We love giving (and getting) homemade food gifts during the holidays. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and it feels really thoughtful, especially if you spend some time on the presentation. If you’re baking a loaf of bread using grandma’s recipe, write it out on a pretty recipe card to go with the gift. Or write a thoughtful note to say why you think your friend deserves an indulgence like chocolate truffles right about now.
The other really great think about food gifts is that they allow you to include people who you may not have a big budget to shop for, like your kid’s school librarian, the mail carrier, or the receptionist at work. If you make a big batch of flavored salts or cookie butter (yum!), it’s easy to make enough to include all of the people who you’d like to show some appreciation.
Top photo: Hot Chocolate Mixes | Gringalicious
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Other Cool Mom Eats holiday gift guides:
* The most gorgeous hostess gifts for cooks under $50.
* The best boozy gifts for drinkers, swillers, and tasters.
* 19 of the best food gifts for everyone on the list, from your foodie friend to hungry uncle.
* Gifts for the cook who has everything.
* Coffee gifts for the caffeine obsessed.
Dark Chocolate-Dipped Pears
These chocolate-dipped pears at Eat Healthy Eat Happy are so easy to make, but they make a decadent, beautiful gift. We’d wrap these up in cellophane bags tied with pretty silver and gold ribbon so you can see, even before they are unwapped, just how gorgeous these really are.
Flavored Salts
We’ve heard from our kids’ teachers that they get so many sweets over the holidays and, while I’m sure they’re appreciated, it might be nice to go the savory route with one of these flavored salts at Mommypotamus. Bonus: they’ll still be able to use them long after the desserts have spoiled. Or are just gone.
Hot Chocolate Mixes
With snow coming, our kids are going to be begging for hot chocolate. (Good grief, they ask for it year round!) These pretty gourmet hot chocolate jars, also spotted at Gringalicious, are a gift that have our mouths watering too. Peanut butter hot chocolate with melted Reese’s Cups in them? Oh, yea.
Spiced Nuts
Whip up a big batch of these sweet, spiced nuts from Kitchen Konfidence and store them in small mason jars as quick-grab gifts whenever you need them over the holidays. They’re great to give to coaches, office mates, or neighbors. Gift them with a pretty bowl and they make a lovely hostess gift, too. If you don’t eat them all yourself, that is.
Dark Chocolate Truffles
A fancy box of truffles isn’t cheap, so if you’re up for it, why not wow your friends with your mad culinary skills using this simple tutorial for homemade dark chocolate truffles at White on Rice Couple. You can find pretty gift boxes and mini muffin liners at any craft superstore for a presentation that makes it look like you bought a dozen at a fancy chocolatier.
Homemade Bread
A pretty loaf of sweet bread is always appreciated at the holidays, when mornings are so busy that you don’t even have time to pour yourself a bowl of cereal. Use any favorite family recipe, or if you need a new one, try this rich eggnog bread with the recipe at Cookie Monster Cooking. Wrap it up pretty and add a recipe card, so the recipient can make it again after their gift loaf is all gobbled up. Like, tomorrow.
Cookie Butters
If you’ve listened to Kristen and Liz on their podcast Spawned or have watched their guilty pleasures videos on the Cool Mom Picks YouTube channel, you may know about their love of cookie butter. Or maybe, it’s more like an obsession? And they’re not wrong. How much will your friends love you if you bring them jars of homemade cookie butter in any of these four delicious flavors. Thank you, A Beautiful Mess, for the five cookie-butter pounds we’ll be gaining this holiday season. So worth it.
Chocolate Almond Clusters
Who wouldn’t want these pretty sea-salt sprinkled chocolates around? Find the recipe and all the delicious details at Le Creme de la Crumb and prepare to drool. We think they would be a perfect pick-me-up at the end of a long day. Plus they’re full of nuts, which means protein, which means they’re healthy, right? Right?
DIY Cookbook Holiday Gift Kit
This isn’t quite the same as the others because, well, it isn’t a gift that you can rip into and start eating. That said, this book gift kit is clever, looks beautiful, and is perfect for the DIY’er in your life. Jodi at Super Make It has fantastic ideas for how to turn all kinds of books into a thoughtful gift kit, from craft books (like her own, which is awesome) to books about animals, but we, of course, are partial to the cookbook idea. Who knows, maybe you’ll score an invite to the dinner your recipient will make with their fun, new goods.
Other Cool Mom Eats holiday gift guides:
* The most gorgeous hostess gifts for cooks under $50.
* The best boozy gifts for drinkers, swillers, and tasters.
* 19 of the best food gifts for everyone on the list, from your foodie friend to hungry uncle.
* Gifts for the cook who has everything.
* Coffee gifts for the caffeine obsessed.
