More than a dessert dish - Holiday presents for sharing

Much of the time, if you’re looking for Christmas recipes for sharing, you’re stuck with either cookies or candy. If you are pushed for time or cash, a new Holiday recipe for giving can come to your rescue. A single day of work is all you might have to get a gift for everybody on your list.

Give the gift of hot cocoa remixed this Christmas

Putting together a “classic” Christmas recipe as a gift is easy. It is also easy to remix them too. For a flavored hot cocoa mix, combine 1 cup cocoa powder, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 5 cups powdered milk and 20 crushed peppermint candies. If you would like to, you can replace the peppermint candies with 1 cup instant coffee granules for a mocha mix or a package of cherry Kool-Aid for cherry hot cocoa. Mix 3 tablespoons with hot water or milk. That is what the instructions on the gift should say.

Give the gift this Christmas of homemade soda

If you’re feeling ambitious, an often under-used holiday recipe that makes an excellent gift is homemade soda. You have two choices – “naturally” carbonated or “artificially” carbonated. You may want to artificially carbonate it if you or a friend has a keg system. It can be hard to get the same results each time, although it could be done safely, with naturally carbonated sodas as yeast is used. You might want to start collecting used plastic soda bottles with lids. You are able to either do two liter or 20 ounce bottles. Get those, a five-gallon bucket and a funnel in order to sanitize. Most stores should be able to give you what you need. You need 1 gallon of hot water, 2 cups of sugar and 2 tablespoons of some kind of soda or flavoring extract for it. If you are artificially carbonating, pour the mixture into your keg system and carbonate away. If you’re naturally carbonating then you are likely to want to add ¼ teaspoon of! champagne yeast and pour it to the bottles in order to let them sit for three days at room temperature. After they are bottled, label the and refrigerate them and also you have an excellent Christmas gift ready for others.

Flavored vinegars as Christmas gifts

For those who have any friends that like salad, you might want to go with flavored vinegar. It is easy to make and is great as a kick to dressing. You will start by sterilizing a jar, adding 1/3 full of bruised herbs and boil vinegar to fill. Seal and let steep in the fridge for two weeks, and it is ready to be gifted.