Home-made Christmas gifts

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

What have you made/are planning on making for gifts for Christmas this year, we really need to trim our gift budget a little so any ideas will be every much appreciated.

All i have on my list so far is homemade fudge and framed photos of the kids - it looks a litte poor doesnt it!

Wow those chocolate caramel crackers look amazing going to give those a go! Thanks!

For the last few years I've been going all out on the homemade xmas gift front but I'm not sure I'll bother this year. Not only has it been 'done to death' (for me I mean, not generally) but I tend to give away jars of home made jam/pickle/chutney to anyone and everyone through the year so it's devalued for Xmas. I also suspect mil was rather about the whole thing anyway.

this is a really good place for getting cheap gift bags for jam jars. Last year I glue gunned xmas decorations on them and used flat wooden tree decorations as gift tags.

I have made my mum a quilt. Am going to make cushions for SILs - like these. Have made them before - fairly speedy, and really just uses scraps of fabric.

Think the chilli jam plus crackers idea is wonderful - lots of people will like that one.

Oooh a quick bump to ask a few questions!

How do you sterelise jars so chutney keeps a year? And do you need to do the lids?

deemented - could you share your jaffa cake muffin recipe please :)

and alice the invisible could you share your honeycomb recipe :) thank you!

Tassissss - could you also share your tomato chutney recipe please!

Lunavix I sterilised last year by washing in hot soapy water with a bottle brush to get round all the corners, then put in the oven on low heat for 15 mins. Mine were kilner jars so lids attached but I would guess that loose lids need to be sterile too or they will "infect" the contents! I then used disposable gloves when handling the sterile jars and filling as I wanted to be extra sure when giving it to other people. Hope that helps!

Alicetheinvisible - any chance of your recipe for raspberry vodka please?

Having never made a single, solitary thing, I have decided to make up a hamper thanks to this fab thread.

I will be back with recipes later when ds is not wanting to be held/fed constantly but i will be back i promise!

I'll post the tomato chutney recipe this evening x

what has happened - I was looking forward to the recipes people!!!

Here goes, sorry for the delay!

Tomato Chutney
1kg tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
150 ml white wine vinegar
200g light brown sugar
1 teasp salt
0.5 teasp dried chilli flakes (actually I like to use one green chilli finely chopped as I like the green flecks through my chutney)
4 cardemon pods, cracked
0.5 teasp ground cinnamon (I use about double this)

Bung everything in large pan, bring to boil and simmer for about 60 mins stirring frequently.

Remove from the hear and stir from time to time until cool. Then pour into clean jars and seal.

I make this quite a lot along with another 2 chutney recipes and one of the 3 ends up way too runny and I can never remember which! So I always add half the vinegar immediately and then add the rest sparingly! I'm tempted to try this using super cheap value vinegar at a fraction of the price...can't see why it wouldn't be fine with all the sugar/spice added?

Sorry! Internet went own yesterday, bit of a surprise to get it back today tbh!

Honeycomb (tried and tested)

A little butter
5 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1)Grease a baking tin with butter
2)Put the sugar and syrup in a pan over a med heat. Bring to the boil then let it simmer for about 3-4mins until it becomes golden brown
3)Take the pan off the heat, add the bicarb and mix with a wooden spoon (does not need much mixing!)
4)When the mixture froths up, pour immediately into the tin
5)When it has cooled, turn out onto a chopping board and use spoon to break it up.

Can dip in chocolate too

Haven't made the rasberry vodka yet, but will look for the recipe i am going to use...

Rasberry vodka

Hi Hopeforthebestexpecttheworst,

I LOVE the gourmet lunch voucher idea-my husband would really like that! Not that inspired in the kitchen though-what kind of things did you put in?

Thankyou!

Claire

Crab apple jelly being made here every day, all day, sad that I am.

Also, buy a vintage tea cup and saucer and plant a hyacinth bulg in it. keep in the dark till about 3/4 weeks before christmas then bring it in and it should force it upwards. Don't make the tea cup to small though....

Such fab ideas on here! Does anyone have any experience of painting or printing (with stamps) onto material?

Any tips on technique and brands of paint / ink pad would be great.

I'm planning a handprint from each boy onto an apron and then I'll stamp underneath 'we love granny's cooking' or something.. I think with grannies and Xmas, the cheesier and cuter the better.

Marking place, my Christmas stuff starts at the end of September when my birthday is over and done with. Loving pinterest... joining asap.

Hiya,can any one put me on the right track for some nice Christmas wrapping for gift boxes, you know the sort that you tie a nice ribbon round, the stuff similar to that stuff that they wrap flowers in...but Christmassy.

Do you think that melted chocolate in a chocoalte moulds in a nice little gift box will be ok? Ive seen moulds of all sorts on Ebay to match the personality for many relies.

This is last year's thread! This year's thread is here

Yes please they sound delicious and it's something I can make as gifts with the added bonus of being able to spend some quality time with dad's. Xx

Is there a new homemade gifts thread for this year?

Also, the chilli jam recipe I've been looking at says it only keeps for 3 months. I thought jams/chutneys were supposed to last for ages until opened.