HELP - Want to make sweets or other edible gifts - but what??

[tigerbear]

I'd love to make some sweets / biscuits for Christmas presents, but need something that will keep until then, and be made within the next week.
Will biscuits, etc go off very quickly?

I read somewhere that Nigella's chocolate and pistachio fudge is good and can be frozen until needed. I haven't made it though.

Oooh, that sounds good, will look up the recipe!

last night I started with fudge I tried two recipes, one was not so good, the other one was fantastic

I'm hoping it keeps in the fridge for a few weeks, but in reality I can't see it lasting that long....

Mmmmm, I WANT fudge NOW!

and tomorrow I'm going to make this not tried it before, but it says you can freeze it half way through and then finish later, or cook to the end and store for a month

I think most types of biscuits would be incredibly stale by Christmas, but you could make decorative biscuits - Nigella has a recipe - which have lots of spices and are meant to hang on the tree. They are edible but very dry (deliberately) so they keep. You ice them and decorate them and they look very pretty.

Brandy snaps might keep if stored very well, but I can't offhand think of any other kind of biscuit that would last - perhaps someone else might be able to think of a recipe.

Sweets or preserves might be a better bet - in the past I have given jars of homemade cranberry preserve (incredibly easy and you can add orange peel or ring other changes) and little kind of florentine thingies which were not real florentines, but just blobs of chocolate with crystallised ginger, raisins, nuts etc in.

Or homemade mincemeat is very easy and a nice Christmassy gift. That keeps very well.

bumpybecky - that's perfect!! Thanks - will def try the biscotti! I have to make and hand over all of the gifts for my family by next Friday. My Mum is coming to visit me, then will take everything back to where she and the rest of the family live.

Delicious Mag did a bit about this in their December issue - See this page

You can download label templates and, if you scroll down, they have lots of ideas for gifts to make.

Gave me some ideas anyway

[[http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/lemony-almond-nougat Lemony Almond Nougat - keeps for a month.

Oh wow, have now got loads to choose from - thanks ladies! I'm going to be making biscotti, nougat, chocolate & pistachio logs, and pear chutney. Mmmmm

Nigella's Christmas Puddini Bonbons are amazing.

Bumpybecky - how did the biscotti turn out? I'm off to get my ingredients now...

erm, I've not actually made them yet! things keep getting in the way...

I know what you mean! I've only just got all of the ingredients I need, and am set to make them now. Looks like I'll be baking into the early hours!

I made my biscotti last week, and if I do say so myself, they are awesome! Made the white chocolate log too, and although I didn't get to try any, my Mum and friends reckon it was nice. Yay!