To ask if anyone has any ideas for last minute homemade foodie Christmas gifts?

[RocketSurgeon]

I've mucked up 🙄. I thought a group I'm in had decided not to do Christmas presents this year. But, nope, we said not doing bought pressies- homemade gifts is the remit.

We've always done home made plus bought pressies, so essentially we've scaled back.

So I now need to whip up a batch of goodies, package them up by Tuesday evening.

Previously I've done flavoured vodkas, puff pastry mince pies, festive bisvotti and gingerbread granola (which went down incredibly well 🥰).

Amy suggestions please?

And please forgive the blatant misuse of AIBU.

[Flowers]

Red onion jam made with port & red wine
Cranberry & orange sauce/jelly
Pickles - pickled carrots with star anise is very festive
if you know the cold chain won't be compromised, chicken liver pate or smoked fish pate plus an appropriate helping of proper melba toast
Truffles
Pineapple and thyme in a lemongrass syrup
Bacon jam
All lend themselves to being decanted into the appropriate size of kilner jar with a red or green ribbon and suitably festive label

Oh also - this (www.halfbakedharvest.com/gingerbread-white-russian/) is a fave Christmas cocktail, but also I've started making a bottle of the syrup every year just because it's so good in coffee - a black coffee every morning with a dash of this is now one of the flavours of Christmas for me. You could do bottles of the syrup with the recipe written out nicely on a card, maybe add in some cinnamon sticks and mini gingerbread men for garnish. Or pre-mix the syrup with the booze for a just-add cream cocktail. Anything liquid like this will probably be a lot less work than any type of baking.

(Other fave Christmas cocktail, with a syrup you could make, is this one: smittenkitchen.com/2014/12/fairytale-of-new-york/ - but this syrup doesn't go with coffee so less versatile)

Christmas flapjack - soupdragon's flapjack recipe with added mincemeat - I usually add half a jar 🙂

If you have time to make a batch of marmalade, add some dried cranberries to turn it into a christmas marmalade. Even better if you soal them first, whisky would be traditional but I used rum because the only whisky I had was too good to use like that.

This is a really easy but tasty recipe for chocolate truffles -

Nigel Slater’s Chocolate Truffles

The recipe
Chop 225g of fine dark chocolate into small pieces about the size of gravel, then put it into a heatproof china or glass bowl. Pour 135ml of double cream into a small saucepan and heat gently. As the cream approaches the boil, remove from the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate, stirring slowly until melted. Put the mixture in the fridge for an hour to chill. Remove heaped tablespoons of the mixture and roll very gently into balls or small logs. Drop into cocoa powder and roll them around gently to cover, then remove and serve. Makes 15 large truffles.

The trick
Use a good-quality dark chocolate with about 70% cocoa solids. Chop it very finely so that it melts in the warm cream. If the chocolate refuses to melt, place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir gently. Don't leave the chocolate mixture in the fridge for more than an hour or it will become too stiff to roll easily. Make certain your hands are cool for the rolling, or better still, leave the truffles rough-edged.

The twist
You can, of course, add brandy or rum to the mixture, but other flavourings, such as spices, work nicely, too. Add these to the cream rather than the truffles. Put the crushed cardamom, cinnamon sticks or vanilla pods into the cream and bring to the boil. Cover and set aside to cool for an hour. Strain to remove the spices, then warm the cream again before using it to melt the chocolate. Instead of cocoa powder, cover the truffles in melted chocolate and leave to set to a crisp coating.