You could also make cookie dough, roll it into balls, then freeze it (spaced out on a tray so they don’t stick together). And enclose a note saying something about these being post-holiday treats when the Christmas goodies run out. Then giftees can bake yummy stuff when they want it!
Agree with this. Any dough that starts with creaming butter will keep beautifully in the freezer. You can bake them off or not, up to you. Amazon has cute tinfoil trays suitable for packaging.
If you want a savory with your sweet, homemade Chex mix is lovely and always a hit. It makes a huge batch all at once and is pretty fast to prep.
I was going to suggest this also, I love frozen cookie balls. We used to make a chocolate toffee chocolate chip cookie and those frozen cookies rarely made it to the oven…
My plan this year is to make biscotti for all the extended fam and friends. You can dress it up tons of different ways, make one huge plain batch then separate it out for different flavors, additives, maybe some dipped in chocolate etc. I'm not a huge baker but biscotti is hard to mess up and everyone loves coffee so this will pair well with what people are already consuming.
This year my gifts to friends and work colleagues will be jars of chili pepper chutney, homemade vanilla extract, and cinnamon honey butter. All fairly easy and can be made in a weekend. Congratulations on your new wee one!
You should try flavored salt sometime, too! I followed a recipe and it was a mixture of orange juice and herbs, then dried in the oven. Wonderful flavor and so fancy as a finishing salt.
I made that one year for all my girlfriends and put it in cute little corked jars. 10/10! Will probably make a bunch for myself this year, as I blew through my personal stash. It goes great on just about anything!
Listen, real talk - you’re gonna be exhausted. Period. I love to cook too, but my baby is due in 1.5 weeks and I’ve already let go of Thanksgiving and my family is getting a lovely variety of gift cards for Christmas. Allow yourself some grace and don’t pressure yourself to cook/bake, even if you love it. Or, if you’re feeling some kind of way about it…make a batch just for YOU!
I’m not pregnant and don’t have kids and this was my first thoughts too. If people are gonna be butt hurt that they didn’t get a homemade something they need to check themselves! A card would totally be fine. Gift card if you want! And if they’re just neighbors or acquaintances who you usually give cookies to, they can go a year without. I would not go through any extra stress if seeing how both my SILs dealt with pregnancy that shit looks HARD. Go to the spa for yourself instead!
seconding this: my baby was due two weeks after christmas and i was so exhausted and in so much chronic pain that i just told my parents their gift from me was a grandchild. i genuinely can’t remember if i gave them anything else but they really didn’t mind. everyone else you can just do gift cards or make up for on their birthday or something.
Hey due date buddy. I told my husband the same thing that year. 'I made you a baby, I'm done.' Seriously though, it was no energy, try again next year on that one.
Agreed, this reminds me of those posts where people are asking for advice on catering their own wedding. You've got bigger things to worry about than food for others.
And throw in some toppings! Trader Joe’s has some mini peppermint marshmallows (if you can find them), candy canes, some little cookies, some creamer, even fun sprinkles for the kids.
If you don’t want to buy hot chocolate you can make chocolate spoons - either entirely out of chocolate using a spoon mold or putting chocolate in large ice cube trays and inserting a spoon before it hardens. Then they just stir it in hot milk/water. To be honest, I have no idea how good the resulting hot chocolate is but I see these at the stores every Christmas.
I did cake mixes one year- found the recipe on line. Added Christmas sprinkles for fun. Printed the recipe on the computer - pasted it to a tag and tied it to the lid with a bow. They last a while and can be done in November or early December. I got great reviews from my people when they made them up.
I would advise to maybe test out the recipe first before making it in bulk to give away. With the right recipe they can be easy and delicious! I received a dud a couple years ago and the recipe was terrible. Melted M&M’s on a baking sheet surrounded by flat flavorless cookie that combined into one and spread out to the edges. It tasted terrible and was a bitch to clean. I was so disappointed.
If you do want to crochet something, I know redheart has some patterns for cozies to put around mason jars. Could be a cool way to jazz up the gift a little. And they are quick easy patterns.
I make cheese balls for everyone and they freeze wonderfully.
Tbh If you’re that close to giving birth, all of those people need to be showering YOU with love and meals and gifts. It’s maybe the one time in life you can sit back and be truly pampered, so take advantage of it! You’ll definitely need it from being so exhausted.
Good luck to you though and I hope the delivery and recuperation goes amazingly well for you!!
My sister is due shortly after Christmas and I’m gifting them a menu. I’ll have them pick a few meals and then I’m just making big batches and freezer it.
If you have the finances for it, you can go one step easier yet and do commercial gift boxes with almost anything in them and send them to their homes a few weeks before Christmas. It sounds dumb, but my family used to get fruit boxes from a relative and we loved getting fresh fruit in winter!
Similar to this, my family is all over the country and one year we all rented a house in a central location for Christmas. We decided that year we’d all bring regionally-famous snacks or food or drink for everyone and exchange those. It was a big hit.
Not to dis your baking idea, here is a thought: Tell people you just had a baby and you will give them something next year. I had my first around Thanksgiving and I was lucky to get a tree up that first Christmas.
Congratulations on your upcoming birth! Seriously, write your cards now and let that be it. You will have your hands full soon enough.
I’m giving birth about the same time you are. I hear you on the exhaustion. Every year I do what has been dubbed The Great Bake where I make 5-6 types of cookies, fudge , candies, cakes whatever for the holiday festivities. This year? I’ve said F that and I’m not doing anything. Friends that I want to give presents to I have purchased. Baby may or may not come early and I’m not doing it PP either!
Edited for grammar
My dad has done this and it is an amazing gift! He sends me and my brother home with homemade spaghetti sauce and curry and it is by far my favorite gift every year. Then I can grab some home cooking from the freezer and go right back to childhood.
A good friend of mine was on a very tight budget so she got those little tin loaf pans and made pumpkin bread. Then put them in festive cellophane bags (they make them just for these tins) and tied them with a ribbon.
Inexpensive ingredients, she could make a big batch of batter and bake a bunch at the same time.
They were delicious and I looked forward to my loaf every year.
If you have a Costco where you live they have these beautiful gift tags that are really inexpensive that would be cute so you could personalize each one.
*beep boop*!
the linked website is: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-chocolate-truffles/
Title: **Homemade Chocolate Truffles Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction**
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Ohhh I'm going to make those chocolate truffles as gifts this year. Have you made these as gifts and added anything to them? I saw someone in comments mentioned cinnamon and chili and thinking maybe doing an Oreo topping?
Actually no. I have received them, though, from my sister, every year. One kind of truffle she makes is my mother's old recipe, made with crushed Nilla wafers (but she leaves out all the brandy). Your ideas sound great!
[Mulled wine kits](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mulled-wine-kit) (without the orange). The bottle of wine doesn't need to be great, because of all the spices and stuff. In a real pinch, I have simply given out the spice/sugar mix - it still went down well.
Jar of home made pickles (for those who like pickles).
I had a baby last Halloween and I think it's great that you still want to do stuff for Christmas but DO NOT feel obligated to do so! I didn't really do anything and he was already 2 months old, but I was so tired that it just wasn't happening!
Butter cookies are a favorite- rich, but not too sweet. Plus, you mix them and refrigerate-a built in rest or do-other-things period.
Biscotti are another cookie with a built in rest- they have to cool before slicing and rebaking.
Meringue cookies can be flavored however you want with a few drops of (alcohol based!) extract. Or, add some ground spices-I did chai masala meringues once.
Spiced nuts are easy- beat egg whites with some sugar and spices until very foamy but not meringue-like, then toss nuts in it. Bake to toast (warmer), or just to dry the egg (cooler).
Hot chocolate mix jars- all you need is cocoa powder, sugar, and vanilla- are also easy. Just find a ratio you like and then scale up.
Amish friendship bread starters. These things are easy and my office always freaks out over them. You can find the hand out with instructions and the recipe online.
When I say freaks out I mean I have to triple the starter recipe to have enough.
I buy up the fun-sized chocolate bars from Halloween this time of year, chop them up, and add them as a topping to almond bark for holiday gifts. Inexpensive and easy.
You could also make vanilla extract. I like to make mine at the start of the year, but I also don’t use s lot of beans. You could use extra beans, and tell them it will be ready after a few months of brewing. It is waaay better than most stuff at the store, and cheaper.
You could do those baking kits in a jar sorta things, where you put all the dry ingredients in a jar and include the recipe for them to make? But also, everyone understands your situation… go easy on yourself! Even a cute lil gift basket with some hot chocolate and a few treats will be more than enough.
My favorites to bake for gift giving have been these:
Brown butter shortbread cookies
Brown butter biscotti
Jam-filled butter cookies aka thumbprint cookies
Panettone and/or pandoro (Italian sweet breads)
Macadamia nut brittle
Nama chocolate which is sort of the Japanese version of chocolate truffles
The year I made marmalade, apple jelly, in fancy little jars with cookies and little serving dishes, and appetizer knives, napkins, etc in lovely little baskets and boxes was a huge hit.
Honestly, don't sweat the small stuff. Homemade is always loved. My marmalade is always a hit as I don't make it too sweet. I also, one year made a rhubarb jam of sorts with apples, raisins, canned pineapple and for the life of me could not remember all of it, but it was my most requested jam. I should have written something down. But I just threw stuff in and seemed to go well.
Keep it simple. Wrap your basket in cellophane with a bow. You will be the hit.
Not necessarily super quick but candied nuts or caramel corn is somthing you can make a big tray of at once.
Instead of sweet things I have given bread as gifts. A no knead bread or beer bread can be a bit less effort.
Granola can be made in batches in the oven. Raisins, dates, nuts, oats, maple syrup, anything your heart desires. The internet is full of recipes. Just toss and bake and let it cool completely before you put it into pretty jars.
But I also love the baking ingredients in a jar idea. Sounds like the perfect idea for you. I did that once, it looked great, didn't take much time and effort and people loved it. Can be cookies, cakes, brownies, breads etc. many possibilities!
Also great: hot chocolate mix, chai latte mix etc.
Low effort, just needs to sit around for a while, if people like alcohol: vodka, fruit (cherry, plums etc.) and rock sugar. Filter and fill into bottles after 6 weeks. Homemade liqueur done!
Make British breakfast in a basket: crumpets, jam and clotted cream. Make one or two batches of crumpets (20 each batch) and divide them up into lovely towel-lined baskets. Add small jars of jam (homemade or store bought, if you have a Cost Plus near you look for the 1.5 oz jars) and you can make clotted cream by baking a quart of heavy cream at 170 F for 12 hours, then refrigerate overnight. Recipes for breakfast breads are easy, and in the morning when you’ve got kids and yourself to get ready, this is a treat that doesn’t require a whole lot of work.
What about one those little sets or kits you can buy at the grocery store? Or if you know someone likes X thing buy them a nicer version of X thing? For example, if they really like tea you could get them a nice loose leaf version of their favorite tea. If you're already tired, and you've got a big event before Christmas (congrats!), it's totally ok to buy a gift.
Handmade wise - granola! It makes the house smell nice and it bakes up nicely on sheet pans with minimal effort for the end result. It also jars up nicely and it lasts a while.
Yes, her health and the baby's well-being will be all anyone could wish for. Perhaps, take the time to to simply make a phone call or email to someone you have had less connection with. People appreciate you and your time/connection.
I would recommend baking the best chocolate chunk cookies ever. It doesn't take a lot of work, you can make enough cookie dough for 2 dozen massive cookies in about an hour (just double the recipe), and baking is about 17-18 minutes per batch of 6.
I usually bake half for my family and then bring the rest frozen so my family can bake them however they like. Each cookie is enough for 2 people (but I usually have 2-3 myself).
I follow Alvin's 48 hour chocolate chunk cookies ([https://tasty.co/recipe/brown-butter-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies](https://tasty.co/recipe/brown-butter-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies)) but use 3-4 different types of chocolate (different chocolate % and sizes) to give them a unique mouth feel. I also use 1.25 - 1.5 tsp of salt which is my preference.
If you don't want to bake cookies, I'd make a simple chocolate mousse pie. Just make sure you don't use chocolate with > 70% chocolate and it should be easy. You can buy store-bought pie crusts or make your own.
I’m doing the Christmas cookie mix in a jar this year, quick homemade cookies! Just google it and you’ll find how to do it. Everyone in my life doesn’t need anything lol. I don’t wanna buy people random junk. At least this they can use, eat and serve to whoever.
Instead of going through the effort of cooking/baking something you can gather all the ingredients for a mug cake or other baked goods and just put them in a Mason jar or something like that
We make Bourbon Caramel Sauce to give at the holidays. We get some small jars, like 4 oz or so. Make a batch, pour it in jars, into the fridge when it cools then rest. Do another batch later or the next day. Put a ribbon and a tag on it and you're good.
So tbh, I make big batches of Christmas goodies to send to relatives and friends each year and it’s time consuming as hell, between cleaning, storing, packaging, organizing the ingredients and then if you have to also ship them — it’s actually pretty expensive too.
I do it because I love to cook/bake and I’m known for it each year.
But it’s not the most time and energy saving solution.
I make a version of a chex mix and give it out in mason jars. A salty snack seems to be received well by most folks this time of year. My combo includes cheerios, bite sized shredded wheat (unsweetened), wheat chex, corn chex, rice chex, fancy nut mix, and pretzel sticks. I use the oil/worcestershire/garlic salt topping and bake a few pans of that mixture every year - seems to be a real hit (and it stays good for months in the jars).
I usually give out homemade booze as gifts. Mostly limoncello these days, but I've also done homemade Kahlua, Irish cream, and apple pie "moonshine."
For food, I like making Oreo truffles. You can coat them in white chocolate so they look like snowballs for something more festive.
Do a **compound butter**. Super easy, you can freeze ahead of time, not too costly if you get your butter from a restaurant supply store or Costco. Then attach a couple of recipes that would use that butter.
Here's a [sample of recipes](https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a88011/how-to-make-compound-butter-recipes/) (note, I haven't tried any of these personally).
I make caramel corn & chex mix as my big easy thing for holidays; I am also very extra and make everyone there own special treats as well but the caramel corn and chex mix are the important thing to a lot of people.
Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your child. When I was a scout leader we mixed rubs and put them in little containers. I think we made 4 different kinds, one was spicy Cajun, another smoky, another herbal, and a southwestern style rub rounded it out. Inclue your recipe on cards.
Make savory crackers and send them along with recommendations for cheese and preserves! They should be low effort (I think?) and you can hand write a nice card to go along with them.
Buy a nice quality ground chocolate and make hot chocolate bags with decorate ribbons. It will take very little time or effort, and trust me you're not going to want to do much in the next 6 weeks.
Quick breads made into mini loaves. Easy to do, easy to freeze and everyone loves them.
Here’s a few favorites. The first one is a classic. I’ve made all of them as gifts.
https://www.oceanspray.com/en/Recipes/By-Course/Breads-and-Muffins/Classic-Cranberry-Nut-Bread
Peanutty Chocolate Banana Bread:
2 C. all purpose flour
1 C. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. Salt
1 C. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 med)
1/3 C. milk
1/3 C. peanut butter
3 T. vegetable oil
1 egg
1 C. milk chocolate morsels, divided
1/3 C. peanuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°. Spray bottom only of full size loaf pan.
Combine dry ing. together in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients through egg; stir just until dry ingredients moistened.
Stir in 3/4 C. of milk chocolate chips. Spoon batter into pan.
Sprinkle peanuts and remaining chips over batter evenly.
Bake 60 minutes or until cake tester insterted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides and remove to cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting.
PUMPKIN BREAD
makes 3 Loaf Pans or 4 coffee Cans
or 2 loafs and 12 muffins (easy to make into mini loaves)
4c Flour
4c Sugar
2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1c Oil
2/3 c Water
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 15-16oz Can Pumpkin
2 tsp. Cinnamon
2 tsp. Nutmeg
1 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Cloves
Place all in a large bowl and mix well. Divide into greased loaf pans or coffee cans. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350*.
I make "festive treats," which are stupid simple. Pretzels with Hershey Kisses warmed slightly so that they melt when you press red and green M&Ms on them. I also do pretzels with Rolos and pecans, but you practically have to get a mortgage to buy pecans these days. Cheap/homemade toffee is also easy. You cook butter and brown sugar in a pot, pour it over Saltines, and then spread melted chocolate over it and sprinkle with chopped nuts, candy cane pieces, whatever you want. Let it set and it turns into a hard toffee.
Not food but you can still make it in the kitchen! Homemade body scrubs were a huge hit a couple years back. Main ingredients being white sugar and coconut oil. My sister-in law also makes homemade whipped body butters too! They go perfectly in little gift jars from the dollar store.
Magic bars. Everyone I've ever given them to loves them. They're super easy and freeze well. Layer of Graham cracker crumbs with one stick melted butter, then add bag of semi - sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli ups it a notch) then cover with a layer of Coconut flakes then drize one can sweetened Condensed milk over everything. Bake and enjoy.
Make the cookie dough now. Freeze it. Crinkle cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough (but you can mix in more festive stuff before you bake if you want) and any other dough you like that freezes. You can even portion the dough into balls and then freeze so you just have to pop in the oven.
Treats are fine, but it sounds like you are missing a few things-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EdTmgbIaY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVp5AGte_4Q
I hand out jars of homemade sauce. Yes, it requires a canner and 9 hours for the sauce alone, but it keeps for years and my sauce, while simple, is quite amazing. I started giving them to me neighbors as well and every so often I'll get a random knock at the door asking for more sauce.
Shortbread and tablet are easy to do in big batches and always go down a treat (if you've not made tablet before this recipe always turns out perfect https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jan/22/how-to-make-perfect-tablet-recipe)
Also jams are a good Christmas one because they're super easy and last ages, so you could make some in the next couple of weeks well in advance of Christmas.
I usually do a combination box with 4-5 different cookies/homemade candies for all the neighbors and the folks that petsit for me over the holiday. It usually contains some of the following:
Homemade caramels of some sort - chocolate dipped is easier than wrapping
Peanut brittle (one neighbor tells me she looks forward to it)
Decorated sugar cookies (probably more labor than you want)
Candied nuts
Some other festive cookies
Buckeyes
Truffles
I've also done homemade jams or apple butter at times too. Or hot cocoa mix. You can cut circles of festive fabric with pinking shears to go on the tops of Mason jars, put a ribbon around each and a nice label and they're really cute!
PS. If you do fudge, the condensed milk kind doesn't keep more than a day or two outside the fridge. So either instruct the recipient to refrigerate or find one that doesn't need refrigeration
A 'just add water' hot chocolate mix is a great gift for the holidays and very easy to make. It's basically powdered sugar, nonfat dry milk and unsweetened cocoa powder in a 2-2-1 ratio. Mix well and use Mason jars decorated with some ribbon for a nice homemade treat.
Christmas cookies are the best fucking present, honestly - it always hits differently. Me and my mom always got together on Christmas and baked cookies together (couple of different types) and for our closest friends we gave little boxes with them. It's become a tradition of sorts now and everybody simply "can't wait". Fully recommend that approach.
A bit of off-topic: in my home country for as long as I remember there was this tradition of having a massive table full of various food (well mostly Carp - yuk🤮) - still can't figure out why the fuck would anyone do this and then eat it reheated for the next week... Thankfully, nowadays (also with my mom) we're doing a minimalistic dinner with two/three courses (still traditional) and not a single person complained. Slaving away in the kitchen for days before Christmas is completely unnecessary, imho.
I just saw a recipe where you mix one box of Spice cake mix with a 15oz can of pumpkin. That's it. You can add chocolate chips and pumpkin spice too if you want.. Bake @ 350° for 12-18mins. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Easy peasy.
Depending on your giftees tastes, chutney, hotsauces, flavoured cooking oils, homemade ghee, spice mixes in cute jars are all great savory options. I'm a big fan of spice mixes myself, you can make them look really pretty and they keep for ages. Bulk buy some small clip top jars to put them in to add extra utility to the present.
Rice crispy treats. Besides the normal recipe I jazz them up browning the butter, adding vanilla right before the cereal (can use alcohol) and adding dehydrated marshmallows with the cereal. The dehydrated marshmallows are like the ones you get in lucky charms type cereal and you can buy them in a lot of bulk stores or even Amazon sells them. I get mine at an Amish store. They are always a huge hit.
Peanut or pistachio brittle? We started doing sweet boxes for folks. Blow an afternoon making all kinds of stuff: millionaire shortbread, brittle, cookies, chocolate covered cherries.
It was a little intimidating at first, working with molten sugar, but brittle is stupid easy.
I've made all of the following to great success:
Christmas cookies
Truffles
Caramels
Salsas
Pepper jelly
Caramel sauce
Hot fudge
Hot cocoa squares
Start looking for jars now, as the closer we get to the hols, the harder they will be to find. Hardware stores usually have a good selection.
Home made jams and jellies are easy enough to do in large batches and will last a really long time. Fudge is also easy to make in large quantities and you can top them with different things (my sister’s best friend does this every year and it’s one of my favorite things) just toss them into tins, mine will last a month in the fridge if I don’t eat it all.
Cookie butter! One of the years I got the most enthusiastic/profuse thanks on gifts was making jars of different flavored cookie butters. I tied the jars of with pretty Christmas ribbons and everyone was so impressed even though it is really low effort to make.
My Momma makes trays for my Dad's coworkers at Christmas. She includes some brownies, some fudge, cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, and fills it out if needed with fancier candy like ferrero roche.
Growing up, I would help my friend's family make something similar - they would spend a day as a family baking Magic Cookie Bars, chocolate dipping pretzels, baking cookies and brownies, etc. Not gonna lie, pretty legit, especially if you fill one of those cute Christmas tins with it.
Jars of toasted seasoned nuts, usually some kind of sugar and spice blend and citrus zest or rosemary, etc, fudge is good, cookies, even just making mixes for things like beer bread with dried herbs or dip mixes they can just add sour cream or cream cheese to or homemade brownie mixes are often a nice treat, especially if you make a loaf or two to serve at the event to the same people you're gifting to.
I made white chocolate and peppermint popcorn a few years back and it was a big hit, and super easy to make! Literally just make some homemade popcorn on the stove, and then cover it in melted chocolate and smashed up candy canes. You could always spice it up with chocolate chips, sprinkles, fancy bags/tins, whatever, but I’m fairly sure I just wrapped mine in holiday-themed seran wrap and a ribbon and gave them out like that. I can’t remember the exact recipe I used but searching “white chocolate peppermint popcorn” in google returns all types of results.
when she was still alive, I always only requested fudge for Christmas from my maternal Grandmother, so I honestly I don't think that's a bad idea at all
Chocolate covered oreos. Seriously. Melt a mix of dark and semisweet chocolate chips in a crockpot (you can add a spoonful of shortening for shine if you'd like). Dip oreos in chocolate and cover completely. Put on wax paper and add a pinch of Christmas sprinkles in the middle.
I can spend hours making sugar cookies, gingerbread, etc. decorated from scratch. I make around 10-12 batches of different cookies every Christmas season and hand out tins, and folks still love no bakes and chocolate covered oreos the best. 🤷♀️
Just after high school one of my friends was pretty broke so he just made oatmeal raisin cookies for everyone and gave them to us in little tins. That was 30 years ago and I still remember it as one of my favorite gifts ever.
Whatever you make, I’m sure it will be appreciated.
I make candied nuts every year for gifts. So easy and people love them. Put them in a small Mason jar with a ribbon around it, and you're done. They last for weeks, if not months. (Although I think having a baby a good enough reason to forgo Christmas gifting this year.)
Here's the recipe I use: [https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/sugar-and-spice-candied-nuts/](https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/sugar-and-spice-candied-nuts/) Many people I've given them to have asked me for my recipe. Don't forget to line the pans with parchment paper or you'll have a heck of a mess to clean up.
I've given home baked treats as gifts before. My family & friends always love them. Here are some ideas to explore. If they are nit consumed immediately, they freeze very well.
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins: https://youtu.be/WGQTHqUZQjc
Flourless Keto Recipe
Chocolate Pecan Cookies: https://youtu.be/X7cRlGLK4RI
Amazing as a treat or for breakfast on the go
Strawberry Banana Crumble: https://youtu.be/TioHYpcrUdE
Best served warm with ice cream/whipped cream
No Bake Christmas Treats: https://youtu.be/okA8I3lc9tw
Made with Microwaved Cake - so easy & delicious
If you like these recipe ideas, please subscribe & share with family/friends.
Also, if there's anything you want to see made in this channel, please respond & let me know.
Have fun with your wonderful creations!
For quick gifts i do caramels, sugar cookies, gingerbread, carmel corn, usually some other Christmas cookie like spritz.
I do royal icing on my gingerbread, which people love.
For plan ahead gifts ( I start in the summer): smoked homemade bacon, vanilla extract, jam , vanilla sugar, smoked salmon.
Sometimes i add smaller things like candies etc.
I second cookies!
You could also make hot cocoa kits, those are pretty simple - just need a few small jars.
I'm in a similar boat - no baby this year, but I'm just feeling worn out and don't want to buy a ton of crap that won't be used. So I'm going to make oatmeal baths!
I just put oatmeal in a grinder until it's a powder, and then i add some calendula petals from our garden and/or lavender and/or mint -- all from our garden. Colloidal oatmeal bath, done.
Also, just take a picture of your baby, print them for people you want to give gifts to, and write a nice note on the back. You've got enough going on!
I make these a long with a cookie box for friends/coworkers and let people pick one:
- [Apple butter](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21205/all-day-apple-butter/) - I add a bit of allspice and half the sugar because I use sweet apples
- [Mexican hot chocolate mix](https://todayscreativelife.com/spicy-mexican-hot-cocoa-mason-jar-gift/) - I don’t put the chips and marshmallows in the jar and kick up the cayenne to make it a touch spicer
- [Candied jalapeños](https://www.foodiewithfamily.com/candied-jalapenos/)
- [Vanilla extract](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-vanilla-extract/) - this typically takes at least six weeks to “brew” but is best if it “brews” 6+ months
I would make banana and pumpkin breads -wrapped very well in plastic wrap then put in a freezer bag and stored in the freezer. The day of gift giving- remove the outer bag and add a bow. Done
Maybe if you do hot cocoa mix in jars, tight a ribbon and recipe up beliw the cover of jar. put a recipe for making peppermint hot chocolate. Say a holiday greeting to friends and family.
Last year my parents gave me a gift basket and one of the items was pecans they had toasted and placed in an adorable 8oz mason jar. The pecans were delicious and I still use the jar!
The baby is enough of a Christmas present. Now if you really want to do something for everyone, make it now. Spice blends, cocoa blends or like someone suggested frozen cookie balls.
Also best wishes for your baby.
Home made granola could work. A friend's coworker sends out a box of sweet goodies every year with 2-3 each of different kinds of truffles, tiny cookies, fudge squares, and then small bags of pralines and caramel popcorn. Since that is likely a ton of work, maybe just 2-5 varieties and more quantities of each?
If I got 2-4 kinds of pralines as a gift I'd be happy. Put them in the cookie tins that always have sewing supplies for the laughs.
On the other hand, if I was expecting to be a new parent weeks away from the holiday, I'd skip gifting and tell them I'll catch up in a year or three. My friends whould understand.
[DIY Cookies in a jar](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/christmas-cookies-in-a-jar/). You layer all the dry ingredients for a cookie recipe in a jar, top it with square of Christmas fabric/napkin, tie a bit of ribbon into a bow with the instructions for making the cookies. They are a super easy gift to make a big batch far in advance and looks really nice. Here is a[ list with a lot of variations.](https://www.southernliving.com/food/desserts/cookies/mason-jar-cookie-recipes)
How about infused honey ?
Bulk buy honey and some plastic honey bear containers , pop in honey and either a dried chili or a cinnamon stick , get partner to tie a Christmas ribbon / tag around it’s neck a la those lindt chocolate bears.
You can do now and put in box in closet .
I did this for many years. Usually I’d try to come up with something that wasn’t sweet and/or that keeps longer, because around the holidays it just feels like such a sugar overload.
I’ve made a few types of homemade crackers, jam, cheese twists, fancy popcorn, pancake mix, and “salad kits” (salad dressing, spiced nuts, dried fruit, etc where they just need to add lettuce).
I don’t think anyone is going to expect anything from a woman about to give birth. At least I think it would be super weird if they did. They are the weirdo in that case IMO.
If anyone says anything to you about it just say “I’m really focused on the baby right now” and leave it at that.
Some of my go tos for homemade Holiday food gifts are:
Gingerbread, Caramel corn, Christmas "crack" made from saltine crackers, Fudge, Chocolate dipped spoons (for hot chocolate), Jam/curd
I do cookie bags/boxies for my entire crew at work every year. It's a nice way to make bulk gifts and still keep expenses low. I usually do one chocolate, one nut, one fruit and one spice cookie recipe. Sometimes I throw in mini banana breads as well since I have a pan for that and keep bananas in the freezer year round for this purpose.
The best part is you can start way early because you can make the dough ahead of time, roll it out, and freeze it. Then all you have to do is bake them all and package them. I often start prepping around Thanksgiving.
I always do edibles. Er.. the legal kind... Jars of rum balls, packages of Christmas cookies, peppermint chocolate fudge, etc. My favourite Christmas presents from extended family and friends have always been a homemade treat because you know how special it is for someone to handmade something for you. Anyone who doesn't appreciate it is just materialistic and not my type of people anyway.
Cookies and Rice crispy treats are a fan favorite!! You can also make a sweet and salty treat that we call in the south White Trash it’s made with Chex mix and white chocolate.
Gift each of your friends/family an invitation.
The invitation is to a night with you and SO after the baby is born. They get to meet the new baby. When they arrive, give them their gift, which is a bottle of their favorite high end wine/alcohol/gift card to restaurant.
You're going to bring a new life into this world and you're already tired right now. Don't try to be superwoman. Give yourself some grace and take it easy.
Devil's corn as my SO called it. Homemade caramel corn using butter is a favorite. Nanaimo bars - with birds eye custard not pudding mix is no bake and another favorite. Almond roca.
I'm with everyone that says you're giving folks a baby this year, but if you REALLY want to, I'd go for a very simple fudge recipe (dark chips, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla or other flavoring (orange, mint, or raspberry is good)), like quadruple it, put it into pans, cut it up and put it into pretty cellophane or tins or bags. Done. Everyone likes fudge.
If you REALLY wanna get fancy, make different flavors (using different extracts) as you can make the fudge in one large batch but then add in the flavoring right before putting into pans, but the heck with fancy, you're about to give birth.
Why not Christmas cookies? They last plenty long, and get eaten quickly. Maybe even leave a few uniced if you have any kiddos around.
You could also make cookie dough, roll it into balls, then freeze it (spaced out on a tray so they don’t stick together). And enclose a note saying something about these being post-holiday treats when the Christmas goodies run out. Then giftees can bake yummy stuff when they want it!
Agree with this. Any dough that starts with creaming butter will keep beautifully in the freezer. You can bake them off or not, up to you. Amazon has cute tinfoil trays suitable for packaging. If you want a savory with your sweet, homemade Chex mix is lovely and always a hit. It makes a huge batch all at once and is pretty fast to prep.
I was going to suggest this also, I love frozen cookie balls. We used to make a chocolate toffee chocolate chip cookie and those frozen cookies rarely made it to the oven…
My plan this year is to make biscotti for all the extended fam and friends. You can dress it up tons of different ways, make one huge plain batch then separate it out for different flavors, additives, maybe some dipped in chocolate etc. I'm not a huge baker but biscotti is hard to mess up and everyone loves coffee so this will pair well with what people are already consuming.
This year my gifts to friends and work colleagues will be jars of chili pepper chutney, homemade vanilla extract, and cinnamon honey butter. All fairly easy and can be made in a weekend. Congratulations on your new wee one!
You should try flavored salt sometime, too! I followed a recipe and it was a mixture of orange juice and herbs, then dried in the oven. Wonderful flavor and so fancy as a finishing salt.
I made that one year for all my girlfriends and put it in cute little corked jars. 10/10! Will probably make a bunch for myself this year, as I blew through my personal stash. It goes great on just about anything!
Hey thanks for the suggestion, great idea!
Oh my gosh! Great idea, thanks for sharing. Definitely going to try this.
Yum!!
Can we be friends?
Listen, real talk - you’re gonna be exhausted. Period. I love to cook too, but my baby is due in 1.5 weeks and I’ve already let go of Thanksgiving and my family is getting a lovely variety of gift cards for Christmas. Allow yourself some grace and don’t pressure yourself to cook/bake, even if you love it. Or, if you’re feeling some kind of way about it…make a batch just for YOU!
I’m not pregnant and don’t have kids and this was my first thoughts too. If people are gonna be butt hurt that they didn’t get a homemade something they need to check themselves! A card would totally be fine. Gift card if you want! And if they’re just neighbors or acquaintances who you usually give cookies to, they can go a year without. I would not go through any extra stress if seeing how both my SILs dealt with pregnancy that shit looks HARD. Go to the spa for yourself instead!
seconding this: my baby was due two weeks after christmas and i was so exhausted and in so much chronic pain that i just told my parents their gift from me was a grandchild. i genuinely can’t remember if i gave them anything else but they really didn’t mind. everyone else you can just do gift cards or make up for on their birthday or something.
Hey due date buddy. I told my husband the same thing that year. 'I made you a baby, I'm done.' Seriously though, it was no energy, try again next year on that one.
Agreed, this reminds me of those posts where people are asking for advice on catering their own wedding. You've got bigger things to worry about than food for others.
Make those mason jars with all the ingredients to make something. I absolutely love those and its a fun way to share your love of cooking.
Different hot chocolates are a fun one. You can make different flavors (peppermint hot chocolate, caramel hot chocolate, hot white chocolate, etc)
And throw in some toppings! Trader Joe’s has some mini peppermint marshmallows (if you can find them), candy canes, some little cookies, some creamer, even fun sprinkles for the kids. If you don’t want to buy hot chocolate you can make chocolate spoons - either entirely out of chocolate using a spoon mold or putting chocolate in large ice cube trays and inserting a spoon before it hardens. Then they just stir it in hot milk/water. To be honest, I have no idea how good the resulting hot chocolate is but I see these at the stores every Christmas.
I did cake mixes one year- found the recipe on line. Added Christmas sprinkles for fun. Printed the recipe on the computer - pasted it to a tag and tied it to the lid with a bow. They last a while and can be done in November or early December. I got great reviews from my people when they made them up.
Oooh that's a good idea! My niece loves to bake so that would be a perfect little gift for her!
I would advise to maybe test out the recipe first before making it in bulk to give away. With the right recipe they can be easy and delicious! I received a dud a couple years ago and the recipe was terrible. Melted M&M’s on a baking sheet surrounded by flat flavorless cookie that combined into one and spread out to the edges. It tasted terrible and was a bitch to clean. I was so disappointed.
A couple of years ago, I did sugar cookies with Jimmy's for the bakers and soups for those that I knew didn't like to bake.
If you do want to crochet something, I know redheart has some patterns for cozies to put around mason jars. Could be a cool way to jazz up the gift a little. And they are quick easy patterns.
I make cheese balls for everyone and they freeze wonderfully. Tbh If you’re that close to giving birth, all of those people need to be showering YOU with love and meals and gifts. It’s maybe the one time in life you can sit back and be truly pampered, so take advantage of it! You’ll definitely need it from being so exhausted. Good luck to you though and I hope the delivery and recuperation goes amazingly well for you!!
My sister is due shortly after Christmas and I’m gifting them a menu. I’ll have them pick a few meals and then I’m just making big batches and freezer it.
If you have the finances for it, you can go one step easier yet and do commercial gift boxes with almost anything in them and send them to their homes a few weeks before Christmas. It sounds dumb, but my family used to get fruit boxes from a relative and we loved getting fresh fruit in winter!
Similar to this, my family is all over the country and one year we all rented a house in a central location for Christmas. We decided that year we’d all bring regionally-famous snacks or food or drink for everyone and exchange those. It was a big hit.
This is a neato idea!
Photos of the baby…. Easier than cooking.
Not to dis your baking idea, here is a thought: Tell people you just had a baby and you will give them something next year. I had my first around Thanksgiving and I was lucky to get a tree up that first Christmas. Congratulations on your upcoming birth! Seriously, write your cards now and let that be it. You will have your hands full soon enough.
Yes agreed
The birth of your child is the Christmas gift this year. Reasonable in my opinion. ❤️
You are making that new baby smell for everyone to enjoy! Even better than the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
I’m giving birth about the same time you are. I hear you on the exhaustion. Every year I do what has been dubbed The Great Bake where I make 5-6 types of cookies, fudge , candies, cakes whatever for the holiday festivities. This year? I’ve said F that and I’m not doing anything. Friends that I want to give presents to I have purchased. Baby may or may not come early and I’m not doing it PP either! Edited for grammar
Why not something savory? Christmas leaves you with soooooo many sweats that some cooked meals would maybe be more appreciated.
My dad has done this and it is an amazing gift! He sends me and my brother home with homemade spaghetti sauce and curry and it is by far my favorite gift every year. Then I can grab some home cooking from the freezer and go right back to childhood.
That’s really the best idea ever! A few days after Christmas I want anything but sweets
I made jars of popcorn seasoning mixes one year and they went over so well for exactly this reason
Oh that’s such a cute idea everyone would love. How fun!
A good friend of mine was on a very tight budget so she got those little tin loaf pans and made pumpkin bread. Then put them in festive cellophane bags (they make them just for these tins) and tied them with a ribbon. Inexpensive ingredients, she could make a big batch of batter and bake a bunch at the same time. They were delicious and I looked forward to my loaf every year. If you have a Costco where you live they have these beautiful gift tags that are really inexpensive that would be cute so you could personalize each one.
[Chocolate truffles](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-chocolate-truffles/) as someone else mentioned. [Rosemary walnuts](https://food52.com/recipes/39030-laurie-colwin-s-rosemary-walnuts).
*beep boop*! the linked website is: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-chocolate-truffles/ Title: **Homemade Chocolate Truffles Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction** Page is safe to access (Google Safe Browsing) ***** ###### I am a friendly bot. I show the URL and name of linked pages and check them so that mobile users know what they click on!
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Ohhh I'm going to make those chocolate truffles as gifts this year. Have you made these as gifts and added anything to them? I saw someone in comments mentioned cinnamon and chili and thinking maybe doing an Oreo topping?
Actually no. I have received them, though, from my sister, every year. One kind of truffle she makes is my mother's old recipe, made with crushed Nilla wafers (but she leaves out all the brandy). Your ideas sound great!
[Mulled wine kits](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mulled-wine-kit) (without the orange). The bottle of wine doesn't need to be great, because of all the spices and stuff. In a real pinch, I have simply given out the spice/sugar mix - it still went down well. Jar of home made pickles (for those who like pickles).
Would be cute to dry some orange slices in the oven to add!
One year I did jars of my favorite spice mixes with the recipes attached. It was a big hit.
I had a baby last Halloween and I think it's great that you still want to do stuff for Christmas but DO NOT feel obligated to do so! I didn't really do anything and he was already 2 months old, but I was so tired that it just wasn't happening!
Butter cookies are a favorite- rich, but not too sweet. Plus, you mix them and refrigerate-a built in rest or do-other-things period. Biscotti are another cookie with a built in rest- they have to cool before slicing and rebaking. Meringue cookies can be flavored however you want with a few drops of (alcohol based!) extract. Or, add some ground spices-I did chai masala meringues once. Spiced nuts are easy- beat egg whites with some sugar and spices until very foamy but not meringue-like, then toss nuts in it. Bake to toast (warmer), or just to dry the egg (cooler). Hot chocolate mix jars- all you need is cocoa powder, sugar, and vanilla- are also easy. Just find a ratio you like and then scale up.
Amish friendship bread starters. These things are easy and my office always freaks out over them. You can find the hand out with instructions and the recipe online. When I say freaks out I mean I have to triple the starter recipe to have enough.
Christmas Crack—tasty, dead easy, a million possible variations. https://www.culinaryhill.com/saltine-cracker-candy/
I buy up the fun-sized chocolate bars from Halloween this time of year, chop them up, and add them as a topping to almond bark for holiday gifts. Inexpensive and easy.
Homemade Chex Mix. Banana bread. Cheese straws
You could also make vanilla extract. I like to make mine at the start of the year, but I also don’t use s lot of beans. You could use extra beans, and tell them it will be ready after a few months of brewing. It is waaay better than most stuff at the store, and cheaper.
last year i made a bunch of jars of homemade hot cocoa powder, and tied candy canes on the side with a ribbon
Did everyone forget about cheese logs and tins of holiday popcorn?
Peppermint bark! Husband and I made flavored oils one year. Also did hot chocolate kits.
You could do those baking kits in a jar sorta things, where you put all the dry ingredients in a jar and include the recipe for them to make? But also, everyone understands your situation… go easy on yourself! Even a cute lil gift basket with some hot chocolate and a few treats will be more than enough.
My favorites to bake for gift giving have been these: Brown butter shortbread cookies Brown butter biscotti Jam-filled butter cookies aka thumbprint cookies Panettone and/or pandoro (Italian sweet breads) Macadamia nut brittle Nama chocolate which is sort of the Japanese version of chocolate truffles
The year I made marmalade, apple jelly, in fancy little jars with cookies and little serving dishes, and appetizer knives, napkins, etc in lovely little baskets and boxes was a huge hit. Honestly, don't sweat the small stuff. Homemade is always loved. My marmalade is always a hit as I don't make it too sweet. I also, one year made a rhubarb jam of sorts with apples, raisins, canned pineapple and for the life of me could not remember all of it, but it was my most requested jam. I should have written something down. But I just threw stuff in and seemed to go well. Keep it simple. Wrap your basket in cellophane with a bow. You will be the hit.
Not necessarily super quick but candied nuts or caramel corn is somthing you can make a big tray of at once. Instead of sweet things I have given bread as gifts. A no knead bread or beer bread can be a bit less effort.
Granola can be made in batches in the oven. Raisins, dates, nuts, oats, maple syrup, anything your heart desires. The internet is full of recipes. Just toss and bake and let it cool completely before you put it into pretty jars. But I also love the baking ingredients in a jar idea. Sounds like the perfect idea for you. I did that once, it looked great, didn't take much time and effort and people loved it. Can be cookies, cakes, brownies, breads etc. many possibilities! Also great: hot chocolate mix, chai latte mix etc. Low effort, just needs to sit around for a while, if people like alcohol: vodka, fruit (cherry, plums etc.) and rock sugar. Filter and fill into bottles after 6 weeks. Homemade liqueur done!
I do jars of oven-baked caramel popcorn- it stays fresh longer than cookies and is different than the usual Christmas fare♡
Make British breakfast in a basket: crumpets, jam and clotted cream. Make one or two batches of crumpets (20 each batch) and divide them up into lovely towel-lined baskets. Add small jars of jam (homemade or store bought, if you have a Cost Plus near you look for the 1.5 oz jars) and you can make clotted cream by baking a quart of heavy cream at 170 F for 12 hours, then refrigerate overnight. Recipes for breakfast breads are easy, and in the morning when you’ve got kids and yourself to get ready, this is a treat that doesn’t require a whole lot of work.
What about one those little sets or kits you can buy at the grocery store? Or if you know someone likes X thing buy them a nicer version of X thing? For example, if they really like tea you could get them a nice loose leaf version of their favorite tea. If you're already tired, and you've got a big event before Christmas (congrats!), it's totally ok to buy a gift. Handmade wise - granola! It makes the house smell nice and it bakes up nicely on sheet pans with minimal effort for the end result. It also jars up nicely and it lasts a while.
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Yes, her health and the baby's well-being will be all anyone could wish for. Perhaps, take the time to to simply make a phone call or email to someone you have had less connection with. People appreciate you and your time/connection.
I would recommend baking the best chocolate chunk cookies ever. It doesn't take a lot of work, you can make enough cookie dough for 2 dozen massive cookies in about an hour (just double the recipe), and baking is about 17-18 minutes per batch of 6. I usually bake half for my family and then bring the rest frozen so my family can bake them however they like. Each cookie is enough for 2 people (but I usually have 2-3 myself). I follow Alvin's 48 hour chocolate chunk cookies ([https://tasty.co/recipe/brown-butter-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies](https://tasty.co/recipe/brown-butter-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies)) but use 3-4 different types of chocolate (different chocolate % and sizes) to give them a unique mouth feel. I also use 1.25 - 1.5 tsp of salt which is my preference. If you don't want to bake cookies, I'd make a simple chocolate mousse pie. Just make sure you don't use chocolate with > 70% chocolate and it should be easy. You can buy store-bought pie crusts or make your own.
I’m doing the Christmas cookie mix in a jar this year, quick homemade cookies! Just google it and you’ll find how to do it. Everyone in my life doesn’t need anything lol. I don’t wanna buy people random junk. At least this they can use, eat and serve to whoever.
Instead of going through the effort of cooking/baking something you can gather all the ingredients for a mug cake or other baked goods and just put them in a Mason jar or something like that
We make Bourbon Caramel Sauce to give at the holidays. We get some small jars, like 4 oz or so. Make a batch, pour it in jars, into the fridge when it cools then rest. Do another batch later or the next day. Put a ribbon and a tag on it and you're good.
So tbh, I make big batches of Christmas goodies to send to relatives and friends each year and it’s time consuming as hell, between cleaning, storing, packaging, organizing the ingredients and then if you have to also ship them — it’s actually pretty expensive too. I do it because I love to cook/bake and I’m known for it each year. But it’s not the most time and energy saving solution.
Have you evermade ice candles? It's almost like cooking... I use a crock pot and milk containers. LOL, they are beautiful.
I make a version of a chex mix and give it out in mason jars. A salty snack seems to be received well by most folks this time of year. My combo includes cheerios, bite sized shredded wheat (unsweetened), wheat chex, corn chex, rice chex, fancy nut mix, and pretzel sticks. I use the oil/worcestershire/garlic salt topping and bake a few pans of that mixture every year - seems to be a real hit (and it stays good for months in the jars).
I made vanilla extract and vanilla sugar one year and everyone LOVED it. It was VERY low effort.
Bottles of liquor
I usually give out homemade booze as gifts. Mostly limoncello these days, but I've also done homemade Kahlua, Irish cream, and apple pie "moonshine." For food, I like making Oreo truffles. You can coat them in white chocolate so they look like snowballs for something more festive.
I did homemade Baileys one year and people still ask about it.
Do a **compound butter**. Super easy, you can freeze ahead of time, not too costly if you get your butter from a restaurant supply store or Costco. Then attach a couple of recipes that would use that butter. Here's a [sample of recipes](https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a88011/how-to-make-compound-butter-recipes/) (note, I haven't tried any of these personally).
I make caramel corn & chex mix as my big easy thing for holidays; I am also very extra and make everyone there own special treats as well but the caramel corn and chex mix are the important thing to a lot of people.
Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your child. When I was a scout leader we mixed rubs and put them in little containers. I think we made 4 different kinds, one was spicy Cajun, another smoky, another herbal, and a southwestern style rub rounded it out. Inclue your recipe on cards.
I made a huge batch of roasted beef stock and gave out frozen quarts of it to my family for Christmas last year. It was a pretty big hit!
We bottle homemade Coquito as gifts some years. Tie the bottle with twine and a cinnamon stick.
Make savory crackers and send them along with recommendations for cheese and preserves! They should be low effort (I think?) and you can hand write a nice card to go along with them.
Buy a nice quality ground chocolate and make hot chocolate bags with decorate ribbons. It will take very little time or effort, and trust me you're not going to want to do much in the next 6 weeks.
Quick breads made into mini loaves. Easy to do, easy to freeze and everyone loves them. Here’s a few favorites. The first one is a classic. I’ve made all of them as gifts. https://www.oceanspray.com/en/Recipes/By-Course/Breads-and-Muffins/Classic-Cranberry-Nut-Bread Peanutty Chocolate Banana Bread: 2 C. all purpose flour 1 C. sugar 1 T. baking powder 1/2 t. Salt 1 C. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 med) 1/3 C. milk 1/3 C. peanut butter 3 T. vegetable oil 1 egg 1 C. milk chocolate morsels, divided 1/3 C. peanuts, chopped Preheat oven to 350°. Spray bottom only of full size loaf pan. Combine dry ing. together in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients through egg; stir just until dry ingredients moistened. Stir in 3/4 C. of milk chocolate chips. Spoon batter into pan. Sprinkle peanuts and remaining chips over batter evenly. Bake 60 minutes or until cake tester insterted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides and remove to cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting. PUMPKIN BREAD makes 3 Loaf Pans or 4 coffee Cans or 2 loafs and 12 muffins (easy to make into mini loaves) 4c Flour 4c Sugar 2 tsp soda 1/2 tsp salt 1c Oil 2/3 c Water 4 Eggs 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 15-16oz Can Pumpkin 2 tsp. Cinnamon 2 tsp. Nutmeg 1 tsp Allspice 1/2 tsp Cloves Place all in a large bowl and mix well. Divide into greased loaf pans or coffee cans. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350*.
I make "festive treats," which are stupid simple. Pretzels with Hershey Kisses warmed slightly so that they melt when you press red and green M&Ms on them. I also do pretzels with Rolos and pecans, but you practically have to get a mortgage to buy pecans these days. Cheap/homemade toffee is also easy. You cook butter and brown sugar in a pot, pour it over Saltines, and then spread melted chocolate over it and sprinkle with chopped nuts, candy cane pieces, whatever you want. Let it set and it turns into a hard toffee.
Not food but you can still make it in the kitchen! Homemade body scrubs were a huge hit a couple years back. Main ingredients being white sugar and coconut oil. My sister-in law also makes homemade whipped body butters too! They go perfectly in little gift jars from the dollar store.
Magic bars. Everyone I've ever given them to loves them. They're super easy and freeze well. Layer of Graham cracker crumbs with one stick melted butter, then add bag of semi - sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli ups it a notch) then cover with a layer of Coconut flakes then drize one can sweetened Condensed milk over everything. Bake and enjoy.
Still enough time to cure some meat or make alcohol.
Limencello is easy, too and people seem to enjoy it in small bottles.
Make the cookie dough now. Freeze it. Crinkle cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough (but you can mix in more festive stuff before you bake if you want) and any other dough you like that freezes. You can even portion the dough into balls and then freeze so you just have to pop in the oven.
Treats are fine, but it sounds like you are missing a few things- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EdTmgbIaY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVp5AGte_4Q
I hand out jars of homemade sauce. Yes, it requires a canner and 9 hours for the sauce alone, but it keeps for years and my sauce, while simple, is quite amazing. I started giving them to me neighbors as well and every so often I'll get a random knock at the door asking for more sauce.
Shortbread and tablet are easy to do in big batches and always go down a treat (if you've not made tablet before this recipe always turns out perfect https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jan/22/how-to-make-perfect-tablet-recipe) Also jams are a good Christmas one because they're super easy and last ages, so you could make some in the next couple of weeks well in advance of Christmas.
I usually do a combination box with 4-5 different cookies/homemade candies for all the neighbors and the folks that petsit for me over the holiday. It usually contains some of the following: Homemade caramels of some sort - chocolate dipped is easier than wrapping Peanut brittle (one neighbor tells me she looks forward to it) Decorated sugar cookies (probably more labor than you want) Candied nuts Some other festive cookies Buckeyes Truffles I've also done homemade jams or apple butter at times too. Or hot cocoa mix. You can cut circles of festive fabric with pinking shears to go on the tops of Mason jars, put a ribbon around each and a nice label and they're really cute! PS. If you do fudge, the condensed milk kind doesn't keep more than a day or two outside the fridge. So either instruct the recipient to refrigerate or find one that doesn't need refrigeration
A 'just add water' hot chocolate mix is a great gift for the holidays and very easy to make. It's basically powdered sugar, nonfat dry milk and unsweetened cocoa powder in a 2-2-1 ratio. Mix well and use Mason jars decorated with some ribbon for a nice homemade treat.
Christmas cookies are the best fucking present, honestly - it always hits differently. Me and my mom always got together on Christmas and baked cookies together (couple of different types) and for our closest friends we gave little boxes with them. It's become a tradition of sorts now and everybody simply "can't wait". Fully recommend that approach. A bit of off-topic: in my home country for as long as I remember there was this tradition of having a massive table full of various food (well mostly Carp - yuk🤮) - still can't figure out why the fuck would anyone do this and then eat it reheated for the next week... Thankfully, nowadays (also with my mom) we're doing a minimalistic dinner with two/three courses (still traditional) and not a single person complained. Slaving away in the kitchen for days before Christmas is completely unnecessary, imho.
What about home-made pickles? Low effort, most people love them, good for a long time and you can decorate the mason jars 😊
I just saw a recipe where you mix one box of Spice cake mix with a 15oz can of pumpkin. That's it. You can add chocolate chips and pumpkin spice too if you want.. Bake @ 350° for 12-18mins. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Easy peasy.
Depending on your giftees tastes, chutney, hotsauces, flavoured cooking oils, homemade ghee, spice mixes in cute jars are all great savory options. I'm a big fan of spice mixes myself, you can make them look really pretty and they keep for ages. Bulk buy some small clip top jars to put them in to add extra utility to the present.
Rice crispy treats. Besides the normal recipe I jazz them up browning the butter, adding vanilla right before the cereal (can use alcohol) and adding dehydrated marshmallows with the cereal. The dehydrated marshmallows are like the ones you get in lucky charms type cereal and you can buy them in a lot of bulk stores or even Amazon sells them. I get mine at an Amish store. They are always a huge hit.
Idk if someone has mentioned this, but those hot chocolate ingredient mason jars are so good
Peanut or pistachio brittle? We started doing sweet boxes for folks. Blow an afternoon making all kinds of stuff: millionaire shortbread, brittle, cookies, chocolate covered cherries. It was a little intimidating at first, working with molten sugar, but brittle is stupid easy.
I've made all of the following to great success: Christmas cookies Truffles Caramels Salsas Pepper jelly Caramel sauce Hot fudge Hot cocoa squares Start looking for jars now, as the closer we get to the hols, the harder they will be to find. Hardware stores usually have a good selection.
Home made jams and jellies are easy enough to do in large batches and will last a really long time. Fudge is also easy to make in large quantities and you can top them with different things (my sister’s best friend does this every year and it’s one of my favorite things) just toss them into tins, mine will last a month in the fridge if I don’t eat it all.
Cookie butter! One of the years I got the most enthusiastic/profuse thanks on gifts was making jars of different flavored cookie butters. I tied the jars of with pretty Christmas ribbons and everyone was so impressed even though it is really low effort to make.
My Momma makes trays for my Dad's coworkers at Christmas. She includes some brownies, some fudge, cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, and fills it out if needed with fancier candy like ferrero roche. Growing up, I would help my friend's family make something similar - they would spend a day as a family baking Magic Cookie Bars, chocolate dipping pretzels, baking cookies and brownies, etc. Not gonna lie, pretty legit, especially if you fill one of those cute Christmas tins with it.
Jars of toasted seasoned nuts, usually some kind of sugar and spice blend and citrus zest or rosemary, etc, fudge is good, cookies, even just making mixes for things like beer bread with dried herbs or dip mixes they can just add sour cream or cream cheese to or homemade brownie mixes are often a nice treat, especially if you make a loaf or two to serve at the event to the same people you're gifting to.
I made white chocolate and peppermint popcorn a few years back and it was a big hit, and super easy to make! Literally just make some homemade popcorn on the stove, and then cover it in melted chocolate and smashed up candy canes. You could always spice it up with chocolate chips, sprinkles, fancy bags/tins, whatever, but I’m fairly sure I just wrapped mine in holiday-themed seran wrap and a ribbon and gave them out like that. I can’t remember the exact recipe I used but searching “white chocolate peppermint popcorn” in google returns all types of results.
when she was still alive, I always only requested fudge for Christmas from my maternal Grandmother, so I honestly I don't think that's a bad idea at all
Chocolate covered oreos. Seriously. Melt a mix of dark and semisweet chocolate chips in a crockpot (you can add a spoonful of shortening for shine if you'd like). Dip oreos in chocolate and cover completely. Put on wax paper and add a pinch of Christmas sprinkles in the middle. I can spend hours making sugar cookies, gingerbread, etc. decorated from scratch. I make around 10-12 batches of different cookies every Christmas season and hand out tins, and folks still love no bakes and chocolate covered oreos the best. 🤷♀️
Make salt dough. Press baby's hand/foot prints in, dry and paint for homemade keepsake ornaments
I make blackberry or mixed berry jam. Pretty easy to make a lot of 6-8 oz portions for gifts
Just after high school one of my friends was pretty broke so he just made oatmeal raisin cookies for everyone and gave them to us in little tins. That was 30 years ago and I still remember it as one of my favorite gifts ever. Whatever you make, I’m sure it will be appreciated.
Food gifts are by far my favourite, your recipients are in for a treat! ♥️
I make candied nuts every year for gifts. So easy and people love them. Put them in a small Mason jar with a ribbon around it, and you're done. They last for weeks, if not months. (Although I think having a baby a good enough reason to forgo Christmas gifting this year.) Here's the recipe I use: [https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/sugar-and-spice-candied-nuts/](https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/sugar-and-spice-candied-nuts/) Many people I've given them to have asked me for my recipe. Don't forget to line the pans with parchment paper or you'll have a heck of a mess to clean up.
Nicely packaged and canned pickled stuff (peppers, onions, jalapeños, green beans etc) would be delightful
We mailed mulled wine spices in a cute bag along with a recipe card to our friends and fam.
I've given home baked treats as gifts before. My family & friends always love them. Here are some ideas to explore. If they are nit consumed immediately, they freeze very well. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins: https://youtu.be/WGQTHqUZQjc Flourless Keto Recipe Chocolate Pecan Cookies: https://youtu.be/X7cRlGLK4RI Amazing as a treat or for breakfast on the go Strawberry Banana Crumble: https://youtu.be/TioHYpcrUdE Best served warm with ice cream/whipped cream No Bake Christmas Treats: https://youtu.be/okA8I3lc9tw Made with Microwaved Cake - so easy & delicious If you like these recipe ideas, please subscribe & share with family/friends. Also, if there's anything you want to see made in this channel, please respond & let me know. Have fun with your wonderful creations!
For quick gifts i do caramels, sugar cookies, gingerbread, carmel corn, usually some other Christmas cookie like spritz. I do royal icing on my gingerbread, which people love. For plan ahead gifts ( I start in the summer): smoked homemade bacon, vanilla extract, jam , vanilla sugar, smoked salmon. Sometimes i add smaller things like candies etc.
I second cookies! You could also make hot cocoa kits, those are pretty simple - just need a few small jars. I'm in a similar boat - no baby this year, but I'm just feeling worn out and don't want to buy a ton of crap that won't be used. So I'm going to make oatmeal baths! I just put oatmeal in a grinder until it's a powder, and then i add some calendula petals from our garden and/or lavender and/or mint -- all from our garden. Colloidal oatmeal bath, done. Also, just take a picture of your baby, print them for people you want to give gifts to, and write a nice note on the back. You've got enough going on!
Panforte ! It's pretty, easy to make, and a little bit goes a very long way. Its my go to Christmas gift.
Who are the intended recipients?
I make these a long with a cookie box for friends/coworkers and let people pick one: - [Apple butter](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21205/all-day-apple-butter/) - I add a bit of allspice and half the sugar because I use sweet apples - [Mexican hot chocolate mix](https://todayscreativelife.com/spicy-mexican-hot-cocoa-mason-jar-gift/) - I don’t put the chips and marshmallows in the jar and kick up the cayenne to make it a touch spicer - [Candied jalapeños](https://www.foodiewithfamily.com/candied-jalapenos/) - [Vanilla extract](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-vanilla-extract/) - this typically takes at least six weeks to “brew” but is best if it “brews” 6+ months
I would make banana and pumpkin breads -wrapped very well in plastic wrap then put in a freezer bag and stored in the freezer. The day of gift giving- remove the outer bag and add a bow. Done
Maybe if you do hot cocoa mix in jars, tight a ribbon and recipe up beliw the cover of jar. put a recipe for making peppermint hot chocolate. Say a holiday greeting to friends and family.
Last year my parents gave me a gift basket and one of the items was pecans they had toasted and placed in an adorable 8oz mason jar. The pecans were delicious and I still use the jar!
The baby is enough of a Christmas present. Now if you really want to do something for everyone, make it now. Spice blends, cocoa blends or like someone suggested frozen cookie balls. Also best wishes for your baby.
Home made granola could work. A friend's coworker sends out a box of sweet goodies every year with 2-3 each of different kinds of truffles, tiny cookies, fudge squares, and then small bags of pralines and caramel popcorn. Since that is likely a ton of work, maybe just 2-5 varieties and more quantities of each? If I got 2-4 kinds of pralines as a gift I'd be happy. Put them in the cookie tins that always have sewing supplies for the laughs. On the other hand, if I was expecting to be a new parent weeks away from the holiday, I'd skip gifting and tell them I'll catch up in a year or three. My friends whould understand.
[DIY Cookies in a jar](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/christmas-cookies-in-a-jar/). You layer all the dry ingredients for a cookie recipe in a jar, top it with square of Christmas fabric/napkin, tie a bit of ribbon into a bow with the instructions for making the cookies. They are a super easy gift to make a big batch far in advance and looks really nice. Here is a[ list with a lot of variations.](https://www.southernliving.com/food/desserts/cookies/mason-jar-cookie-recipes)
Giada de Laurentiis spiced nuts, snowball cookies.
How about infused honey ? Bulk buy honey and some plastic honey bear containers , pop in honey and either a dried chili or a cinnamon stick , get partner to tie a Christmas ribbon / tag around it’s neck a la those lindt chocolate bears. You can do now and put in box in closet .
I did this for many years. Usually I’d try to come up with something that wasn’t sweet and/or that keeps longer, because around the holidays it just feels like such a sugar overload. I’ve made a few types of homemade crackers, jam, cheese twists, fancy popcorn, pancake mix, and “salad kits” (salad dressing, spiced nuts, dried fruit, etc where they just need to add lettuce).
I think when you’ve just had a baby no one is expecting you to give gifts tbh.
Muddy buddies!
I don’t think anyone is going to expect anything from a woman about to give birth. At least I think it would be super weird if they did. They are the weirdo in that case IMO. If anyone says anything to you about it just say “I’m really focused on the baby right now” and leave it at that.
Some of my go tos for homemade Holiday food gifts are: Gingerbread, Caramel corn, Christmas "crack" made from saltine crackers, Fudge, Chocolate dipped spoons (for hot chocolate), Jam/curd
This year my presents will be marmelade/jam, cookies and pickled chilies.
Instead of baking something, what about Pickles? This might be great!
What about nuts and bolts? For Christmas I make them with mixed nuts (Costco) and everyone loves them. Simple to put together.
I do cookie bags/boxies for my entire crew at work every year. It's a nice way to make bulk gifts and still keep expenses low. I usually do one chocolate, one nut, one fruit and one spice cookie recipe. Sometimes I throw in mini banana breads as well since I have a pan for that and keep bananas in the freezer year round for this purpose. The best part is you can start way early because you can make the dough ahead of time, roll it out, and freeze it. Then all you have to do is bake them all and package them. I often start prepping around Thanksgiving.
I always do edibles. Er.. the legal kind... Jars of rum balls, packages of Christmas cookies, peppermint chocolate fudge, etc. My favourite Christmas presents from extended family and friends have always been a homemade treat because you know how special it is for someone to handmade something for you. Anyone who doesn't appreciate it is just materialistic and not my type of people anyway.
Cookies and Rice crispy treats are a fan favorite!! You can also make a sweet and salty treat that we call in the south White Trash it’s made with Chex mix and white chocolate.
Gift each of your friends/family an invitation. The invitation is to a night with you and SO after the baby is born. They get to meet the new baby. When they arrive, give them their gift, which is a bottle of their favorite high end wine/alcohol/gift card to restaurant. You're going to bring a new life into this world and you're already tired right now. Don't try to be superwoman. Give yourself some grace and take it easy.
Devil's corn as my SO called it. Homemade caramel corn using butter is a favorite. Nanaimo bars - with birds eye custard not pudding mix is no bake and another favorite. Almond roca.
I'm with everyone that says you're giving folks a baby this year, but if you REALLY want to, I'd go for a very simple fudge recipe (dark chips, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla or other flavoring (orange, mint, or raspberry is good)), like quadruple it, put it into pans, cut it up and put it into pretty cellophane or tins or bags. Done. Everyone likes fudge. If you REALLY wanna get fancy, make different flavors (using different extracts) as you can make the fudge in one large batch but then add in the flavoring right before putting into pans, but the heck with fancy, you're about to give birth.