se7en

Gifts from the kitchen – who can complain! I love a consumable gift, they don’t take up space! And who can begrudge something yummy made from the heart. So here we go: Se7en Gifts From the Kitchen that kids can make themselves…

Cookie Jars: I got this idea years ago from Family Fun and I have made them every year ever since – a hugely popular gift… not only is it yummy but it is a gift that offers something to do and after all the hype of getting ready for Christmas and all the energy going into preparation it is nice to have a small project waiting to be done in the post Christmas flatness.

Olive Jars: These are a great savory gift in a season of overwhelming sweetness. If you don’t have an olive tree and you haven’t spent months pouring salt water and olives from bucket to bucket to get olives ready and edible for the big event… never fear! Buy some olives and jazz them up. This is what you need: Olives, olive oil, garlic, lemon, rosemary or any herbs you have on hand. Pop the ingredients into a suitable jar and top it up with olive oil. Add an olive spoon to this and your gift is done.

Sweeties like coconut ice and fudge: Coconut ice we definitely do, and it is quick and easy and looks lovely – a great gift. The celebrity Chef shows you how here.

For health reasons I have banned the making of fudge in our house – simply because I can eat an entire batch on my own and not share one crumb, and to make it worse if I planned that as a Christmas gift for someone else – well lets just say it would never reach its destination.

Colorful Fresh Pasta: I appreciate any kind of instant meal at Christmas time when you lurch from feast to leftovers and back again. It is easy to lose the routine battle in all the excitement and nice to have an instant meal to fall back on. Fresh pasta is yummy, quick and a great instant meal – so yet another perfect gift. Here’s how to make fresh pasta from start to finish!

Garlands: Popcorn always looks so pretty on a string – but it can be quite tiresome to put together. Here is a garland that looks pretty and my kids love making these. Who can blame them! You need a bowl of pretzels and sweeties with holes through them, like lifesavers. And away you go threading and munching along!

And while we are talking about threading… well then there are always sweetie necklaces, you can use any sweetie but we used licorice all-sorts for a fun stripy effect. Make a hole through the sweeties (we used huge nails) and then thread them onto scooby doo thread (it is quite strong and so easy even for little hands to thread).

Baking: Jelly Bean Biscotti and Brilliant Chocolate Brownies. We usually have a huge baking day two days before Christmas and bake batches and batches of these. Package them up and spend the morning of Christmas Eve delivering them to friends.

Cookies: These make a great gift, they are quick and easy to make a batch is never far away! All you need is a basic cookie mixture… and away you go! Sprinkle on them, pop yummy bits in them, make stained glass windows with them,… a bazillion things to do with them – and give them away before you eat them!

Happy Cooking!!!

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