Making gift baskets for the holidays can be a lot of fun, but first you need to get organized! Here are recipes and instructions that author Lara Brooks uses to make her gift baskets, together with some tips and hints for making these, the ultimate in homemade holiday gifts.
Each holiday gift basket includes:
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- Cornbread in a Jar Mix
- Italian Pasta & Bean Soup Mix
- Spicy Gift Nuts
- Perfect Pumpkin Nut Bread: These freeze well, and smell so good, you have to count on eating at least one mini loaf!
- Small jar of honey butter for the Pumpkin Nut Bread
- Apricot Lemon Bread: This recipe comes originally from the wonderful list owner of the Christmas Countdown. I don't love the flavor of orange in my baking, so I've changed it to Lemon Apricot flavor -- yum!
- Snow Man Soup: I've made mine for this year -- all 37 of them, and they look adorable. Good for kids and adults alike, this is special hot chocolate worth the extra effort to make.
- Chocolate Dipped Spoons: Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate; plain or with mint these make lovely additions to gift baskets and a warm cup of cocoa or coffee. I personally love the decorating part. too.
- Biscotti di Prato: These have a low-flour, high nut content, so they are very tender and flavorful. I do the version without the orange, with half of the biscotti dipped into white chocolate -- looks wonderful, tastes FABULOUS.
- Christmas Cranberry Macadamia Nut Bark
You might want to include other non-food goodies, such as a book and bookmarks, a holiday tape or cd, browse some here Christmas Music, a holiday trivet, holiday cheese knives, seasonal coasters, etc.
Now, on to the recipes!
Cornbread in a Jar Mix
12 cups yellow cornmeal
12 cups sifted flour
3 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons salt
16 Tablespoons baking powder
2 pieces card stock -- to make tags
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix all dry ingredients. To package in jars: Wash, rinse and dry canning jars, lids and bands.
Packaging note: pre-mix ingredients thoroughly before filling wide-mouth pint canning jars with 2 cups each of the finished mix. Mixing ingredients permits the finer flour granules to fill spaces between the cornmeal, and allows a single recipe to fit inside a pint jar. Layering ingredients for this recipe will require larger jars.
Place two cups Texas cornbread mix in each wide-mouth pint canning jar. (Hint for FoodSaver™ brand vacuum sealer owners: use the jar sealing attachment to seal jars for longer storage.)
Cut twelve 7-inch circles from cotton fabric. Top each jar with fabric circle, and tie with ribbon.
To package in bags: Place 2 cups cornbread mix in each zipper food storage bag. Seal bags. Place bagged mix inside holiday-colored paper bag. Fold down paper bag top, and tape or staple closed.
Cut 12-inch lengths of craft ribbon. Tape craft ribbon around paper bag. Print two copies of gift tag with recipe instructions (below). Cut gift tags apart and attach to ribbon and paper bag using double tape, glue or staple.
Cornbread Instructions:1 container (2 cups) Texas Cornbread Mix
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup soft shortening (such as Crisco)Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease one 8-inch square pan, or 8-inch cast iron skillet, or cast iron cornbread mold. Place cornbread mix into bowl, mix thoroughly. Add egg, milk and shortening. Hand-beat until smooth, about one minute. DO NOT OVERBEAT!
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes for pan or skillet, 15 to 20 minutes for cornbread mold.
This recipe makes 12 jars.
Italian Pasta and Bean Soup Mix
1/2 cup dried pinto beans
1/2 cup dried pink beans
1/2 cup dried kidney beans
1 cup small egg pasta bows
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 Tablespoon instant chicken broth granules
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1. Place beans into a 3 1/2 cup jar (layer or mix altogether) with a tight-fitting lid. 2. Place pasta in a zipper baggie and place on top of the beans. 3. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl and place in a small zipper baggie. Attach the following recipe:
Italian Pasta and Bean Soup Mix Instructions:Rinse and pick over beans. Place into a 5-quart Dutch oven with 3 cups water. Cover, bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let soak for 1 hour. Drain.
Add 8 cups water, 1 can (28-ounces) crushed tomatoes, seasoning packet and 1 cup coarsely chopped carrot, celery and onion. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender-firm.
Uncover, increase het to medium-low and boil gently for 35 minutes, stirring until soup has thickened slightly. Stir in pasta, increase heat to medium and cook 10 minutes longer or until pasta is tender.
Spicy Gift Nuts
3/8 C. vegetable oil
2 Tsp. chili powder
3/4 Tsp. ground cumin
1/2 Tsp. turmeric
1 Dash cayenne pepper
Walnuts, Pecans or Almonds
salt
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. In a heavy deep skillet, combine all ingredients except nuts and salt, and place over medium heat. When oil is hot (do not let burn), add nuts and stir until well-coated.
With a slotted spoon, transfer nuts to a shallow ungreased baking pan and place on top rack of oven. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until nuts are crisp. If using salt, sprinkle hot nuts and place on wire rack. Allow to cool completely before storing in a tightly covered container. These keep well in a cool dry place for up to a month, so you can do them early. Yield: 3 cups
Apricot Lemon Nut Bread
1 cup snipped dried apricots
boiling water to cover
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. walnuts or pecans
3/4 c. orange juice
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
Place snipped dried apricots in heatproof bowl or measuring cup; add boiling water to cover. Let stand for 5 minutes; drain well.
Stir together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt. When well blended, add walnuts and dried apricots. Stir to coat nuts and fruit. In a separate bowl, stir orange juice, vegetable oil, egg and lemon zest with a fork until well blended.
Pour over the dry ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are completely blended into wet ingredients.
Pour into greased 9x5 loaf pan or 3 mini-loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes for large loaf, 45 to 60 minutes for small loaves.
Chocolate Amaretto Dipped Spoons
4 Squares semisweet or sweet dark chocolate -- (4 oz)
1-1/2 Tbsp Whipping cream
1/8 tsp Almond extract
20 Disposable spoons -- clear or red is nice
Combine semisweet or sweet dark chocolate and whipping cream in a 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) power for one minute or until chocolate melts, stirring after 30 seconds. Stir in almond extract or desired flavoring.
Dip each spoon in melted chocolate covering bowl of spoon and 1/4 inch up handle; allow excess to drip off. Place spoons on waxed paper lined baking sheet; freeze 15 minutes or until set.
Melt vanilla coating and put in heavy duty zipper-lock bag. Snip tiny hole in one corner of bag, and drizzle coating over chilled spoons. Leave on wax paper and store in refrigerator until ready to wrap.
Variations:
You can substitute other extract flavors to taste (mint or cinnamon is good) add instant espresso or coffee, or add any other flavor you'd like. You can also use any color or flavor of chips, and use decorative colors of coating wafers to decorate.
Biscotti Di Prato - GBC
1 pound whole natural almonds -- *see note
1 cup granulated sugar
7/8 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
egg wash
- Chop 1/3 of the almonds fine
- Chop 2/3 of the almonds coarse
- Blend all dry ingredients and butter, use low speed
- Add eggs and blend thoroughly
- If using currants and orange zest, add now
- Roll dough into one large loaf, cut into 4 equal pieces
- Roll each of the 4 pieces into logs about 8-9 inches long<
- Place on a cookie sheet, covered with parchment paper; flatten tops slightly and brush with egg wash.
- Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes; remove and let cool ever so slightly. Cut into diagonal slices.
- Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees; return biscotti slices to the oven and toast each side for 10-15 minutes. The toasting of the second side will take lsightly less time as the cookie sheets and cookies will be hot.
Notes and Variations:
Cranberry Macadamia Nut Bark
2 pounds white chocolate, or candy coating wafers
1 cup dried cranberries
7 ounces macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
Line two 10x15 inch cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Place white chocolate or candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on medium heat until melted.
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Add dried fruit and nuts, mix well. Spread on foil, cool and break into 1-1/2 inch pieces. Store in an airtight container.
Notes: This is also nice made with shelled green pistachios or coarsely chopped almonds. To include in baskets, place desired amount inside a small cellophane bag, tie with ribbon to seal, or simply place in an appropriately-sized Christmas tin.
Links, information and more for you
About the authors: Lara Brooks (aka Recipe Lu) confesses that she is full-fledged foodie. She lives with her husband and son (born April 2000) in Toronto, Canada, which she says is "a wonderful city for experiencing and experimenting with different ethnic cuisines." Her interest in cooking and entertaining began at a very early age, and all aspects of food became her life passion -- much to the delight ofher friends and family. Looking for a new recipe? Check out Lu's Recipe Extravaganza, or for more articles by Lara Brooks, click here!
