Imagine a Christmas gift you can unwrap and eat. A homemade gift made with love and ingredients that evoke a Christmas atmosphere (as well as spending little).
If you want to give a nice surprise at home this year prepare something original. An edible gift will be much more appreciated than a mundane gift of little thought.
We want to recommend 10 delicious ideas to wrap up with red and white bows, tissue paper and small Christmas decorations. Also, don't forget the greeting card and a funny label indicating the ingredients used.
Hot Spoon Chocolate
Dissolve some dark chocolate and pour it into an ice box to form many cubes. Decorate with mini marshmallows or candy powder and once cold put a wooden spoon in the center.
Once solid you can prepare a hot chocolate by dipping the cubes in a cup of hot milk.
Brownies in a jar
The brownies are actually prepared by those who receive the gift, but with everything you need already in the jar. In a jar of about 3 cup capacity first put two large spoons of flour and a sachet of yeast, then 2 oz of brown sugar and 2 oz of caster sugar, 4 oz of dark chocolate drops and finally a handful of walnut kernels. All in layers. To prepare the brownies you have to add only 3 eggs and 2 oz of melted butter. Bake in the oven at 180° for about 20 minutes.
Mulled Wine in jar
A glass of steaming mulled wine on cold winter evenings is never missing, so why not prepare a gift of a jar with all the ingredients to prepare it? In a jar put 5 oz of brown sugar and, always in layers, a dehydrated apple cut into cubes, 3 cinnamon sticks, 4 juniper berries, 6 cloves and some dried orange peel. You will need to cook everything for 5 minutes with 2 cups of red wine.
Cookies Wreath
A really original idea to decorate the house. Just cut out some short crust pastry in the shape of little stars of different sizes and overlap them to form a wreath. Bake everything in the oven at 180° for 15 minutes and let it cool properly. You can hang it with a ribbon on the door or you can use it as a centerpiece with fruit, pinecones, and berries. The great thing is you can also eat it!
Croccante
This is a typical holiday sweet and can be prepared with almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts or with all three together. Just make the caramel by melting the sugar with a little water. When it has taken the typical golden color, mix it with dried fruit and pour it all on a sheet of baking paper. Leave it to solidify and then cut into lozenges.
Candied Orange Peel
A super fragrant gift made with orange peel. Cut into fairly thick strips and remove the white part. Immerse them in boiling water for 3 minutes. Let them cool, change the water and repeat the operation two or three times. Then weigh the peels and cook them with the same weight of water and the same weight of sugar until the syrup thickens. Be careful not to caramelize them! Once candied, the peels are left to cool on a sheet of baking paper and passed in caster sugar or melted chocolate.
Truffles
Prepare these candies with leftover pandoro or panettone. You have to mix about 14 oz of pandoro (or panettone) with ½ cup of fresh cream. Knead everything with your hands and form balls. Roll them in bitter cocoa and then, once cold, in melted chocolate. Let them cool properly in the refrigerator.
Chocolate Bars
A super tasty gift to make adults and children alike happy. Melt some white chocolate and pour it into a plum cake mold covered with baking paper. Sprinkle with pistachios and nuts and let it solidify. Pack with foil as you would with chocolate and a red ribbon.
Chocolate Liqueur
With a whisk mix 2 glasses of whole milk with 3 oz of cocoa and 5 oz of dark chocolate in a high pot over a low heat. Add 9 oz of sugar, two more glasses of milk and 2 cups of fresh cream and bring to the boil. Cook by lowering the heat for about 10 minutes. Filter everything and once cold add 5 oz of pure alcohol to the milk and cocoa.
Orange and Cinnamon Jam
A jam that tastes just like Christmas. Peel 1 kg of oranges and remove the white part. Cut the orange peel into strands and cook in boiling water for 10 minutes and in another pot cook the orange pulp with 9 oz of sugar. After about 20 minutes of cooking add the properly drained orange peels and a cinnamon stick to the pulp and cook for another 30-40 minutes. If the jam seems too runny, add some apple cubes with the peel. Once ready, place the jam in glass jars previously sterilized in boiling water and properly dried.