What homemade goodies do you give as gifts to neighbors, friends, etc.?

[Rhonda in TX]

I usually make an assortment of candies and cookies. However, I can't find my favorite cookbooks (they've gone missing since our kitchen reno), so I need some ideas. Share the recipe if you're so inclined. :)

[Susann]

Bump-looking for ideas, too!

[Ali in OR]

Cookies, cookies, cookies!

 

I've given dd's respite care giver and physical therapist a dozen C&H Sugar Cookies. I roll them in white sanding sugar (not a cookie cutter recipe). Love the taste--this is what a sugar cookie should be IMO.

 

 

• ½ cup butter
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1 large egg
  
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
• 2 cups flour
  
• ½ tsp. salt
  
• ½ tsp. baking soda
  

 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and gradually beat into mixture. Chill for 2 hours. Bake at 375° on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 8-10 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a rack.

 

We will be giving dd's teacher and aides at school each a dozen Andes Mint Cookies, a recipe I printed off from here in 2006.

 

 

• 28 Andes Mints, halved
  
• ¾ cup butter
  
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar
  
• 2 Tbsp water
  
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 2 ½ cups flour
  
• 1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
  

 

In saucepan, heat and mix margarine, sugar, and water. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until all chips are melted. Pour into bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. Beat in eggs at high speed. Add remaining ingredients and beat to blend. Chill dough for 1 hour. Line baking sheets with foil. Roll dough in 1" balls and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Place an unwrapped half mint on each cookie as you remove them from the oven. As soon as the mints have softened, spread them over the cookies.

 

And finally, my dh's brother and family and my sister and family will be given an assortment of the above two recipes plus Peanut Butter Temptations made in mini muffin tins with a Reese's PB cup pushed in after they come out of the oven. Yum!

 

 

• ½ cup butter
  
• ½ cup peanut butter
  
• ½ cup sugar
  
• ½ cup brown sugar
  
• 1 large egg
  
• ½ tsp. vanilla
  
• 1 ¼ cup flour
  
• ¾ tsp. baking soda
  
• ½ tsp. salt
  
• 36 mini Reese's peanut butter cups
  

 

Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Add egg and vanilla; beat until creamy. Stir in dry ingredients until blended. Chill dough 1-2 hours. Roll dough into 1" balls (not too big!). Place in well-greased mini muffin tins. Bake at 350° for about 12 minutes. When done, press 1 Reese's into each cookie.

 

I've been entering my recipes into my MacGourmet Deluxe recipe software--I love how easy it is to paste them in here! Hope it formats correctly!

[Debbi in Texas]

I do poppy seed bread (sweet) or pear bread. Need to get going on it for this year.

[shanvan]

I've given this White Chocolate Pretzel peanut Bark to quite a few people and they all loved it and wanted the recipe. It's so easy that I often use it in a pinch---Oh! and I add craisins to give it a Christmasy look. It looks beautiful wrapped in nothing but cellophane with a pretty bow. Warning! It's a Paula Deen recipe (I know there are some anti-Paulas on the board).

[PrincessMommy]

I make:

 

Martha Stewart's White chocolate peppermint bark every year to give away. It's very easy and the kids and can help. The only thing is: DON'T use the white chocolate chips. They *never* melt properly. I use peppermint I get in the baking aisle at a regular grocery. Tastes fine.

[Barb_]

I''m doing layered cookie mix in a jar. I've baked in the past but I wind up getting stressed and doing all the baking myself. I think the cookies in a jar thing will be fun to do as a group. We can do it like an assembly line.

[PrairieSong]

I learned to make my mil's light, crunchy microwave peanut brittle! Sometimes that stuff is so hard you think you'll break a tooth, but hers was foamy and mmmmmmm.

 

Microwave Peanut Brittle

 

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup white corn syrup

Dash of salt

1 1/2 cups raw Spanish peanuts

1 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

 

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a 3 quart casserole dish. (Mil always used a glass bowl, and so did I). Stir in peanuts. Microwave on high 8 to 10 minutes, stirrings 3 or 4 times. Stir in remaining ingredients until light and foamy. Do not over stir. Quickly spread on heated and heavily buttered cookie sheet. Cool; break into pieces. Makes one pound of candy.

 

Note from me: the trick is finding out how long to cook this in your particular microwave. Mine took 8 minutes and I stirred every two min. Warm a cookie sheet in the oven, butter it, and leave it in there until you need it. Peanut brittle will just be starting to get light brown when it has cooked long enough, but this may take some trial and error. Stir in butter, vanilla, and baking soda VERY quickly and immediately spread it onto warm cookie sheet. This is the secret to light foamy peanut brittle. My mil just died in October so I started making this, as it will be expected at Christmas! She was a wonderful cook and even more wonderful person. Dh's two sisters told her she should find a bigger market for this but she just sold it locally.

 

[Mrs Mungo]

I made a whole bunch of things last year.

 

This year? I think I am just making peppermint-white chocolate coated pretzels and pistachio brittle. http://www.thekitchn.com/-holiday-guest-post-from-3-104131

[PrairieSong]

And just for fun, a very old recipe in dh's family, supposedly good for bee stings, cuts, etc., though I have never tried it myself. I am not giving this as a gift but if you do let me know how that turned out, lol.

 

Olga's Homemade Salve

 

3/4 cup powdered rosin. (?)

1 cup goose or duck grease

1/2 cup rabbit grease

1/2 cup tallow

1/2 cup skunk grease

3/4 cup bee's wax

1 oz. carbolic acid

 

Melt all together over slow heat. (Mmmmm....mom, what's for dinner?). Let cool and then add carbolic acid. Skunk grease can be substituted for another grease.

 

I am not making this up!!! It is in our family cookbook that we made. I only inserted the snark.

[Erica in OR]

My daughters have given fancier-looking loaves of bread, like a braided challah. We have a friend that always gives fudge and another who gives homemade caramel corn. Both are always appreciated. :)

 

Erica in OR

[DianeW88]

Well, I live in Utah, where cute and clever neighbor gifts are a must do. I usually make about 25-30 each year. The favorite seems to be hand soap from Bath & Body Works in the Christmas "flavors", with a note that says, "We hope your Christmas is full of good, clean fun!" I also love the cute Utah girls who run the website "How Does She?"...they have 36 (and counting) easy-peasy neighbor gifts that you can give with little to no prep time. http://www.howdoesshe.com/over-36-neighbor-gift-ideas-and-counting/

[HollyDay]

I'm giving pumpkin bread this year. Last year, I made peppermint bark for gifts. Over the years, I've also given various gifts in a jar. Spice tea mix or cocoa are always appreciated. Other gifts in a jar have included candy cane bath salts and brownie mixes.

[Desert Rat]

We do an assortment of cookies, fudge and banana bread.

 

The fudge we make is the one on the back of the fluff jar.

 

Pilsbury's banana bread recipe.

 

I don't have the assorted cookie recipes handy, but the Ginger Snaps I make are from a recipe I got here several years ago. They are the best cookies I've ever eaten. I make them year round. They are wonderful soft. They are wonderful after a week.

 

Here it is:

 

3/4 c. butter

3/4 c. shortening

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c. molasses

4 c. flour

2 tsp EACH- baking soda, cinnamon, cloves (I use all spice), ginger

1 tsp salt

 

additional sugar

 

cream butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs ans molasses. Combine four, soda and spices. Sift in.

Chill dough overnight.

Hand roll into 7/8 in. balls. I use a melon baller or a small scoop and half each ball. Roll into sugar.

Bake at 375 for 7 minutes.

Try to make the cookies as uniform as you can. You'll get about 75-90 cookies from this recipe.

 

And our favorite: Crack. We've named it crack because it's addicting and terrible for you.

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line cookie sheet with graham crackers (original recipe called for saltines; our family likes the graham better)

 

 

1 cup butter (no subs)

1 cup packed brown sugar.

 

Put in saucepan. Melt and boil for 3min.

 

Pour over crackers.

Bake 5 minutes.

 

Sprinkle with 2c. chocolate chips. Let melt then spread. Chill 1 hour.

 

We put holiday sprinkles on them, mix white and chocolate chips, all kinds of stuff. Very versatile!

[Rhonda in TX]

Thanks for all the great ideas!

[Janie Grace]

Well, I live in Utah, where cute and clever neighbor gifts are a must do. I usually make about 25-30 each year. The favorite seems to be hand soap from Bath & Body Works in the Christmas "flavors", with a note that says, "We hope your Christmas is full of good, clean fun!" I also love the cute Utah girls who run the website "How Does She?"...they have 36 (and counting) easy-peasy neighbor gifts that you can give with little to no prep time. http://www.howdoessh...s-and-counting/

 

That site looks really cute but I cannot imagine giving my neighbors batteries or refrigerated cookie dough! Would that be a normal gift where you are? I mean, it's different, but still... even with a cute note, I'd think a bottle of fabric softener was a weird gift.

 

Dd and I are going be making pretzel candies... the kind with a Hershey kiss melted on top and a red or green M&M. I have baked cookies for YEARS (all different kinds) but I'm burned out. And I really like getting treats that involve a salty element, so pretzel treats it is. :)

[justamouse]

My whole street is a Baked Goods Delivery Service.

 

Friday I make gingerbread and bring it into the office. I top mine with homemade candied grapefruit peel. Probably Friday, Sat, and Sun I'll be having the kids run cookies, gingerbread, and cinnamon raisin bread to all. Then, Monday morning I'll send out Ree's cinnamon buns, even down to the rectory. :D

 

I make calendula hand salve for the farm ladies, and make caramel popcorn mix too.

[Audrey]

I usually make an assortment of candies and cookies. However, I can't find my favorite cookbooks (they've gone missing since our kitchen reno), so I need some ideas. Share the recipe if you're so inclined. :)

 

 

Golden Toffee Nut Gems -- something new I'm making. I made a small adjustment in that I used dark chocolate wafers instead, but it's really easy to make and sooooo good.

 

Another standard I always make are Hello Dolly bars.

 

2 c. graham cracker crumbs

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1 c. flaked sweetened coconut

1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

1 can sweetened condensed milk (or 2 cans if you like it rich)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper. Combine graham crumbs, butter, sugar and egg until well mixed. Press mixture into an even layer in pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, then coconut and nuts. Drizzle condensed milk evenly over top. If it doesn't look like one can is enough (sometimes it's so thick it won't drizzle) then use a second can. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly around edges. Run a greased knife around the edge to separate edges from the pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Remove from pan and cut into 1" x 1.5" bars

[Serenade]

My whole street is a Baked Goods Delivery Service.

 

Probably Friday, Sat, and Sun I'll be having the kids run cookies, gingerbread, and cinnamon raisin bread to all. Then, Monday morning I'll send out Ree's cinnamon buns, even down to the rectory. :D

 

I make calendula hand salve for the farm ladies, and make caramel popcorn mix too.

 

This sounds kinda fun!

[justamouse]

 

This sounds kinda fun!

 

 

The neighbors reciprocate, too. That's the most fun.

[DianeW88]

 

That site looks really cute but I cannot imagine giving my neighbors batteries or refrigerated cookie dough! Would that be a normal gift where you are? I mean, it's different, but still... even with a cute note, I'd think a bottle of fabric softener was a weird gift.

 

Dd and I are going be making pretzel candies... the kind with a Hershey kiss melted on top and a red or green M&M. I have baked cookies for YEARS (all different kinds) but I'm burned out. And I really like getting treats that involve a salty element, so pretzel treats it is. :)

Yes, it's normal, because here we generally have more than 25 neighbors we need to bring gifts to. The same old cookies and banana bread gets old after a couple years, and honestly...in this day and age, people tend to toss homemade treats because of allergies, gluten issues or other food sensitivities. People don't toss batteries, fabric softener or commercially prepared products with a clear list of ingredients on the label. So, I tend to stick with that sort of thing...mainly because I don't want to waste my time and money baking something just for it to go straight into the round file. I'm too lazy and selfish. :D

[Annie]

My whole street is a Baked Goods Delivery Service.

 

Friday I make gingerbreadand bring it into the office. I top mine with homemade candied grapefruit peel. Probably Friday, Sat, and Sun I'll be having the kids run cookies, gingerbread, and cinnamon raisin bread to all. Then, Monday morning I'll send out Ree's cinnamon buns, even down to the rectory. :D

 

I make calendula hand salve for the farm ladies, and make caramel popcorn mix too.

 

Let me know when a house comes up for sale!

[kalanamak]

http://thesockmonk.blogspot.com/2009/05/recipe-raw-apple-bread.html

 

I make this apple bread every year and the neighbors love it. She left the lemon rind out. Beard says you can use vanilla OR lemon rind. I do the vanilla and add 1/2 teas of the lemon zest.

This bread travels and keeps very well. It is better on day 2 and 3 than hot, but it rarely makes it that far. I make four loaves in my bosch. Use the 8 inch bread pan or if you have 9s, make dough for 4 and use three tins.

[Chris in VA]

I'm making home scent this year.

The first is supposed to smell like the Williams-Sonoma store, which I is supposed to be a good thing.

 

Homemade home scents

[plansrme]

I always make peppermint bark--I have supplies to make 30 pounds of it this year. Every year I think about making something different, and about October, I start getting little comments about how nice that was last year, how much we sure do love peppermint bark, and I cave. It's easy, it's pretty, it's not something you want to eat a ton of (well, not all at once anyway), and it is rich without being icky sweet. I started making it years ago when I got tired of haunting Williams-Sonoma the day after Christmas to try to score their entire supply of leftover PB at 50% off. I finally looked at it and thought, "Hey, I could make that," and I did. And we are pretty sure that mine is better than WS's. I use Ghirardelli melting chocolate blocks, the kind you can buy at Sam's in 2.5 pound blocks at Christmas, and Bob's small candy canes that I get in a big tub also at Sam's. The blocks are $7.50'ish for 2.5 pounds at Sam's, and $15 online, so it is worth dealing with Sam's, climbing up on the shelves to pull the last three boxes out from behind the sugar...

 

Terri

[justamouse]

We do fruitcakes (now before you start the fruitcake jokes, these are all made out of organic butter, eggs, dried fruit (not that candied stuff), lot of spices, honey, etc. We make them before Thanksgiving and they are soaked in brandy. We also make Sacher bites, three chip cookies, truffles, fudge, pepermint bark and almond butter cookies. Actually, we decided to step off the Christmas crazy train this year and it's the first time in 35 years we haven't sent out 20+ packages. We only made twenty fruitcakes this year, instead of the usual 60 or so. It's been a nice break.

 

 

....i love fruitcake...no hating on the fruitcake, here.

[ScoutTN]

Pumpkin bread b/c it is yummy, easy and cheap!

 

3.5 C flour

2.5 C sugar

2 t. baking soda

1.5 t. salt

1.5 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

1 C. oil

2/3 C. water

4 eggs

1 can pumpkin

 

Mix all dry ingreds in a big bowl. Add wet ingreds and stir until well mixed. Pour into greased pans

( I use Baker's Joy) and bake 50 minutes at 350.

 

Makes 3 regular or 6 small loaves. We do the small ones for teacher gifts and big ones for ourselves!

Freezes well. You can use any assortment of sweet spices - I've subbed pumpkin pie spice for the cinn and nutmeg.

[ksr5377]

Well, I live in Utah, where cute and clever neighbor gifts are a must do. I usually make about 25-30 each year. The favorite seems to be hand soap from Bath & Body Works in the Christmas "flavors", with a note that says, "We hope your Christmas is full of good, clean fun!" I also love the cute Utah girls who run the website "How Does She?"...they have 36 (and counting) easy-peasy neighbor gifts that you can give with little to no prep time. http://www.howdoesshe.com/over-36-neighbor-gift-ideas-and-counting/

 

I love the soap idea! And they saying is cute without being too corny for my taste. It's something I know that everyone will be able to use without worrying about allergies etc. Great idea!

[dirty ethel rackham]

We make our Christmas trail mix. Almonds, peanuts, mixed nuts, dried cranberries, dried cherries, raisins, chocolate chips. Mix and put into Christmas goodie bags (I usually get them on sale after Christmas at Michaels or something like that) and tie with gold ribbon. We usually make a card to attach to the ribbon.

 

Another thing we did one year was to make rice socks. We bought a bunch of tube socks on sale, a big bag of rice (like 25 lb) and some pretty cord at the fabric store. Before filling the sock, we made an iron-on tranfer on the computer with a lovely saying on it and ironed it on the socks. I cut a piece of thick cardboard as a shaper to put in the sock before ironing on our image. Then we added a couple of essential oils to the rice before putting it in the socks. Instead of tieing the socks closed, we sowed the ends closed (ends folded over the cord and then sewed.) This made for some nice handles. We often included another sock to put over it to keep the original one cleaned.

[lea_lpz]

Oh yeah! We're doing Holiday baskets this year. These are for aunts and uncles, grandparents, not just neighbors so are more elaborate. My plan is to make:

• Apple Butter
  
• Pumpkin Butter
  
• Cookies in a jar with recipe attached
  
• Friendship Soup in a jar
  
• Baked goods, such as a loaf of banana bread and cookies
  
• Candles (buy plain white, have kids decorate with holiday stickers, and then dip in wax to coat stickers in)
  
• Framed photos of kids from gymnastics studion
  

Would love to hear some other ideas yet. Nothing is set in stone yet. I plan to go to Michael's tonight after dinner and buy some stuff for the basket and maybe head over to Smart and Final for ingredients if I need any to make my jams / baked goods.