|
475 Gift Basket Ideas
Ebook
Do you love to make your own gifts for Holiday gift-giving? 475 Gift
Basket Ideas Ebook is your perfect Do It Yourself gifting companion!
Learn More!
Great Gift Recipe - Candy Basket for Car Lovers!
Give
Them a Pink Cadillac!
Materials:
1) Basket - Pink Cadillac or other favorite toy car
2) One piece of flower arranging Styrofoam to fit in the
bottom of the car
and reaching up a few inches above the car body
3) Plenty of stiff, green wire used in flower arranging
4) Green flower tape or other color to match color of the car
5) 2-1/2 inch green wood sticks, pointed on one end, blunt on the
other
6) Thin wire
7) Variety of wrapped hard candies, preferably with colorful
wrappers
8) A few large candy bars
8) A good amount of bright, colorful cellophane sheets (pink and
white, or other colors to match the color of your car)
Many of these supplies can be found at craft stores or flower
arranging supply stores.
INSTRUCTIONS
Begin with the candy flowers. Cut the stiff green wire into 8
inch lengths. Make around 15 for a decent size car basket. Now, sort
your candies by wrapper color. You'll need 5 or 6 candies per wire.
Take one of the candies and hold one twisted end of the wrapper
against the end of the wire. Now, wrap the green floral tape tightly
around the wrapper and wire a few times. Don't tear the tape; once
the candy is firmly attached to the wire, continue the tape down the
wire and wrap another candy around 1 to 1 1/2 inches below the
first, depending on how many candies you'll put on the wire.
Continue this down the wire. When you've wrapped 5 or 6 of the same
candies on the top half of the wire, trail your tape off another
inch or two on the wire. You've just made your first candy flower!
Set that one aside and start on the next one. Try to have at least 4
different types of candies, so all the flowers won't be the same
color. You can also use large candy bars such big Tootsie Rolls or
Butterfingers. Attach the candy bars to colorful pipe cleaners using
the floral tape and insert into the Styrofoam.
GINGERBREAD BAKED IN JARS -
GREAT JAR GIFTS!
2 1/4 c Flour (all-purpose)
3/4 c Sugar
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Ginger (ground)
1 tsp Cinnamon (ground)
1/2 tsp Cloves (ground)
3/4 c Margarine (softened)
3/4 c Water
1/2 c Molasses
Preheat oven to 325-degrees (NO
higher). Sterilize 5 (12 oz) Ball Quilted Crystal (#14400-81400)
jam/jelly canning jars, lids and rings by boiling them for 15
minutes. Remove the jars from the water and allow them to air-dry on
your counter top; leave the lids and rings in the hot water until
you’re ready to use them.
Once the jars are cool enough
to handle, use a pastry brush to grease them with shortening (DO NOT
use butter, margarine, PAM or Baker’s Secret); set aside. In a large
bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger,
cinnamon and cloves.
Stir in margarine, water and
molasses until well blended. Divide batter
among the 5 jars (they should be about 1/2 full). Place jars onto a
cookie sheet or they’ll tip over. Bake in preheated 325-degree oven
for
35 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
Move the jars around in the oven while they’re baking, so they’ll
bake
evenly. Have your HOT lids ready. Using HEAVY-DUTY MITTS (the jars
ARE HOT!) Take one jar at a time from the oven and place a lid on,
then the ring. Tightly screw on lids--do it FAST because the lid
gets
REAL hot! Allow jars to cool on your countertop. Once the jars are
cool, decorate with round pieces of cloth. Unscrew the ring (the lid
should be sealed by now) and place a few cotton balls or a
wad of batting on top of the lid (makes it poof-y on top), then a
piece
of cloth (about 3" larger than the lid) on top and screw the ring
back
on.
CHRISTMAS MEMORY
BOX GIFT BASKET
Fill a decorative Christmas box or tin with:
►assorted
home-baked cookies
►assorted
chocolates
►Christmas
ornaments (better if you made them yourself)
►pre-recorded
Christmas music
►tuck in
some candy canes or foil wrapped chocolate Santa's and arrange
cookies & candy in colorful cupcake liners for a finishing touch
►MORE
CHRISTMAS GIFT BASKET RECIPES
Popcorn Christmas Cake
4 Qt. popped corn
1/2 lb Red & Green Gum drops
1/2 lb Peanuts
1 lb Marshmallows
1/2 c Melted butter
1/2 c Corn oil
Melt marshmallows, margarine, and corn oil. Pour over
popcorn, nuts and gum drips. Mix together and pat in a
bunt cake pan or angel food cake pan. Cool.
Popcorn Snowmen
4 tablespoons Unsalted butter
4 cups Mini marshmallows
9 cups Popped popcorn
1/2 cup Confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon Milk
Gumdrops, cinnamon candies, fruit leather, jelly,
pretzels --for garnish.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add
the marshmallows and cook, stirring often, until melted
and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Place the popped popcorn
in a large lightly greased shallow pan. Pour the syrup
over the popcorn, tossing to coat evenly.
While still warm, form 6 balls
about 5" in diameter from the
coated popcorn for the bottom sections, giving the balls
flat bases so the snowmen will stand. Form 6 balls about
3-1/2" in diameter for the middle sections. Then form 6
balls about 2" in diameter for the top sections.
Stir in the confectioners'
sugar and milk together until smooth.
Use the icing to stack three popcorn balls of decreasing
sizes into a snowman, then attach candies to decorate.
(Gumdrops for hats, fruit leather for scarves, etc.)
600 Chocolate Recipes
For Chocolate Lovers!
Great Gift Recipe for Candy Cookies in a Jar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. powdered vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk the ingredients
together until they are evenly distributed, making sure all brown
sugar lumps are crushed. Store in an airtight container.
Attach this to the Jar on a decorative label:
Candy Cookies
Makes 3 dozen cookies
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 large egg
1 package Candy Cookie Mix
1 cup candy bar chunks (Reese's peanut butter
cups, Butterfinger bars, white or milk chocolate
chunks)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In the large bowl of an electric
mixer beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the egg, and continue
beating until the egg is combined. Add the Candy Cookie Mix and
candy bar chunks and blend on low just until the cookie mix is
incorporated. Form the cookies into 1˝ inch balls & place them 2
inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12
minutes, until golden on the edges. Remove from oven, and cool on
cookie sheet for 2 minutes.
Great Gift Recipe for Coffee Mug Cakes (5 Kinds!)
------------------------------------------
1 cake mix any flavor
1 ( 4 serving size) instant pudding mix (not sugar free), any
flavor. Place dry cake mix and dry pudding mix into a large bowl and
blend well with a whisk.
This will be about 4 - 4 ˝ cups dry mix and will make 8-9 coffee cup
cake mixes. Place ˝ cup dry mix into a sandwich bag. Place mix into
a corner of the bag and tie it there with a twist tie. Continue
making packets until all your dry mix is used.
Flavor suggestions:
*Lemon cake mix - lemon pudding
*Yellow cake mix - vanilla pudding
*Devils food cake mix - chocolate pudding
*Pineapple cake mix - coconut pudding
*Butterscotch cake mix - butterscotch pudding
Select a large coffee cup. Check it to be sure it holds 1 ˝ cups of
water. That way you will be sure you have bought the size the recipe
calls for. It can't have any metallic paint on it because it will be
used in the microwave.
Decorative cups:
Purchase colorful or decorative cups from a local dollar store. They
often have cups available with appropriate designs for special
occasions or different holidays such as Christmas, Valentines Day,
etc.
Glaze mix
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 ˝ tsp dry flavoring ( such as powdered lemonade
mix, powdered orange breakfast drink mix, cocoa
powder) Vanilla powder sold by coffee flavorings
(or use French Vanilla CoffeeMate)
Select the flavoring appropriate to the cake you are making;
Example:
For the pineapple coconut cake include flaked coconut in a separate
bag with instructions to sprinkle it over the frosted cake. Place
the glaze mix ingredients into a sandwich bag and tie into corner of
bag. Label this bag "glaze mix" and attach it to the other bag with
a twist tie.
Place one baggie cake mix and one baggie glaze mix in each coffee
cup. Now attach the following baking instructions to each coffee
cup.
Bake a cake in a coffee mug!
Instructions:
Generously spray inside of coffee cup with cooking spray. Empty
contents of large packet into cup. Add 1 egg white, 1 tbsp oil, 1
tbsp water to dry mix. Mix 15 seconds, carefully mixing in all the
dry mix.
Microwave on full power 2 minutes.( you may not get satisfactory
results in a low wattage small microwave). While cake is cooking,
place ingredients from "Glaze Mix" into a very small container and
add 1 ˝ tsp water. Mix well. When cake is done, pour glaze over cake
in cup. Enjoy
while warm.
GREAT GIFT RECIPE FOR ZUCCHINI BREAD BAKED IN A JAR
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tbl. cinnamon
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped nuts
Instructions:
In a large bowl
cream sugar and oil with electric mixer. Add eggs and mix
well. Add water and vanilla and mix well. Place dry ingredients in a
separate
large bowl and blend with a whisk. Add creamed ingredients to dry
ingredients and mix with whisk and spoon. Place 1 cup batter each
into 6
well-greased 1-pint wide-mouth canning jars. Wipe batter from rim.
Place
jars on a baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes, or
until
a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Wipe rims. Place hot
sterilized seals and rings on hot jars. Keep in refrigerator for
prolonged
storage.
Over 200 Great
Gift Recipes in a Jar
Great
Gift Recipe for Gift Baskets to add a personal touch
Great Gift Recipe - Gourmet Coffee and Hot Chocolate Basket
Perk Up
Someone's Life With a Gourmet Coffee and Hot Chocolate Gift Basket!
Make your own gift baskets for a truly special gift. You are not
limited in your choice of imaginative containers. Here are some
examples:
Animal Print Bag
Back Pack
Baskets-wide variety
Ceramic Pots
Colorful Boxes
Hat Boxes
Ice Bucket
Metal or Plastic Bucket
Plastic Bowl
Planters
Plastic Bowl
First decide on a theme for your basket. Then choose your container.
For example, a Great Gardener's Basket could be created in a metal
bucket. Next fill with gardening supply items
Additional items you will require are:
*Bows
*Cellophane
*Decorative items for ribbon
*Gift cards
*Shredded paper for filling
*Ribbons
*Scissors
*Tape
*Tissue paper
*Wooden Skewers
Don't go and spend a fortune getting these items. Most of them you
should already have at home.
Add a pleasing touch by filling the bucket with shredded paper or
colored or crumpled tissue paper. This will give height to your
project. Using shredded paper not only fills the basket but makes
the gifts fit snugly in the bucket. It also gives the impression
that there are lots of goodies in the bucket.
Once you have added this to the basket organize the goodies on top
of the basket filling in an aesthetically pleasing and balanced
arrangement. Place the larger items at the back and the smaller ones
near the front. This will create a layering concept.
Tip1: Using small amounts of tape to your items will help keep them
in place. Or try taping items to Skewers for support.
Tip2: You can create a basket filled with homemade items from jar
and gift recipes. Store in air tight canning jars or cookie jar type
containers with lids. For example, Make a Coffee N Chocolate Basket
filled with some of the following homemade recipes:
Great Gift Recipe for Mochachinio
Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and whir
until finely ground. Store in an airtight container.
1 cup powdered nondairy creamer
1 cup instant chocolate drink mix
2/3 cup instant coffee granules
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Mix 3 tbs. into 6oz. boiling water.
Great Gift Recipe for Malted Hot Chocolate
3 1/2 ounces of malted milk powder
5 1/2 ounces of powdered non-dairy
creamer
1 pound of powdered dry milk
1 pound of confectionary sugar
14 ounces of instant chocolate drink
mix 8 ounces of mini marshmallows
Stir and store! Use 3 heaping tablespoons of mix to one mug of
boiling water.
Great Gift Recipe for Orange Mocha Cafe
Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and whir
until finely ground. Store in an airtight container.
1/3 cup instant coffee granules
1/2 cup each unsweetened cocoa,
and powdered nondairy creamer
2 tsp. dried orange peel
1 tsp. cinnamon
Mix 1 tbs. into 6oz.of boiling water.
Great Gift Recipe for Vienna Cafe
Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and whirl
until finely ground. Store in an airtight container.
1/2 cup instant coffee granules
2/3 cup each sugar, and powdered
nondairy creamer
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Mix 2 tsp. per 1 cup of boiling water.
Great gift Recipe for Good Night Cafe
Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and whirl
until finely ground Store in an airtight container
2/3 cup powdered nondairy creamer
1/3 cup instant coffee granules
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Mix 1 tbs. into 8oz. boiling water.
GOURMET HOT CHOCOLATE MIX
11 Cups powdered dry milk
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
2 1/2 cups confectionary sugar
1 pound container of instant chocolate drink mix
Simply mix all the ingredients
together and store in an airtight
container! For a great cup of
gourmet hot chocolate, measure
out 3 heaping tablespoons of
mix into your favorite mug, and
add 6-8oz. boiling water!
This recipe makes about 250 servings, and can be cut in half, or
doubled to suit your needs. Truly better than store bought!!
GOURMET MUG O' CHOCOLATE MIX (Richer variation of above mix)
11 cups powdered dry milk
1 cup confectionary sugar
11 ounces powdered non-dairy creamer
2 pounds instant chocolate drink mix
4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 small box of instant chocolate pudding mix
Mix and store in an airtight container. Use 3 heaping tablespoons
per 6-8 ounces of boiling water. BEWARE: For chocoholics only!!!
Great Gift Recipe for Hot Cocoa Mix
3 cups powdered dry milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, the
better the quality, the better the
cup of cocoa!
3/4 cup sugar
1 dash of salt
Again, it's as easy as stir and store! Use 3 heaping tablespoons per
mug of hot water!
VARIATIONS:
* Cocoa-Mocha - Add 1/2 cup instant coffee to the mix.
* Orange-Cinnamon Sip - Add 1 tsp. of grated orange peel
and 2 tsp. cinnamon
* Scotchy's Cup - Decrease chocolate chips by 1 cup, and
add 1 cup butterscotch chips instead!
* Peanut Butter Cup - Decrease chocolate chips as above,
and add 1 cup peanut butter chips.
* Minty Hot Chocolate - Decrease chocolate chips as above,
and add 1 cup mint- chocolate chips.
* Rasberry-Coco-Loco - Decrease chocolate chips as above,
and add 1 cup of Raspberry-chocolate chips.
* Milk Chocolate Chocolate - Decrease chocolate chips as
above, and add 1 cup of Milk Chocolate chips!
* Malted Milk Chocolate - Prepare as for Milk Chocolate
Chocolate, except substitute 1/2 cup of malted milk powder for 1/2
cup of powdered milk.
Great Gift Recipe for Hot White Chocolate
3 cups powdered dry milk
2 tsp. vanilla powder (This is a product used in place of vanilla
extract. It is available in most gourmet food store, or bakers'
supply shops).
2 tsp. grated orange zest
2 cups of white chocolate chips
Whir all ingredients in blender only until finely ground! Again, do
it in two
batches, and don't over grind or it will clump up in the blender.
Use 3 heaping tablespoons per mug of hot water. This is particularly
satisfying with a cinnamon stick as a stirrer.
Great Gift Recipe for Irish Flavored Coffee Creamer
Place all the ingredients into the blender or food processor, and
whirl until finely ground. Store in an airtight container.
1 package butter mints, crushed
2 cups instant chocolate malted milk
mix 1/2 cup instant chocolate milk mix
2 cups powdered nondairy creamer
Use as you please to lighten, sweeten, and give your coffee the
delicious flavor of Irish Cream!
Great Gift Recipe for Mexican Cocoa Ole'!
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla powder
(See recipe for Hot White Chocolate!)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 1/2 cups powdered dry milk
Mix it up and store. When you are ready for a little south of the
border, boil 3 cups of water, add the mix, stir it up, and FIESTA!!!
Garnish with cinnamon sticks and a dollop of whipped cream!!
|
