s/o cookie recipes... alternative holiday baking/gifting?

[Anonymous]

I've been wanting to bake some holiday cookies to give out (not doing any exhanges that I know of yet). This would be just a few, to family and maybe some friends. I am a teacher and want to also make for the office staff and my custodian. With all of the holiday indulgence though, I'm wondering if people would rather get something other than cookies (with fattening stuff accessible all the time this year). I'm trying to think of a different category of cooking that would be more healthy but still festive!

If anyone has done anything that fits into this category or has any tips, please share

[Anonymous]

If you want to do homemade, spiced nuts are a good and easy one. You can roast them in a combo of butter, sugar, salt, cinnamon (or other flavor combination that you like), or else there's a version that uses egg whites (for a more stable coating). It's pretty easy.

[Anonymous]

As alternatives, we've often made quick bread recipes and baked them in mini-muffin tins about the size of the Brownie Bites. You can make a few different flavors and then mix them up. I get airtight containers at the dollar store to put them in for gifting. The plastic ones that have holiday tops work great for gifting.

Some that we've made:
- Banana-Nut
- Orange-Pecan (this is wonderful)
- Cinnamon Swirl (half batter in all cups, then cinnamon sugar, then rest of batter, use a chopstick or wooden skewer to swirl)
- Pumpkin

It makes a nice alternative to cookies, we've found. We've gotten nice reactions to them.

[Anonymous]

Both of these sound fantastic!!! Thank you! I will experiment

-OP

[Anonymous]

Pralines have been my most successful food gift-at least among my family and friends they are considered unusual and addictive. I used the recipe in Art Smith's Back to the Table cookboook.

[Anonymous]

Home made granola is easy and a delicious gift. Tons of recipes online for it.

[Anonymous]

13:05 again. The last two posts also reminded me that I've made both nut brittle which is also popular. When you make it yourself, you can use tree nuts such as pecans or almonds instead of peanuts. Quite good. Also, I've made toffee, chocolate brittle as well.

[Anonymous]

Layering a pretty glass jar w/ the dry ingredients for a baking recipe and typing a ribbon around it w/ a copy of the recipe to be made.

[Anonymous]

pears!

[Anonymous]

Nut brittle. Peppermint bark.

Biscotti is my signature cookie for gifting: People think it's something special, when in reality, it's no harder to make than drop cookies.
This is the recipe I use (altering, of course, to add nuts, cranberries, ginger, etc.):

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/american-style-vanilla-biscotti-recipe

[Anonymous]

Simply recipes had a recipe for sesame brittle recently that looked really good.

[Anonymous]

Tapenade/olive spread. Easy to make (esp with a food processor), give it as a gift along with a box of Carr's crackers. Delicious.

[Anonymous]

Homemade cracker, graham crackers, english muffins (though wouldn't stay fresh long).