15 Homemade Food Gifts for Christmas
Put your hands and handiwork into your gifts. Here are 15 homemade gifts from the kitchen—including easy biscotti, candy cane bark, chocolate truffles—plus, flavored gins and vinegar!
These simple culinary creations are perfect to give as gifts during the holiday season, or to bring along to a holiday gathering.
Homemade Holiday Food Gifts
1. Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti
If you’ve never made biscotti, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is! Our Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti, with its red and green colors, is just perfect for the holiday season.
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Credit: Irina Mos/Shutterstoc
2. Candy Cane Bark
Ever notice how much stores charge for simple candy cane bark? It’s so easy to make this festive treat. You can swap the white and dark chocolate amounts if desired—it’s foolproof!
Credit: Sam Jones/Quinn Brein
3. Spiced Nuts
A box of spiced, candied nuts is a perfect Christmas gift or snack!
4. Peanut Brittle
Simple, yet delicious, this peanut brittle is a tasty classic. For variety, mix in a cup of almonds with the peanuts!
Credit: Janet Hudson/Wikimedia Commons
5. Gingerbread Cookies
Smaller than gingerbread men, these Gingerbread Boys are tasty and fun to decorate!
6.
Vinegar flavored with fruits, sprigs of herbs, or fiery peppers is beautiful and adds great taste and interest to entrées and salads. Forget those overpriced (and often synthetic) flavored vinegars. It’s incredibly easy to make your own—plus they make great gifts for the kitchen! See how easy it is to make flavored vinegar.
7. Never-Fail Christmas Fudge
Even if you’ve never made candy before in your life, give this easy fudge recipe a try. True to its name (thanks to the presence of marshmallows), it won’t seize, crumble, or make you tear your hair out. It’s a special treat once a year!
Credit: kml/Shutterstock
8. Shortbread Cookies
These shortbread cookies have that buttery, melt-in-your-mouth taste you expect!
9. Christmas Granola
For something different than sweets, one of our editors gives teachers jars packed with amazing homemade granola studded with red berries!
10. Gingerbread
Make a loaf of gingerbread for friends and family! You can make mini-loaf pans to spread the ginger goodness!
Image: Marie C Fields/Shutterstock
11. Cranberry Chutney
Traditional recipes use lots of sugar to bring out the cranberry’s great flavor. In this recipe, however, exotic spices take the place of all that sweetness, without overwhelming the rest of the meal. It’s heavenly on a sandwich of leftover sliced turkey!
12. Chocolate Truffles
Why buy pre-boxed expensive truffles when these luscious morsels are so easy to make and oh-so-delicious?
Image: V.Noseek/Shutterstock
13. Snowball Cookies
Bring the snow indoors with these fun cookies! Always a favorite at Christmas time, and easy to pack in a pretty gift box.
Image: LanaM/Shutterstock
14. Hot Chocolate Mix
Need an easy gift idea? Make REAL hot chocolate. In a mason jar or similar clear container, layer the dry ingredients (cocoa powder, chopped chocolate, sugar, and cinnamon) and top with mini marshmallow.
15. Flavored Gins
Flavored gins using fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices make fantastic gifts for the holiday season, or any occasion for that matter. What better present than a tasty tipple you’ve made yourself? In the short video below, we’ll show you how to make two irresistible infused gins—Strawberry Gin and Cinnamon Bun Gin. .
Want more food-related gift ideas? Check out cookbooks, aprons, mugs, and more in the !
Wishing you and yours joy (and a few treats!) this Christmas season.
Catherine Boeckmann
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My favorite way to flavor gin is with essential oils. It's so easy! Just add a few drops of whichever essential oil (therapeutic grade, preferably organic) that you like. Good choices are lime, basil, and juniper. But, any citrus or herb essential oil would work. Have fun and play around with the flavors.
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