Festive Gift Ideas You Can Make!

Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s not that long to go!

With less than two months until Christmas, and with Thanksgiving arriving even sooner, our minds inevitably turn towards some festive baking ideas. I have been asked by some of you for some Christmas baking ideas, and in particular, ideas that have a longer shelf life, can be packaged and would be suitable for gifts.

So I have put together a list of ideas fitting these criteria to give you some inspiration! I made all of these at one stage or another when we had the pâtisserie. They are perfectly suited to be being packaged up in a nice box and bag, with some pretty labels and ribbon and then you have a lovely gift selection. The Christmas cake recipe is available to download from my ‘Freebies’ page

Additionally, I’ve included recipes for Vanilla Shortbread and Kourabiedes below. Kourabiedes are a Greek Christmas biscuit that is one of my favourites. Unfortunately, I can’t find a photo of the ones I made in previous years, but they look like snowballs covered in icing sugar (powdered sugar).

Here are some suggestions:

Pate de Fruit:
These have a shelf life of up to two months and can be made in various fruit flavours.

Chocolate Truffles:
If using a ganache that is made for longer shelf life these are great for the festive season. You can buy the truffle shells ready made, fill them and then coat them in tempered chocolate.

Cantucci or Biscotti:
Delicious dry biscuits made with nuts.  2-3 months shelf life if stored in an airtight container
 

Christmas Speculoos Biscuits:
A cinnamon spiced biscuit which you can dip in chocolate.  1-2 weeks shelf life.

Christmas Fruit Cake:
6 months shelf life (it varies depending if it has been covered or not) . I have a great recipe for Christmas cake on my website that you are more than welcome to make. It was a firm Christmas favourite at our patisserie. You can bake this as small cakes / individual cakes as an alternative.

Ganache Sandwich Biscuits:
Use a pastry cutter to cut out pastry shapes and bake as biscuits. Then pipe some ganache between two biscuits and push together.

Kourabiedes Recipe
Greek Christmas Biscuits
Yield: 60 small biscuits

Ingredients
900 g all-purpose flour
500 g butter
220 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
200 g almond nibbed, toasted

To serve
300 g icing sugar (powdered sugar)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F.
2. In the mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter on a medium speed until it is soft and pale in colour.
3. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and mix until light and airy.
4. Fold in the flour in thirds, and then fold in the nibbed almonds.
5. The mixture should be soft but not so soft that it will stick to your hands.
6. Mould into balls the size of walnuts (25 g). Place them in rows, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until they turn light golden.
8. Remove from oven. Carefully move them from the baking sheet and place them onto a wire rack to cool. They are very soft and crumbly when hot.
9. Allow the biscuits to cool and then roll them in icing sugar (powdered sugar).

Vanilla Shortbread Recipe

This is a large quantity recipe, but you can easily halve or even quarter it. The great thing about shortbread is that you can make it ahead of time and keep it in the freezer, ready to bake whenever you fancy a biscuit. They have a long shelf life, making them perfect for gifting during the holidays.

We used to sell these shortbread biscuits in our pâtisserie. You can add different flavours, like lemon or orange zest. A fun idea is to add orange zest and then dip the baked biscuit halfway in chocolate.

I’ve provided measurements for the size, but feel free to bake them as small or as large as you prefer.

Happy baking, and I hope you enjoy!

Yield: 265 biscuits

Pre-heat oven: 170C

Baking time: 15 minutes
If you are baking from frozen they will require more time.

Ingredients
1125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
500g caster sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract (or other flavourings)
10g Maldon salt, crushed
1600g plain flour, (AP flour) sieved

Method

1. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter until creamy.
2. Incorporate the sugar, vanilla extract and salt and beat until smooth.
3. Add the flour and mix until the dough is smooth and combined.
4. Weigh the dough out into 500g balls and roll out into logs about 1 inch in diameter. Wrap in cling and refrigerate.
5. Spread sugar onto a tray. Take out the logs and roll them in the sugar pressing firmly down so the sugar sticks.
6. Cut the biscuits into discs - approximately 1cm thick / just under 1/2 inch.
7. Freeze down or bake. Space the cookies out when baking and bake on parchment paper. Once fully cooled keep the shortbread biscuits in an airtight container.
8. You can put the leftover sugar in a container and freeze labelling ‘sugar for vanilla shortbread biscuits’.