Home made gifts

As promised, here are the food gifts I made to give to my family along with their "real" gift. These are pretty easy to make, and giving anything you have made yourself definitely makes a big impact.

The labels for the gifts I made using Microsoft Word and Clipart, then I cut them to size and affixed them to the jars or gift bags using packing tape- I taped over the whole piece of paper with some over hang all around so that it would stick. This worked really well as it's really thin so you can hardly tell it's there.


Hot Chocolate Sticks from Givers Log

If you make these, note that once you add the cocoa and sugar the mixture is VERY stiff and may look lumpy, but when you put it in the molds (I used ice cube trays as suggested), pat it down and it will be smooth once it firms up. I stuck some marshmallows on the top of them as well.


Burning Ass Hot Sauce- the name is my doing (get it? the donkey is on fire! I'm too funny for my own good), the recipe is from Mark Bitten in The New York Times. I used a combination of jalapenos, habenaros, and two cloves of garlic.

Egyptian Dukkah Spice Mix from The Kitchn. I don't have a photo of this, it didn't look all that exciting to be honest, but on the label I included the nuts and spices I put in it (hazelnuts, sesame seeds, cumin, coriander, mint, salt, pepper if I remember correctly) and some recipe suggestions.

I also wanted to make some flavored vodka but I didn't get around to it, and I couldn't eat enough bacon to save enough bacon fat for the Baconnaise (that's right- bacon flavored mayonnaise) that I was going to make for my cousin. Maybe next year I'll combine the two ideas to make the most disturbing recipe I have come across in a while, Bacon Flavored Vodka.