45 Homemade Gifts from The Kitchn

Make double-sure that you buy soft mint candies — not the hard ones that are available year round, which can damage your food processor. The most common brand I’ve found is Bob’s Sweet Stripes (see link below).

The toffee bars, also referred to as “millionaire bars” (which I found out after the fact), is exactly what you’d expect from an old Southern recipe collection; they were sweet, rich, and oh-so-delicious. Definitely a new classic in my opinion, just like the cookbook they came from.

With just a few steps and some chill time (which you could very easily pass with a glass of rosé) you can make these charming, lightly fruity, just a bit tangy rosé-flavored gummy bears.

You can call the praline a cookie, because it’s shaped like one, but it’s rightfully a type of candy. You make them entirely on the stove top by boiling a mixture of chopped pecans, sugars (two kinds!), butter, milk, and vanilla until it becomes creamy and caramelized.

This recipe for fudge is a classic one from my childhood. I like it because it requires no special equipment or ingredients — just sugar, cocoa powder, milk, salt, butter and vanilla. Even a candy thermometer is optional.

As luck would have it, the brittle is just as fun to make as the cookies (and a nice break from the oven-to-cooling-rack merry-go-round). You start by coaxing a potful of butter, sugar, water and corn syrup into a dark bubbling caramel.

It’s perfect for gifting and so versatile, using whatever nuts or dried fruit you have around.

This sweet treat is quick and easy to whip up, and it makes a beautiful gift simply layered in a pretty container.

The ingredient list is short — just dark and white chocolate, peppermint candies, and peppermint oil — and you don’t need any special equipment to make peppermint bark for yourself or to give as gifts. It helps to know a little bit about each ingredient and to have an hour to dedicate to the process. Here’s how to make your own peppermint bark at home for gift-giving this season.

It is beautiful, delicious, and fun to eat.

This is an easy homemade gift and a gorgeous addition to any holiday dessert tray.

Citrus zest brightens so many recipes, but if you have citrus sugar in your pantry, you’ve got a wonderfully fragrant gift.

A combination of coconut milk and dairy-free chocolate chips make a really great substitute for the creamy chocolate component of this spread. It has past the test of many a Nutella-lover, so much so that I started making batches around the holidays and packaging them up as gifts!

In addition to ice-cream, this sauce is excellent drizzled over slices of pound cake, cheesecake or a meringue. The version made with vanilla extract is also delicious served with poached fruit.

Maple bourbon is the most popular flavor of bourbon on the market now with big guys like Jim Beam and Knob Creek topping the list of producers. It’s a sweeter style and works well in lots of hot cocktails, after dinner drinks and desserts.

The coconut flavor is subtle, so the sugar pairs best with ingredients that are not strongly flavored. Use it as you might use cinnamon-sugar: dip sugar cookies in it before baking, sprinkle it onto buttered toast, or mix it into oatmeal.

If you love the mixed tins of caramel and cheddar popcorn, known as the classic Windy City blend, give this mix a try at home — and even give it as a homemade edible gift.

There’s just something so right about how the sweetness of the syrup mixes with the salty-smoky bacon. So it’s about time bacon got a starring role in another breakfast staple: granola.

This recipe is super versatile: use any kind of nut (larger nuts like whole walnuts or pecans should be chopped), any other kind of dried fruit (currants, blueberries, cranberries, even little snipped pieces of dried mango or papaya), or go without either for the nut-allergic and fruit-adverse. Tip: add a tablespoon egg whites per cup of rolled oats to help make the granola more clumpy.

This delicious spiced granola is proof that tahini has a world of uses.

The crackers are sturdy enough to spread with cheese or hold some dip, but they’re also fantastic on all on their own as a mid-afternoon snack. For pre-dinner cheese plate or a handy hostess gift, trust me: these crackers bring it to win it.

Assembled in a tall jar, this DIY instant mac and cheese goes way beyond anything you’ll find in a box, and cooks up into an ultra-creamy dinner to feed the whole table.

This is also perfect for when you’re not in the mood for a big preserving project, but want a quick way to make sure that handful of juicy berries, plump purple figs, or last peaches doesn’t go to waste. Because a bottle of jewel-colored, summer fruit-infused vodka will never go to waste. Trust me on this.

Making a shrub syrup at home is a fun way to preserve and play with seasonal fruit, and you can follow this template for practically any fruit you have on hand. In addition to drinks, you can use the brightly flavored syrup in salad dressings and homemade jam, or as a glaze for meats.