Selecting the perfect holiday gift for friends and acquaintances can be difficult, particularly if the person is someone you don’t know very well. And if your budget is already tight during the holidays, the problem becomes even more difficult.

Christmas gift cookies or other baked goods are an inexpensive yet personal solution to many gift-giving dilemmas. And they’re easy on the budget, too!

Homemade candies, holiday cookies and treats can be a perfect present. After all, everyone enjoys eating. Even Santa Claus loves it when people leave cookies for him on Christmas Eve! This means your gift will surely be appreciated and used. The fact that you have made your gift trays with your own hands also adds a unique personal touch to your presents that an item grabbed off a store shelf could never capture. Additionally, the process of making the items can be fun and relaxing, giving you an opportunity to enjoy the holidays.

So what should type of culinary treats should you create in your Christmas gift factory? Traditional options include decorated sugar cookies, gingerbread men, or goodies such as fudge. If these require more time or skill than you have available in this busy time, you may want to make something simple but delicious such as saltine cracker toffee.

On the other hand, if you’re feeling a little adventurous, consider making cookies from around the world for an internationally themed holiday tray.

If you need ideas for cookies or other goodies, check some recipe sites such as Allrecipes.com or Recipezaar.

Any of these Christmas gift cookies or treats can be baked ahead of time and presented in a colorful holiday tin, basket or cookie tray. You can find these for a small price at your local dollar store, drug store or superstore. You can stick with one treat or mix and match recipes to build a tasty variety.

Giving tasty holiday treats will surely brighten anyone’s holidays and they’re far less expensive than many less personal items you could buy. So this season, head to your kitchen instead of the mall!

Reprinted with permissionfrom Christmas Gift Cookies and Other Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen on Free Santa Letters blog.

By Elisabeth Kuhn

Are you worried about spending too much on Christmas presents? Don’t be. Great gifts don’t have to cost much at all. Read on for some easy and dollar-stretching edible Christmas gift ideas.

We all need to eat. But sometimes, especially during tough times, we deprive ourselves. And that’s when edible gifts can be especially welcome — cool treats that your gifts’ recipients wouldn’t have made for themselves.

Of course, the traditional way to approach edible gifts was to go to a gourmet store and order a very expensive gift basket. Or order it from a catalogue. I’m sure you know which ones I’m talking about.

But it doesn’t have to be that expensive. In fact, there are some downright cheap Christmas gifts that can bring a lot of joy and pleasure. Here are a few ideas of varying degrees of thriftiness:

1) Store bought goods

One of our most treasured edible gifts when I grew up in Germany was a Stollen, a German Christmas cake that keeps well, ships well, and tastes utterly delicious (especially the kind filled with marzipan — or the ones that are spiked with rum). And it’s not very expensive either. Neither are a lot of other ready-made Holiday cookies or cakes you can buy at the store.

2) Store bought ingredients, assembled at home

You can create your own gift baskets by assembling some choice fruits and cheeses. If you pick well, you can get a great assortment for less than $10. And for a few dollars more, you can create a veritable gourmet feast. Read on for a variation on that concept…

3) Home-made edibles

Of course, you can also bake cakes or cookies, or create other fancy edibles, wrap them nicely, and send them on their way.

4) Home-made do-it-yourself edibles

This last one is my favorite: Home-made do-it-yourself edible Christmas gifts! Just assemble the ingredients, pack them up nicely, attach a recipe card, and send them to the lucky recipient.

Of course, as a nice bonus, you can use the same recipes to make some treats for yourself. In fact, I would highly recommend that you try out everything you plan to make to ensure the result is what you were hoping for. You might even try out several recipes to find the ones you like best.

Another big advantage to the do-it-yourself edible Christmas gifts is that they will usually keep for quite a long time. This means, they will keep until all the perishable holiday goodies are long gone — and can bring back the glow of Christmas even when the snow is but a distant memory!

But where are you going to find the right kind of recipes for easy to assemble edible Christmas gifts? Here’s my FREE gift for you: A huge collection of yummy edible Christmas gift recipes that you can instantly download — so you can get started right away! Just click on this link: http://www.EdibleChristmasGifts.com.

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Looking for something fun and different for your Christmas meal? Try Rosca de Reyes (also known as Three King’s Cake), a traditional cake made in Spain and Mexico. Made out of bread dough, Rosca de Reyes is decorated with dried fruit and usually contains a figure of the baby Jesus hidden inside.

This article includes a recipe that will have you making this delicious treat in no time!

A Traditional Mexican Christmas with Recipe for Rosca de Reyes
By Jen E Carter

The Mexican Christmas festivities last for several weeks, starting on Dec 16th when the first of the Posada parties start. The celebrations remember Mary & Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. Although initially a religious celebration, the Posada parties are now a big social celebration of the holiday season.

Every night until Noche Buena, December 24th, a party is held in a local home. The end to each posada is celebrated by the breaking of piñatas filled with candy and toys. On the night before Christmas, families often attend Midnight Mass together.

Although traditional children had to wait until January 6th, more families are allowing them to open their presents on Christmas Day. However, there are more celebrations to come.

On January 6th which is Epiphany, celebrations include:-

1. Freshly baked Rosca de Reyes – a big oval wreath made out of bread dough and decorated with dried fruit and sugar
2. Chocolate Caliente – steaming mugs of hot chocolate
3. Tamales – can be a lot of work to make – steamed dumplings of rich, spicy filling wrapped in corn dough. There are three important components to a tamale: the wrapper, the dough and the filling. Although it’s rather complicated to make, no-one wonders why after they’ve taken their first bite!

Recipe for Rosca de Reyes

Ingredients

1 packet yeast

¼ cup of lukewarm milk

3 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cups of sugar

7 eggs

125 grams butter

1/4 aniseed

100 grams raisins

1 tsp vanilla

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Pinch of salt

50 grams candied figs

50 grams candied orange

50 grams candied lemon

50 grams candied cherries

50 grams candied citron

1 beaten egg

sugar

flour

1. Heat oven to 360° F ( 180°C)
2. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk
3. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, eggs, butter, cinnamon, aniseed, raisins, vanilla and salt
4. Kneed for five to ten minutes until pliable
5. Place in a bowl, cover with a teatowel and place somewhere warm to rise (1-2 hours)
6. Cut the candied fruits into strips
7. Form the dough into a ring or rosca.
8. Add the baby Jesus figurine.
9. Place the ring on a baking tray decorating the top with the candied fruit.
10. Leave to rise again for 20-30 minutes.
11. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle over with sugar.
12. Bake for 40-45 minutes

Remove from the oven and serve to celebrate Christmas the Mexican way. Remember, tradition says that whoever finds the figurine of the baby Jesus has to host the next party!

Visit our website for further ideas for Mexican recipes and Christmas Recipes.

Find more recipes & cookbooks at the One Dollar bookstore.

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