Do you want to make special homemade Christmas gifts this year? To do so, you’ll need very few ingredients. But the most important thing? Jars or glass bottles you can seal. Then simply cut some fabric into squares or wrapping paper with string, candy canes or holly branches (to make the jars more personalized).
For some easy and quick ideas (that are still delicious!) to use as table place markers on Christmas Day, look no further! These gifts are not just fun to make – they’re useful and made with love! So let’s go shopping and get to work, shall we? Christmas is fast approaching!
Vegetable pâté
Set your Christmas table with a delicious pâté, to be spread over meat or a slice of toast. Make it yourself at home as a gift: Steam 250 grams of pumpkin. Then blanch 250 grams of sundried tomatoes and boil 250 grams of chickpeas. Then blend all the ingredients together with some chopped garlic (optional), parsley, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, until smooth and creamy. Pour the mixture into sterilized glass jars. Seal and package with the classic cloth square or paper and string.
Salmon rillette
A typical dish of French cuisine is the salmon rillette. It’s made by crumbling salmon into small pieces – almost into a cream – to serve as an appetizer or to spread on canapés. Start by cooking 250 grams of fresh, skinless salmon in a pan with a drop of extra-virgin olive oil. Once cooked, chop it and mix it with 80 grams of diced smoked salmon, some lemon juice, 50 grams of heavy cream, dill (optional), salt and pepper. Mix to make a cream using a fork. Pour into sterilized glass jars and seal them tightly.
Pancake mix
Especially during Christmas vacation, how nice is it to wake up late in the morning with your children and make pancakes? If you have several friends who have small children, give them this pancake mix to make with their little ones! Simply mix 150 grams of flour, 50 grams of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla-flavored baking powder in a glass jar. Seal the jar, pack it and prepare a label with the instructions for making the pancakes: Pour the pancake mix into a bowl with a pinch of salt. Add 200 ml water and 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Once smooth, heat a non-stick pan and pour the mixture onto the surface using a ladle. Cook the pancake on both sides until golden-brown. Makes 8 pancakes.
Flavored vinegar and oil
Oil and vinegar are two basic ingredients of Italian cuisine. If you have gourmand friends who like flavored oils, try making them yourself at home. For the vinegar: Buy glass bottles with airtight caps and sterilize them. Peel the garlic and distribute one clove into each bottle. Then add bay leaves, a few whole peppercorns, and the vinegar. Let it rest for about 10 days. For the oil, the steps are the same. After sterilizing the bottles, add a clove of garlic to each, followed by some sage leaves, a sprig of rosemary and oil. Let the ingredients macerate for about 20 days.
