased baking tin and press it down into the corners. Chill it until firm (doesn't take very long), then cut into 50 pieces and try not to eat them all. 0 -
OK, better late than never! Here's the biscotti recipe I use. I got it originally on bbcgoodfood.com, but I changed it around to suit what I had in the cupboards and then stuck with that recipe!
Cranberry Nut Biscotti (makes about 70 biscotti)
Ingredients:
350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
250g golden caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
coarsely grated zest of 1 orange
85g dried cranberries
50g blanched almonds
50g pistachios (shelled).
If you like raisins you can through in a handful, but they taste fine without!
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (fan). Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and mixed spice in a mixing bowl. Mix well together.
2. Add the orange zest and the beaten eggs and stir until the mixture starts to come together to form clumps.
3. Bring the dough together with your hands. It will look too dry at first but keep kneading it and include all the floury bits until it all comes together.
4. Add the cranberries, almonds and pistachios, and mix into the dough until they are well combined. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and break into four pieces. Roll each piece out into a sausage shape about 30cm long.
5. Line two baking sheets with baking paper and place two rolls onto each sheet, placed well apart. Bake in the oven for about 25 – 30 minutes (I gave mine 25 mins) until the dough has risen and spread a bit and is firm to the touch. The rolls should still look quite pale.
6. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool for just a few minutes. Turn the oven down to 140C/120C fan. Slice the rolls on the diagonal into about 1cm thick pieces. Lay flat on the baking tray and return to the oven. After about 10-15 minutes, turn them and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes. I had my fan oven at about 140C, so I gave the biscotti about 7 minutes on each side. Keep watch on the clock for this part. They will turn into tasty rocks if you leave them too long! Cool on a wire rack.
These keep really well - a few weeks in an airtight container. We packaged them up in cellophane bags last Christmas (10 to a bag), but only at the last minute to keep them fresh. The pistachios do add to the cost, so you could substitute raisins or more almonds if you like.0 -
ooh they look just gorgeous, I'm so making them!
Noticed they are selling pistachios in Aldi at the mo, might help lower the costs!
Senlra, could you provide a decent link to somewhere to buy cellophane bags, either on ebay or elsewhere? I'm having real trouble sourcing someone that will ship to ireland!
@Hermione*, Kitchen Compliments on Chatham St will have them, although you'll pay slightly more than in Atlantic/Woodies.
Also, I came across this lovely recipe for christmas mini muffins that would make a lovely gift bag too!
Christmas Mini Muffins
Ingredients
* 200g/7oz self-raising flour, sifted
* 100g/3½oz golden caster sugar
*100ml/3½fl oz sunflower oil
*75ml/2½fl oz milk
*1 large free-range egg
*50g/1¾oz qood quality dark chocolate, chopped
*1 heaped tbsp high quality mincemeat
* 50g/1 ¾oz good quality white chocolate, chopped
* 50g/1¾oz dried (or fresh) cranberries
Preparation method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and put 24 mini-muffin cases inside a mini-muffin tin.
2. Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl, then make a well in the centre. Whisk together the oil, milk and egg and slowly pour into the bowl, stirring gently. Divide this mixture between two bowls. In one bowl add the dark chocolate and mincemeat. Add the white chocolate and cranberries to the other bowl. Stir very gently.
3. Divide the two mixtures among the 24 muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and risen.
4. Remove the muffins to a wire rack and eat warm. 0 -
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Senlra, could you provide a decent link to somewhere to buy cellophane bags, either on ebay or elsewhere? I'm having real trouble sourcing someone that will ship to ireland!
Last year we got 100 180x180mm bags delivered for €6.80. Turns out we have enough for what we need this year so we haven't ordered any more. We also got some paper-backed bags last year (can't find details of those anywhere) but they weren't great. Soaked up any oil or fat that went near them.
These are somewhat similar - works out about 6c/bag. Nothing fancy but you could glam them up with a bow or some glitzy twine. We looked into getting those bags with a 'base', but they work out more expensive, and, at the end of the day, it's just a bag. It's what's inside it that counts!
This is a rather crappy picture of the biscotti bagged up:
Not sure if that helps you much!
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hootietootie: you could try stacking pieces in a kilner (or other) jar and decorating with some ribbon? For example, the jars of fudge pictured here.
Oh and any chance of the microwave fudge recipe? :P I've tried making fudge so many times with disasterous results! I am tempted by Susie_Q's recipe too - I've never thought of using an electric beater. I used a hand whisk before which never recovered!
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Last year we got 100 180x180mm bags delivered for €6.80. Turns out we have enough for what we need this year so we haven't ordered any more. We also got some paper-backed bags last year (can't find details of those anywhere) but they weren't great. Soaked up any oil or fat that went near them.
These are somewhat similar - works out about 6c/bag. Nothing fancy but you could glam them up with a bow or some glitzy twine. We looked into getting those bags with a 'base', but they work out more expensive, and, at the end of the day, it's just a bag. It's what's inside it that counts!
Not sure if that helps you much!
You are just a star senelra, a christmas star! Will be ordering those! Thanks a million 0 -
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Alas last time I was in ikea they were completely sold out of the smaller kilner jars!
Now I got to thinking, you know those mini puddings that you see about, with icing? Imagine making soft moist little chocolate mini puddings that look like the real thing! Perfect for those who hate fruit-based puds.
I have a great chocolate devils food cake recipe that makes a lovely base for any type of cake, small or large. It can be baked in cupcake moulds, or in a large deep 8 inch tin as an xmas cake alternative! For this recipe I suggest the little cakes, perhaps made it silicone moulds, you can get them in little pud shapes:
This cake recipe is moist and soft and keeps really well.
Devil's food cake
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
Ingredients:
6oz butter
6oz caster sugar
2 large eggs
6oz golden syrup/honey
2oz ground almonds
6oz plain flour, sieved with
2.5 oz cocoa
1/2 level tsp bread soda blended with 6 fl oz milk
Method
All in one! Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix. Food processor works too!:D Place in preheated oven and bake for:
30 mini pud molds ~30 mins
8 inch cake deep -1.5 to 2 hrs
This is a cake that must be checked regularly and test with a skewer until no mixture is attached to test done-ness.
But the beauty is the moist chocolatey ness. I suggest the molds should then be drizzled with either melted white chocolate, or glace icing to create the traditional pud effect. If you wanted to go all out you could buy some edibile holly to place on top!
Just imagine how they'd look in a nice cellophane bag!
(not actual result, just for inspiration!;))0 -
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Found this it looks awesome i might make some for prezzies
Lias butter toffee
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/lias-butter-toffee/
p.s where can i get a sugar thermometer and how much would one cost? thankies!0 -
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Found this it looks awesome i might make some for prezzies
Lias butter toffee
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/lias-butter-toffee/
p.s where can i get a sugar thermometer and how much would one cost? thankies!
My hubbie searched for one for me, finally got one in Glasgow somewhere, the same week TKMaxx started doing them-think they started at about a tenner0 -
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Wow stealing some ideas from here
I was planning on making hampers for people anyway but this is great to add to the the things im making
Im making
Rockie road bites
Truffles (if i can find a recipe that doesn't need to be kept refrigerated).
Biscotti
Rhubarb and ginger jam
St stephans day chutney
Maple and cinnamon butter
Cookie jars which is basically the dry ingrediants for a batch of cookies in a large jar for the recipient to add fresh ingredients to and make up with a recipe attached)
Flavoured sugars
I think i might add the chilli jam and chocolate mini puddings to the hampers
If anyone wants any of the recipes for the things im making ill post them up.
I found kilner jars in the 2 euro shop for 2 euro each. HTH0 -
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