I've been saving some ideas to my Pinterest page as well.
In previous years I've done:
- Preserved lemons
- Homemade vanilla essence and homemade cinammon & five spice essence
- Gift baskets
- Grapefruit cordial
- Elderflower cordial
- Limoncello (very easy)
Edited 1/11/11 to add Limoncello.
Infused Olive Oil (probably Garlic, but maybe garlic and chilli or garlic and rosemary) - should be done 2/3 weeks before.
ReplyDeleteDrunken fruit (eg raisins in rum, I've also done cherries in brandy etc) - should be done 6 weeks before
Christmas Tea blend (Filling up jars with a homemade tea blend. I'm thinking black tea with cranberries, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon,
all spice)
Spicy Hot Chocolate Blend (homemade hot chocolate mix; cocoa, icing sugar, chilli powder, cinnamon, nutmeg is yum!)
Fudge (I think russian and chocolate, this will probably be the most time consuming thing).
I've made candied orange peel to use in the tea blend and maybe in the fudge + adding a dash of cointreau so would be Vanilla/orange
and Choc/orange fudge. We'll see if any of it happens though. May just candy more peel and jar that :)
Oh I did drunken fruit too for a gluten-free friend the year I made mini christmas cakes (baked in well cleaned tuna tins). They were fun and looked quite pretty.
ReplyDeleteGiffy that all sounds amazing. The hot chocolate sounds amazing! We bought a 'hot chocolate stick' at the market a couple of weeks ago. It is a square of chili flavoured chocolate that gets melted into hot milk. I keep forgetting to use it!
One year I made chilli oil for my partner for Christmas, but unfortunately it was my lesson in realising that my hands (and eyes) are sensitive to chilli: now he has to chop them. It turned out really well though. I also made a couple of pickles, ginger beer, cheesy savoury stick things, basil pesto, and apricot jam. My aunt (of previously mentioned pavlova making fame) made plates of biscuits and fudge for presents one year. I got the Bournvita biscuits (my all -time favourite). I could make them for years after she passed away, but left it too long: now it is no longer on the market.
ReplyDeleteInspirational post MDM and ideas, Giffy! Thanks for getting the ideas going again!
Penny
I meant I couldn't make them for years after she passed away, not I could. It was just too hard. Hopefully that made sense.
ReplyDeleteOh Penny, I get it! I didn't know that they stopped making bournvita! My Dad used to make them all the time. I haven't made ginger beer in a wee while - I got really sick of it after being pregnant. But suddenly I feel like some!
ReplyDelete