Homemade Christmas gifts add a lovely personal touch to Christmas, and the kids are usually so proud of what they make! If you are looking for ideas to try with the kids this year, here are 10 Easy Homemade Food Gifts for Kids to Make at Christmas.

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#1. Lemon Bars

Made with a shortbread style base with a super easy lemon custard topping and icing sugar, these twice-baked lemon bars are simply delicious!

Younger kids will probably need a bit of help with these but they should be simple enough for older kids to master. Yum!

#2. Chocolate Truffles

This one is really easy to do with children of all ages – they will particularly love the decorating and sampling – and will definitely go down a treat with the recipients.

This recipes makes 30-40 chocolate truffles

Ingredients:

• 230g of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (high quality, 62% cocao content or higher), well chopped into small pieces
• 120mls  heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon / 5ml  of vanilla extract
• Other flavours that can be used Almond essence / Orange essence / Rum Essence  / Mint Essence.
• Cocoa powder or (Drinking Chocolate Powder if sweeter coating required )
• Finely chopped walnuts
• Finely chopped almonds or ground almond

Method:

1. In a small, heavy saucepan bring the heavy whipping cream to a simmer (this may take a while, be sure to stir and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula every few minutes).
2. Place the chocolate in a separate bowl. Pour the cream over the chocolate, add the vanilla, and allow to stand for a few minutes then stir until smooth. (This chocolate base is called ganache)
3. Allow to cool, then place in the refrigerator for two hours. Remove and with a teaspoon roll out balls of the ganache. Roll in your hands quickly (as it will melt from the heat of your hands) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator overnight
4. Roll in cocoa powder or chopped nuts and serve, or place back in the refrigerator until needed.
5. Makes 30-40 chocolate truffles.
6. Serve in sweet paper.

#3. Shortbread Biscuits

Shortbread biscuits are so easy to make yet everyone loves them, so they’re the perfect homemade food gift for kids to try. And you can add any taste you like to the basic ingredients – we love lemon zest, but for Christmas cinnamon, ginger or mixed spices would be lovely and festive.

Ingredients:

• 125g/4oz butter
• 55g/2oz caster sugar
• 180g/6oz plain flour

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.
2. Beat the sugar and butter together until pale.
3. Stir in the flour to get a smooth dough. Turn out onto a work surface and roll out.
4. Cut into rectangles and prick with a fork, or roll into little balls and press thumb onto each ball to flatten to make shortbread rounds. You could also use festive-shaped cookie cutters.
5. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

#4. Flavoured Oils

This is a very popular present for foody friends and relatives, and so easy to make. The trick to making these look good is to try and find interesting shaped bottles.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Rosemary, tarragon, chillies, tarragon, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian herbs
• Empty bottles
• Labels

Method:

1. Take labels off tall empty bottles, and run through dishwasher to ensure clean
2. Insert flavouring into the bottle, e.g. long sprigs of rosemary or tarragon, or chillies (go for a mix of green and red ones), or garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and Italian herbs.
3. Use a funnel to fill with olive oil and seal bottle with a cork.  Don’t leave much air between the oil and the cork.
4. Make decorative labels

#5. Martha Stewart’s Christmas Sugar Cookies

Download  the templates for these traditional Christmas Sugar Cookies from the Martha Stewart website.

And enjoy transforming simple sugar cookies into something magical. They almost look too good to eat! Perfect for homemade gifts.

Image from Martha Stewart.

#6. Peppermint Tree Ornaments

I love these cute Peppermint Tree Ornaments from hellohomebody. The kids might need some help getting these out of the oven, but they should be able to manage all the other steps easily.

These would make a lovely Christmas gift for friends or teacher.

Image from Hellohomebody

#7. Homemade Granola

This homemade Granola recipe makes a great alternative to shop-bought cereals, is easy to make and will keep in a jar for up to 2 weeks.

Just package up in a pretty kiln jar, decorate the jar and tie a festive ribbon around the top, and you’ve a lovely homemade food gift.

#8. Peanut Butter Fudge

Sophie Dahl’s homemade Peanut Butter Fudge recipe makes an easy sweet treat or a stunning edible gift. And it couldn’t be easier to make either, so is perfect for the kids. Just package up in a pretty box, or bag and you will have a tasty gift that anyone would enjoy.

Image via BBC Food

#9. Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is synonymous with Christmas, and this Cranberry & Orange sauce is super easy to make. Once package up in a pretty container, this would be a very welcome gift at Christmas.

Fresh cranberries start appearing in grocery stores around mid-November, so snap up a few bags and stash them in the freezer to make sure you have a supply ready for holiday cooking and baking.

#10. Marshmallows

This recipe from Purple Foodie uses a little bit of honey, and the kids will enjoy cutting them into cute shapes and bagging them up for gifts. Be warned though you may not be left with too many to gift, as they kids sample their products!

Image via Purple Foodie

To Finish Your Gifts

You’ve gone to all the trouble to make lovely home baked treats, so why not consider packaging them nicely for display? Kin Community has neat ideas in this video.

You can then finish your presents off with some Homemade Christmas Tags. And this is a good website for labels, printables – most of them free to download.

Over to you! Have you made any of these, or do you have ideas for any Christmas Food Gifts? Let us know in the comments.