Money may be tight this Christmas which means it’s the perfect excuse to raid your cupboards and give the gift of food.

Below are some of our favorite holiday recipes and some fun food gift ideas. Get creative with your wrapping and decorating to give your gifts some extra flair.

Brown Sugar Cookies

½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¾ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Cream butter until soft.
Gradually add sugar. Beat until fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add to butter/sugar mixture, gradually beating until smooth after each addition.
Turn dough onto floured board, which has been sprinkled with brown sugar.
Roll thin. Sprinkle with more brown sugar, and roll it in lightly.
Cut into Christmas shapes with floured cutters.
Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

NOTE: Sprinkle colored sugars onto cookies before baking, or cool thoroughly and decorate with icing as desired.

Shortbread Christmas Cookies

1 cup butter
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar; sift in flour. Chill a half-hour.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough less than ½ inch thick. Bake 15-30 minutes, until golden colored.


Chocolate Mint Cookies

¾ cup butter
1½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons water
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate pieces
2 eggs
2½ cups flour
1¼ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 pound green (mint-flavored) chocolate mints or Andes chocolates and green mints, cut in half
Chocolate sprinkles

In a large heavy saucepan, over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until melted. Add chocolate pieces and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted.
Pour into a large mixer bowl, and let stand about 10 minutes to cool slightly.
With mixer at high speed, beat in eggs one at a time. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating just until blended. Chill dough about 1 hour for easier handling.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with foil.
Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls; place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake 12 to 13 minutes – no longer. Cookies will crisp as they cool. Remove from oven and immediately place a mint on each cookie.
Allow mint to soften, then swirl mint over cookie. Decorate with sprinkles.

Caramel Pecan Pie

3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 (12-ounce) jar caramel topping
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
1½ cups pecan halves
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell

In mixing bowl, beat eggs slightly with a fork. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Stir in topping and butter. Mix well. Stir in pecan halves. Pour filling into pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted off-center comes out clean. Cool thoroughly on rack before serving. Cover, chill to store.

Cake Balls

1 box German chocolate cake
1 tub chocolate frosting
White chocolate, melted, for dipping
Milk chocolate, melted, for drizzle

Bake cake in 9- by 13-inch pan according to directions on box.
Once cake has baked and cooled, crumble entire cake into a large bowl. Add 2/3 of the frosting, and mix the cake and frosting with your hands.
Roll into balls a little smaller than a golf ball. Lay on cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and freeze for at least 2 hours.
Once cake balls are frozen, dip in melted white chocolate and return to cookie sheet. Then drizzle the melted milk chocolate over the cake balls for a decorative touch.

Last-Minute Holiday Fruitcake

1 cup raisins
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
¾ cup sweet white wine
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla
2 cups cake flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
Apricot halves for garnish
Raisins for garnish

Combine raisins, apricots and wine. Let stand several hours or overnight to soften. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, and then add vanilla. Mixture may look curdled.
Stir in flour and cornmeal, and beat until well blended. Drain fruits, and reserve liquid. Stir fruits into batter. Spoon into greased 9- by 5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 65-75 minutes until golden and toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan 10 minutes, and turn out onto rack to cool completely. Brush with reserved liquid while still warm. Garnish with apricot halves and raisins, and sprinkle with additional confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Christmas Pretzels

Mini pretzels
Premium white, red and green candy melts

Melt candy colors in three different pans over low heat or in double boilers. When smooth, place a handful of pretzels in at a time, and stir to coat. Remove each pretzel separately, and let drain over pan. Lay out pretzels on waxed paper to dry.
Work in batches till you have used half the white candy. Let dry. When dry, dip a second time for a thick coating.
When these are dry, dip a fork in the red, and drizzle or splatter across the pretzels to make stripes. Repeat with green. Let dry.

Cereal Mix Candy

1 cup dry-roasted peanuts
1 cup pretzel sticks, broken up
1 cup Cap’n Crunch cereal
1 cup Rice Krispies
1 (12-ounce) package white chocolate candy melt wafers

Mix peanuts, pretzels and cereal.
Heat chocolate wafers in microwave till melted and warm. Pour over dry ingredients, and mix quickly.
Pour onto 10- by 15-inch cookie sheet that has been lightly sprayed with Pam. Chill in refrigerator.
Break into pieces.


Holiday Cheese Spread

1 (12-ounce) sharp cold-pack cheese, softened
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup sour cream
½ cup black olives, chopped
½ cup green pepper, chopped
1 (4-ounce) can green chiles, chopped
4 strips bacon, crumbled, or ¼ cup imitation bacon bits

In a small bowl, combine cold-pack cheese, cream cheese and sour cream until smooth.
Stir in olives, pepper, chiles and bacon. Spoon into serving bowl, and refrigerate 1 hour.

White Chocolate Party Mix

3 cups each Rice Chex and Corn Chex, or 6 cups Crispix
3 cups Cheerios
2 cups pretzel sticks
2 cups dry-roasted peanuts
1 pound M&Ms candy
1 pound white chocolate

Combine all except white chocolate.
Melt white chocolate slowly. Drizzle over mixture, and gently stir together.
Spread on wax paper to harden.

Nut Mix

Home-cooked pumpkin seeds
Peanut butter filled pretzels
Dried fruit (cranberries and blueberries)
Good quality mixed nut mix
Rice cracker mix (in the health-food aisle at grocery stores; comes in a mixed bag of tiny crackers made from rice flower)
M&Ms
Dark chocolate-covered cranberries
Dried edamame
Cracked corn

Mix it all together and scoop into jars and put a small piece of cloth over the lid and wrap in cellophane with ribbon.

Comments