Make your own Christmas Prezzies!

hootietootie

Alton's marshmallows are fab!!! I have a big box of them in the fridge-just make sure you don't use the 3 sachets of gelatin-I almost broke my brand new only out of the box kitchen aid mixer by following the recipe!! Its actually 2 sachets and a teeny bit that you need!

nothing

hootietootie wrote: »

Alton's marshmallows are fab!!! I have a big box of them in the fridge-just make sure you don't use the 3 sachets of gelatin-I almost broke my brand new only out of the box kitchen aid mixer by following the recipe!! Its actually 2 sachets and a teeny bit that you need!

Thanks for the heads up hootietootie

Discovered I have 4 different fudge recipes, 2 for plain (Nigella and online), one for peanut butter and one for chocolate (both Alton Brown), so going to divide them all down and make all 4 tonight, see which is best. Mind you I'll probably end up making 4 flavours (vanilla, rum and raisin, chocolate and peanut butter).

jendafer1

Oh does anyone have a marshmallow recipe? I have one but its all in American and calls for specific Ingredients that you cant seem to get here...

ElleEm

catlover2010 wrote: »

Anyone give me ideas on where to get nice paper or something to cover the lids of the jars with?

I'm gonna go the rustic route and put brown paper wrapped in twine on the lids. It's my preferred method of wrapping pressies too- timeless!

I made the lemon curd yesterday, and it turned out well... although I have no reference point for if it tastes good- I've never had it before but the tasters loved it.

biddywiddy

Here's a pic of a finished basket Taken this morning as I rushed out the door.




I was up 'til 3am on Sat night making biscotti!:eek: Made a mega batch of mince pies last night, baked 12 (for 2 boxes) and then froze most of them to bake on Thursday.

In each basket:
Biscotti (about 10)
Chilli Jam
Lemon Curd
Plum & Apple Butter
6 mince pies
6 chocolate truffles
1 mini Christmas pudding!

I haven't worked out the final costing of the completed hamper, but I probably will sit down and work it out over Christmas (nerd that I am), so I'll update this post if that happens!

Toto Wolfcastle

jendafer1 wrote: »

Oh does anyone have a marshmallow recipe? I have one but its all in American and calls for specific Ingredients that you cant seem to get here...

Rachel Allen has a marshmallow recipe.

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/629536

neuro-praxis

I've just finished all my pressies, only have one thing left to can.

I made a big batch of chocolate macadamia fudge balls, spiced peach preserves, cucumber pickle and spicy tomato relish (that's still bubbling away).

I thought home-made gifts would be simpler, but I seem to have spent every spare moment cooking, sterilising and canning for the last week! They do look beautiful though.

P.S. Following nothing's recipe above, I also made honeycomb, but it came out not as a crispy crunchy thing but a chewy toffee thing. What did I do wrong?

Edgedinblue

Just wondering if that chilli jam recipe could be halved or even quartered? i just want to try a bit before making so much!

Eviledna

Yes it can be halved, no bother.

Well done to everyone so far, prezzies look great. I'm just off work today...so begins the great bake-off!

I'm even attempting a gingerbread house, first time, so will post recipe later when I've tried it. Also got some last minute requests for carrot xmas cake replacements, so I'm using my trusty much beloved recipe...nice and spicy for this time of year!

shinikins

I was so looking forward to trying some of these recipes, especially the chilli jam, but my pipes have frozen so no water, and now the gas is gone too!!! Have to rethink the Christmas presents now......

S.R.F.C.

Anyone tried both Nigella's and Donal Skehan's (The Good Mood Food Blog) Chili Jam recipes and have an opinion and which edges it? Think i'll probably go with Donals.

nothing

neuro-praxis wrote: »

P.S. Following nothing's recipe above, I also made honeycomb, but it came out not as a crispy crunchy thing but a chewy toffee thing. What did I do wrong?

Did you use a thermometer or just go by the look of it?

I went by the look the first time I made it, and got that chewy toffee kind of thing. When I went by the thermometer, it took longer, and cooked longer, but turned out perfect.

Eviledna

So the gingerbread house turned out really well! I'll upload pics again once I have it decorated. In case anyone wants the recipe, this is it...

Taken from BBC good food...

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter
200g dark muscovado sugar
7 tbsp golden syrup
600g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp ground ginger

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Melt the butter, sugar and
syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground
ginger into a large bowl, then stir in the butter mixture to
make a stiff dough. If it won't quite come together, add a tiny
splash of water.
1.
Cut out to your template. Put a sheet of
baking paper on your work surface and roll about one quarter
of the dough to the thickness of two €1 coins. Cut out one of
the sections, then slide the gingerbread, still on its baking
paper, onto a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough,
re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two side walls, a front
and back wall and two roof panels. Any leftover dough can be
cut into Christmas trees, if you like.

*Tip: Cut out window sections and add some crushed fox's glacier mints into the holes. These will melt in the oven and create glass windows!!*

2.
Bake all the sections for 12 mins or until firm and just a little
darker at the edges. Leave to cool for a few mins to firm up,
then trim around the templates again to give clean, sharp
edges. Leave to cool completely.
3.
Make Royal Icing, preferably from the pack. Spoon into a piping bag
with a medium nozzle. Pipe generous snakes of icing along the
wall edges, one by one, to join the walls together. Use a small
bowl to support the walls from the inside, then allow to dry,
ideally for a few hours.


This is by far the best gingerbread recipe I've ever used, pliable and sturdy when cooked. Will be making the rest into gingerbread santys!

Faith

I gave a hamper to someone on Tuesday and she said it was the loveliest gift she'd ever gotten

The Black Oil

Great thread, it should go in here

Made the gingerbread last night.

Eviledna

So here it is (Merry Christmas;))...

This is the gingerbread house I made, in the shape of my sister's new house, sunroom and all



I plan on putting a tiny tea light inside to illuminate the sugar-glass



This is how the chilli jam and lemon curd turned out...



And finally this is how the pack of biscotti, mini muffins and baileys fudge turned out...



The baileys fudge is particularly a big hit with the folks, so smooth!

Thank you one and all for all of the contributions, it has made my Xmas!

nothing

Just finished batches of caramels and marshmallows, very happy with both. Will be attempting fudge for the 4th time later today. And will throw up some pics later when I start filling boxes for friends.

boosh_fan

S.R.F.C. wrote: »

Anyone tried both Nigella's and Donal Skehan's (The Good Mood Food Blog) Chili Jam recipes and have an opinion and which edges it? Think i'll probably go with Donals.

I have made both, Nigella's for gifts last year and Donal's this year and in my opinion (and most who've tasted both) Donal's is the winner. It's chunkier than Nigella's (which to me resembled sweet chilli sauce). His is also less vinegary.

S.R.F.C.

boosh_fan wrote: »

I have made both, Nigella's for gifts last year and Donal's this year and in my opinion (and most who've tasted both) Donal's is the winner. It's chunkier than Nigella's (which to me resembled sweet chilli sauce). His is also less vinegary.

Yeah i went with Donal's in the end, mine turned out a bit too gingery but at least i know for next time.

Dinkie

I meant to post earlier....

Made:

Lemon Curd
Harissa
Ginger nut biscuits
Olive tapenade
Chilli Jam
Cucumber pickle

I have photos which I will put up when I find the connector to upload them.

They went down a treat with everyone... so thanks for everyone for the inspiration.

Next year I'm going to go one better.... Am going to start earlier and do chutney, jam, etc and am going to try and make my own sea salt to add to it as I live near the sea. (am also thinking about doing homemade soap or candles also, but thats another storey).

Birdsong

Thanks to all on this thread for inspiring me to make some homemade presants, I made truffles & lemon curd, and they both went down a treat. Friends really appreaciated the time & effort that went into them, which was nice:)

namurt

We made two types of fudge, chocolate chip cookies, mincemeat rolls, cinnamon shortbread sticks, mulled wine sachets and Irish cream (bailey's imitation). They all went down really well and were much appreciated. Here's a photo of one of the hampers and a homemade christmas card to complete the picture.

ladypip

Well done everyone!!

I made: Lemon Curd
St stephans day chutney
Cranberry sauce
Almond and cherry marzipan chocolates
Biscuit and nut Chocolate bites
Maple and Cinnamon butter
Mince pies
and Cookie jars


They all went down well my Mother in Law text me the next day and sad it was a beautiful present and she wasn't sharing with anyone else in the house

My Mam reckons I should go into business making hampers now

So id say thats a result

leahyl

ladypip wrote: »

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. HTH

Sorry for dragging up this thread but there was a link to it on another thread and I started reading it and it got me all excited about making stuff for Christmas!

Ladypip I wonder would you have a recipe for the rhubarb and Ginger jam and Rocky Road bites you mention in your post

Once again, sorry to the mods. If you have to remove it do so :-)

ElleEm

Good on you for resurrecting this thread, Leahyl. Now I'll be well prepared for Christmas presents this year!! Gonna start looking into collecting the jars now

leahyl

ElleEm wrote: »

Good on you for resurrecting this thread, Leahyl. Now I'll be well prepared for Christmas presents this year!! Gonna start looking into collecting the jars now

Thanks ElleEm! Of course I always have great intentions but it doesn't always work out the way I planned! Would love to make gifts for people in work and friends though!

ElleEm

Think of the money you'll save! That was my incentive last year, as I was broke and wasn't able to go shopping due to health reasons. Everyone LOVED the gifts, and I'm still regularly making some of the things for family members. All of the recipients were really taken aback with the time and effort spent creating the gifts. It felt really good to do it.

leahyl

ElleEm wrote: »

Think of the money you'll save! That was my incentive last year, as I was broke and wasn't able to go shopping due to health reasons. Everyone LOVED the gifts, and I'm still regularly making some of the things for family members. All of the recipients were really taken aback with the time and effort spent creating the gifts. It felt really good to do it.

True, true! I still live at home though so it's kind of hard to find a time when the kitchen isn't being used by my mother or I'm not 'in the way' lol! But I would still love to try some of the recipes here - they sound amazing! :-)

ElleEm

leahyl wrote: »

True, true! I still live at home though so it's kind of hard to find a time when the kitchen isn't being used by my mother or I'm not 'in the way' lol! But I would still love to try some of the recipes here - they sound amazing! :-)

Nigella's chilli jam and the chocolate fudge recipe! Start on them, then there'll be no stopping you!!!

leahyl

ElleEm wrote: »

leahyl wrote: »

True, true! I still live at home though so it's kind of hard to find a time when the kitchen isn't being used by my mother or I'm not 'in the way' lol! But I would still love to try some of the recipes here - they sound amazing! :-)

Nigella's chilli jam and the chocolate fudge recipe! Start on them, then there'll be no stopping you!!!

Is the chilli jam really hot? What would you eat it with? I actually have Nigellas Christmas book so there should be no stopping me!