Handmade Holidays: For Foodies

It's time for another installment of Handmade Holidays! We're making our way through topics to cover everyone on your list, and today the lovely Meg is here with some delicious food gifts! You can read more about Meg's culinary and DIY adventures on her blog. If you weren't already hungry, you will be after you feast your eyeballs on these goodies:

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I love Paige's idea to do a series all about homemade gifts. Over the past few years my family has changed our gift giving approach at the holidays significantly. Now the important things are just being together and helping each other enjoy the holiday spirit. For about two or three years now, I just get my dad a fresh wreath. Fresh evergreen has always been one of his favorite things at Christmas, that and Kenny G's Christmas album.

I'm planning on a few different handmade gifts this year and I want to share with you the ones that I’ll be crafting in the kitchen, my favorite room of the house.

Holiday Spiced Granola - for a coworker, teacher, friend

With more people eating healthier and on the yogurt for breakfast craze, homemade granola should be a great hit. I'll be packaging mine in a quart size mason jar. Mason jars make a beautiful and inexpensive gift giving vessel. You should be able to get the quart size ones for about $1 a jar. I find them at Ace Hardware and Shaw's grocery store near me.

Holiday Spiced Granola Ingredients:
2 cups Oats (store brand in a large container is great – regular or quick cooking is fine)
1 1/2 tbsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice - or make your own (1 tbsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. ground clove, 1 tsp. ground ginger)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup chopped walnuts (or any type you want)
1/2 – 1 cup each of mix-ins (I’m using cranberries and yogurt covered raisins for a holiday color)

 
Preheat the oven to 375. Mix oats, spices, syrup, and nuts in a large bowel until all the oats are coated, add more syrup if needed, but you shouldn’t have syrup pooling in the bottom of the bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out oats in an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring halfway. Let cool, add mix-ins, and package.

Herb Infused Salts - for that person who loves to cook

I got this idea from Food Network magazine as something to do with the loads of basil I harvested this year. And I figure if it works with basil, it should work with other herbs as well.

Herb Infused Salt Ingredients:
1/2 cup fine sea salt
1/2 cup herb (I've made this with basil and rosemary so far, if using fresh rosemary it won’t grind up well in the first go around, but after it’s toasted you’re good to go)

Preheat oven to 225. Pulse salt and herbs in a food processor until combined. Spread in an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in oven for 40 minutes, stirring halfway. After baking grind smooth in the food processor one more time and package. I used quilted small mason jars for mine.

Cookie Dough - for a neighbor or hostess (gift must stay frozen so best when bringing straight to someone's house)

Christmas cookies are a quintessential hostess or neighbor gift. It's a lovely gesture but it's possible the recipient may feel obligated to eat them all before they go bad. (I do not have this problem if you want to bring cookies to my house!) Or maybe they have children and they don't want them indulging too much or too often. To combat these issues and still offer a perfect Christmas gift, I suggest gifting frozen cookie dough, ready to be baked so your friend or neighbor can prepare as many or as few as they would like. Maybe they can even save some to bake for Santa. Prepare your favorite dropped cookie recipe. Mine is the chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Cooking cookbook. Scoop out the dough with spoons or a mini ice cream scoop and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Then freeze for about an hour. Then package the dough in freezer containers. You can order pint containers online which should be perfect! Don't forget baking instructions! 375 degree oven for 10 - 12 minutes. And there is no need to defrost these treats!

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Are you a fan of gifting food during the holidays? What's your favorite recipe? Feel free to drop us a link in the comments!