This is DD1's favorite bread to eat and gift. I just helped make two loaves for a friend and her mother.

Sakara Classic Banana Bread

I have found home made marshmallows to be a big hit. I usually make one batch covered in toasted coconut, one batch made with raspberry puree and one batch plain with the tops dipped in chocolate and toasted almond or finely crushed candy canes (the peppermint ones are good in hot chocolate.) They are actually quite simple and inexpensive to make. It is a bit of a sticky procedure, but everything cleans up easily with soap and hot water.

Marshmallows

Oh gosh, these sound SO GOOD. Keep them coming! Banana bread is a fave around here and gourmet marshmallows.... mmmm

The Sweet and spicy nuts from Once Upon A Chef are easy and delicious.

Back when I was a grad student I worked with another student and staff member and we made buckeyes. She used a double boiler for the chocolate, but I do not have the recipe. We literally made a table full! That was so much fun.

We also made an incredible date-nut bread. I will see if I can somewhere find the recipe. It was basically full size pitted dates and walnuts with a little bit of batter. We'd put these into mini loaf pans.

Honey chipotle pecans are always a hit and easy to make. Very addictive! A GW member posted this recipe years ago.

Honey Chipotle Pecans

2 Tablespoons honey

1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups pecan halves (the larger the better)

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a medium microwave safe mixing bowl, combine the honey, chipotle powder, and ground cinnamon. Warm through. (You can also do this on the stove over low heat.)

Stir nuts into warmed honey mixture. Still well to coat. On a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, spread honey-coated nuts in a single layer. Bake until toasted and fragrant, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar and salt in a small bowl.

Remove pecans from oven and allow to cool only slightly (no more than a minute or two -- you want them to still be sticky.)

Dump the hot nuts into a medium sized mixing bowl and add the sugar/salt mix tossing to combine. Spread nuts on cold waxed or parchment paper and let dry. It's best if they don't touch each other.

Serve, or store covered until ready to eat.

Biscotti is always a hit with my family. We like traditional, cinnamon and chocolate peppermint.

This year I'm making Giada DeLaurentis' holiday biscotti with cranberries, white chocolate and pistachios. I have all the ingredients except the pistachios already on hand. Also making some lebkuchen because I am out of the cookies but have some of the candied citron hanging around . . . not sure what recipe I will be using yet. Both cookies keep really well so can be enjoyed after the holidays by the giftee.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/holiday-biscotti-recipe2-1944762

LOL... I was coming here to post my favorite recipe for biscotti and I see that I'm not alone!

I've been making these Cranberry and White Chocolate Biscotti for at least 20 years. They make great gifts. The only change I make to the recipe is to make 3 logs instead of 2 and cut the baking time by about 10 minutes. I think smaller biscotti are nicer for gifts and they fit better into a variety of containers.

Bon Appetit Cranberry- & White Chocolate Biscotti

Good thread! Good ideas ☺

Martha Stewart has a few recipes for chocolate truffles that are dead easy - basically an extra thick chocolate ganache. I've made them for years. I like them flavored with vanilla bourbon and rolled in cocoa powder.

And chocolate almond bark is my current go-to for edible presents. So simple to make and so yummy. I flavor it with a bit of orange and sprinkle with some sea salt flakes. Thinking of using macadamia nuts this year since I have large crop from my tree.

Carol's post just jogged my memory. Last year, as a last minute gift, I made Bailey's truffles. They were such a hit, I ended up making two more batches. A friend of my husband called the day after he visited to say that he was embarassed by how many he had eaten. Putting them on my list this year for sure.

Baileys Truffles

I make baklava for a few friends.. i use a mix of pistachio and walnuts. I just made my nut order-- yikes! Pistachios are definitely an indulgence!

Oh Funky, you had me at Baklava. Would you like my address? :)

I've made a lot of cinnamon rolls and sticky buns over the years, but Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls win hand's down.

What's nice about the recipe is it's simple & makes a whole lot of rolls. I had pans all over my kitchen because I kept needing more.

Cook them in round foil pans (they rise to perfection) to give as gifts.

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls

My first attempt making the rolls, see how much they rose and expanded?

Oakley, Baklava is way more intimidating than it is hard! Ive made the Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls-- if you can make them, you can make baklava!

I might have to find something else for the green element in the biscotti this year, I imagine pistachios will be very expensive. However, the recipe doesn't really call for that many . . . . my biggest issue is finding dyed unsalted ones. We really have to ration our salt intake . . .

Funky, in the next small town over, about ten miles away, there used to be a bakery owned by an Armenian family and they always had Baklava at Christmas. And sold Tabouli all the time. I was in heaven. :) Unfortunately they retired and closed shop. The last of the small town great bakeries.

Really, Oakley-- you should make your own! My recipe is in my head but it's a variation on Michael Symon's mother's recipe.

Pink.. I order all my nuts from nuts dot com. I got a free egift card with my order. I get a 1lb raw shelled bag of pistachios for $17. just send me an email address and i have you covered.

I make candy at Christmas.

Habanero truffles: Take any truffle recipe (I use one from a Martha Stewart Holiday magazine) and add chopped habaneros (2-3 per pound of chocolate) to the cream when you are heating it. STRAIN OUT THE HABANEROS when you add the cream to the chocolate. I like this with milk chocolate.

Bourbon pecan caramels: I use the Joy of Cooking vanilla caramel recipe (which is all cream/sugar/butter and no sweetened condensed milk) and add a cup of bourbon at the beginning. The alcohol and water all boils off (evenually), but ooooh, the flavor. I mix in chopped pecans at the end.

Orange Sugared Walnuts: Super quick and easy. In a generously-sized sauce pan, combine 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1 1/2 tsp grated orange rind (I usually use way more than this), 1/4 tsp salt. Cook mixture to soft ball. Add 3 cups walnut halves and stir, stir, stir until sugar cools and coating turns white/creamy (this can seem like a lot of stirring and may feel like it isn't going to happen, but keep at it). Turn coated nuts onto parchment paper and separate. I've tried making substitutions in this recipe (lemon for orange; pecans for walnuts, and it hasn't worked. Now I just have ruled out making substitutions).

Almond Roca: Grease a cookie sheet and set aside. Place 1/2 pound salted butter (has to be salted or the candy will separate, or add extra salt if you use unsalted), 2 cups granulated sugar, and 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds in a large heavy saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook to soft ball. Continue to cook without stirring until mixture reaches a firm but not hard crack. Stir gently a few seconds and pour at once onto greased pan. Spread and allow to stand until firm. Top with melted chocolate (1/2 pound) and finely chopped walnuts (the chocolate will stick to the toffee better if the toffee is still warm when the chocolate goes on).

Creamy peanut brittle:

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups light corn syrup

2 cups salted peanuts

2 to 2 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 rounded tsp baking soda

Put sugar and water in heavy saucepan. Bring mixture to boil over high heat. Soon hot sugar syrup up sides of pan to wash down sugar crystals. Stir in corn syrup. Boil to hard crack.

Mix peanuts, peanut butter and vanilla together. Remove syrup from heat. At once add the peanut mixture. Stir in soda last. Pour onto greased counter and spread as quickly as possible using greased hands. Yields about 3 lbs. (Note that the candy tends to stick to the counter if you just leave it to cool, but if you spread it into multiple smaller sheet and flip them while cooling, you can avoid the problem. I use tongs, the candy is quite hot when first poured. It will also cool quicker).

I made some habanero jelly to send then decided I wasn't going to the post office this year so now I'm stuck with it until...future. Many people like it. Alas I'm not one of them.

@Fori, have you thought of using PayPal for the postage on your jelly? Then put it in your mailbox for the letter carrier to pick up. No going to the PO. If you need help, I’d be happy to walk you through buying postage through PayPal.

You can also purchase the prepaid express boxes-- super easy but it took about 10 days for the boxes to arrive.

Peppermint Bark Popcorn is one of my favorite things to make.

Thanks for the PO tips! I feel a little guilty about making my carrier work harder (it's a walking route) but I should stop making excuses.

Holidays are just sucky this year and I don't even wanna play. :/

Oh... a walking route. That’s different. Do you have a PO substation where you can just drop pre-paid mail? Ours is in a gas station. Slip in, toss your package in the cart, run out. (Actually, you may not want to ”toss” your jelly.)

awwwwwwwwwwww don't make me do it!!!!

:)

Although Funky’s suggestion on the mailer boxes is the better one, it would be a challenge to fit your containers in a flat rate box. The small flat rate box dimensions are

Outside: 8 11/16″ x 5 7/16″ x 1 3/4″

Inside: 8 5/8″ x 5 3/8″ x 1 5/8″

The rate is ~$8.30

Here is Dutch apple pie recipe. I also posted in the Thanksgiving thread.

just eye ball the amount of apples for your pie tin.

3 T flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
sprinkle of nutmeg
Mix together and place in pie crust
Add 2 T of milk and 2T diced butter (yes butter) to the top of the apples in the crust
At this point you could put on a 2nd crust - brush with egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar
or
you can do the Dutch topping
3/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
Mix until it is a pastey consistency. dollop on top
Bake for 45-55 minutes at 375.

I made these yesterday and they were very good https://new.milk.org/Culinary/Recipes/Cheddar-and-Rosemary-Shortbread

the recipe says it makes 84, but I got 34

Annie1992's ginger cookies are amazing. Hands down, amazing. The recipe is down in this thread.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5332732/ginger-cookies

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6005349/thanks-annie-you-saved-the-day#n=16

Cawaps, thanks to your recommendation I made some Bourbon caramels and I think I will be making them again next year. I also tried a recipe for Irish cream caramels but the flavor was too subtle to make it worth doing that again. DH loves marzipan and I knew I was not going to make it to See's candy who has the best according to him so after making the caramels, I looked up marzipan and it is dead easy to make so Santa will leave him some traditional marzipan and some flavored with Kirsch. I suspect the homemade marzipan will now be a Christmas tradition. Thanks again.

Hey Funkyart sorry I didn't reply to your generous offer! I'm ok with just using what I have right now in the pantry. I have some green and red chopped fruit I need to use up that I could use, or some pumpkin seeds/pepitas which might be good with dried cranberries. But thank you very much for your nice offer to share!