Homemade Food Gifts - Candy, Infused Vodka, Etc.

Food gifts have always been popular. They are perfect for those people in your life that are hard to buy for or don't need/want anything.  Today's list of homemade gifts includes a wide assortment of candy as well as some nuts, pastries and infused alcohol.  If you missed my cookie roundup, head on over to this post.

Candy

Salted Vanilla Bean Caramels  This quickly became one of my most popular treats.  Everyone absolutely LOVES these caramels and hoards them whenever they're available.

Cake Balls  This is my most popular food recipe of all time.  People are really into cake balls.  I go for simple decorating, but you can go all out with fancy designs.

English Toffee  Right next to the caramels, this is one of my favorite candies.

Truffles  Homemade or not, truffles are impressive gifts.  This post shows four different recipes: Champagne Truffles, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles, Dark Chocolate Strawberry Balsamic Truffles, and Toffee Truffles.

Chocolate Bark  This is one of the easiest candies you can make.  Use any chocolate, fill ins and topping

Eggnog Fudge  This fudge is a nice addition to your regular fudge recipes, and the white chocolate and eggnog flavors go perfectly together.

Butter Pecan Fudge  This is my absolute favorite fudge!  I highly recommend you try this recipe.

Miscellaneous Food and Drink

Cinnamon Rolls  My aunt always makes a ton of sweet rolls and delivers them before Christmas so we can eat them on Christmas morning.  This is not her recipe, but I love her gifting idea.  This recipe makes 7-8 pans so it's perfect for giving away (don't forget to keep some for yourself).

Coffee Cake  It's breakfast, it's a snack, it's dessert!  Who wouldn't want a delicious all purpose cake?  It's a heck of a lot better than a brick of fruit cake.

Spiced Nuts  This is a great (healthy) alternative to all these sweets!

Candied Walnuts  Mmmm, more nuts great for snacking!  Can't go wrong with candied walnuts (well, unless you're allergic).  If you make extra, they're great on salads or these amazing appetizers: Grape, Goat Cheese and Candied Walnut Bruschetta.

Tea Infused Vodka  Who says iced tea is only a summer drink?  Mid-winter we need a little reminder that the sun and warm days will be back again.  This is my most popular post of all time.


** Contact me if you want me to do your holiday baking for you! **

Spiced Nuts

  These are spiced nuts, not spicy nuts, but you could totally add some heat by way of more cayenne pepper or a little hot sauce.  I tend to use almonds, but feel free to use whatever nut you want. These spiced nuts are crunchy, flavorful, filling, and a great healthy snack.   Cooking Tip:  The salt tends to fall off, but I have found that the flavor is better and the salt sticks to the nuts better if you crush it.  If you have a mortar and pestle, I recommend using that to crush the salt.  If you don't have one, I wouldn't worry about it, I've made this for years before I came up with this trick.

Making Large Quantities:  If making more than two cups of nuts, I like to toast them on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 for about 10 or so minutes.  Use a large pot (instead of a skillet) to heat the spices and oil, it just makes it easier to mix a large amount of nuts.

Spiced Nuts Adapted from Ellie Krieger Yield: 8 servings (1/4 cup)   2 cups whole unsalted almonds (or any nut you'd like)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional) (I prefer the flavor without it.)

Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer the almonds to a bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together the cumin, garlic, cayenne pepper and salt. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Stir the spices into the oil and cook, stirring until warm, about 30 seconds. Add the almonds and cook, stirring frequently, until the nuts are warm and the spices are evenly distributed. Add the hot pepper sauce (if using) and stir to distribute. Remove the almonds from the pan and allow them to cool before serving.  Store in an airtight container.  

Candy Corn & Peanuts

I know it's a little late now that Halloween is over, but just in case you have some Candy Corn left, here is a simple treat.  All you do is mix together peanuts and candy corn.  If you eat both at the same time, it tastes like a Pay Day candy bar.  I was introduced to this salty sweet combo last fall, and totally forgot about it until now.  Enjoy!

Goat Cheese, Grape and Candied Walnut Bruschetta

I needed an easily portable appetizer to take to our Christmas Eve festivities.  I started thinking about different possibilities and decided that bruschetta would work perfectly.  Based on a salad combo I love, I was originally thinking gorgonzola with grapes and candied walnuts.  When I got to the store, I decided to use goat cheese instead. I love goat cheese and I figured it would spread more smoothly.

At first I wasn't sure how I was going to combine the cheese, grapes and walnuts.  Do I crumble the cheese and mix it around with the grapes and nuts in hopes that it'll be moist enough to stay put on the bread?  Or do I spread the cheese and top it with the other ingredients?  As you can see I went for the latter approach which worked out pretty well.  As far as my bread choice, I went for a baguette because it was perfectly chewy for this appetizer.  Try to buy your baguette the same day you plan to eat it so the bread doesn't get too hard.  If you end up with a softer type of bread, you may want to lightly toast the slices.

I was worried that there wouldn't be enough goat cheese to cover all the bread so I decided to add some cream cheese.  It's cheaper than goat cheese and mild enough that the goat cheese is still the prominent flavor (and the most convenient reason:  I already had cream cheese in the fridge so no more trips to the store!).  Feel free to buy a bigger log of goat cheese if you want to omit the cream cheese.

UPDATE: I've also had this with herbed goat cheese and it was delicious!

Goat Cheese, Grape and Candied Walnut Bruschetta

Original Recipe

Fresh Baguette or Crackers

5.5 oz goat cheese, softened

3 oz cream cheese, softened

~30 large grapes, quartered

3/4 cup candied walnuts (recipe below), chopped
Balsamic Vinegar Reduction or Syrup* (optional)

Cut the baguette into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch slices.  Mix the two cheeses in a bowl until they are fully combined.  Spread the cheese mixture onto the baguette slices.  Top with grapes and candied walnuts, pressing down to ensure they stick.  

These can be made ahead of time the same day as your party, just pull them out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you plan to serve them to take the chill off.  Right before serving, drizzle with balsamic vinegar syrup if using.These could also be served as a build your own appetizer if you don't want to assemble them.

Candied Walnuts

From Food Network

In addition to the appetizer above, these walnuts are great on their own, and make a nice addition to salads.

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp salt

8 oz walnuts (about 2 heaping cups)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, cayenne and salt.

Bring a small saucepan of water to boil. Add the walnuts and blanch them for 3 minutes. Drain well and then immediately mix the walnuts into the sugar mixture until thoroughly coated. The sugar will melt slightly. Transfer the walnuts to a baking sheet or pan and bake, stirring occasionally, until they are a deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Watch carefully because the sugar can burn easily. Let cool completely before serving.


*Balsamic vinegar syrup can be purchased or you can make your own by adding some balsamic vinegar in a pan over medium heat and reduce to one-third the original amount.