This Christmas, give your beloved friends and family a thoughtful, inexpensive gift that'll keep on giving in the months to come: made-from-scratch vanilla extract. This recipe, which calls for only two ingredients and less than five minutes of prep, isn't just functional — it's also pretty and long-lasting. Watch the video to find out how to prolong the life of your homemade vanilla extract and how to package it as a beautiful gift for the holidays.
As soon as the holiday season arrives, my first stop is Trader Joe's for a box of the Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, which are essentially Double Stuf Oreos with pieces of crushed peppermint candy inside the cream filling. Given the insanely addictive quality of these cookies, I knew this year I had to incorporate them into a holiday gift.
Easy to make and beautiful to bestow, these snappy chocolate clusters are packed with crushed Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, then sprinkled with colorful peppermint pieces. I used a high-quality dark chocolate, but if tempering seems too difficult or too tedious, these candies can be made using hard chocolate shell too.
To package these clusters for the holidays, simply wrap up six in a cellophane bag, tie it with festive ribbon, and encourage your gift recipient to eat these cooling clusters frozen.
Click here to start making peppermint cookies and cream clusters.
This holiday season, surprise your hostess with a bottle of homemade gin: it's quick, easy, and inexpensive. All you need to make this festive spirit is vodka, juniper berries, and the seasonings of your choice. Here, we show you a killer flavor combination that employs lavender, rosemary, and lemon peel. Check out this how-to below!
Low-effort yet luxurious, garlic confit (garlic stewed in fat — in this case, olive oil) is my favorite sort of edible gift. In addition to its ease of preparation, it's also a welcome respite from the deluge of holiday sweets — though I'm certainly not denouncing fudge, truffles, or holiday cookies. To top it off, garlic confit is the gift that keeps on giving, thanks to its highly adaptable nature.
Creamy and mellow, garlic confit shines wherever one might use roasted garlic. Try mashing it into butter (or the garlic oil it's packed in) and spreading it on a crusty baguette for extra-special garlic bread, add it to compound butter to top sizzling steak, whip it into mashed potatoes, blitz it with its oil for a pungent salad dressing, or tuck the cloves under the skin of roasted chicken. Its uses are near infinitesimal.
This holiday season, skip the scented candles, and concoct an air freshener that serves double duty: warmly spiced maple pecan granola.
As its exotic yet comforting perfume wafts from the oven, rest easy knowing that you're simultaneously setting yourself up for a week of enticing and low-fuss breakfasts (just add Greek yogurt), with plenty of granola on hand for snacks, or even jazzing up a bowl of store-bought ice cream.
Since it will be seemingly impossible to avoid candy this October, why not make your own? If you think the task of candy making seems daunting, complicated, and not worth the effort, then think again. Put the rumors to rest with these nine treats — like fluffy marshmallows, candied citrus peels, and chocolate bark — for a rather simple but sweet addition to your candy dish.
My dad is a jalapeño fiend who is known to order and hoard bowls of fresh and pickled jalapeños every time we go to a Mexican restaurant. For Father's Day, I thought I'd attempt to make a batch of homemade pickled jalapeños so my dad can get his spicy fix while he's eating chips and guacamole at home.
Sweet, tangy, and very spicy, these homemade jalapeños give Mexican restaurants a run for their money. Prepare to engage in some hee-hee-hoo-hoo breathing, because these jalapeños are the real, mouth-burning deal.
Serve these jalapeños on chips, dice them into homemade salsa, or wake up just about any Mexican fare with them. Stay cool by washing down these jalapeños with a refreshing, crisp Mexican beer. Ready to take on this super-picante recipe?
If you're hoping to add a personalized touch to your wedding, consider handing out house-made edibles as wedding favors. Depending on how many guests you're inviting, this might sound like a daunting endeavor, but we've got eight homemade ideas that can be easily multiplied for large groups. Click through to see them all.
Rather than share chocolates and champagne with your significant other or girlfriends on Valentine's Day, pair your bubbly with rose marshmallows instead. Making these fluffy, pillowy marshmallows can be a heart-pounding experiment that requires a little speed, yet the light, melt-in-your-mouth pockets are foolproof if you are prepared and have read the recipe several times.
If you are in a festive mood, use themed cookie cutters for adorable heart-shaped marshmallows. The scraps can easily be cut up into bite-sized pieces that are equally as enjoyable. For an even more decadent treat, dip the marshmallows in white chocolate fondue. Are you ready to add luscious, homemade marshmallows to your culinary repertoire?
Sugar cookies and peppermint bark are a dime a dozen during the holiday season, but this year, we've been bringing you some deliciously out-of-the-box edible gift ideas with our fourth annual 12 Days of Edible Gifts series. Haven't had time to whip up one of our easy, tasty ideas yet? If you've got 15 minutes and a handful of fiery peppers, we've got your answer: homemade hot sauce.
This recipe is so easy it almost can't be called a recipe, but your lucky recipients don't have to know that. It's also completely customizable: use whichever peppers you prefer (or whichever are easiest to get your hands on). Last year, I used a combination of green jalapeños and habaneros; the result was tangy, herbaceous, and blazing hot. This year's batch was made with ripe red jalapeños and red serranos, and while it still packs some heat, it's much milder and sweeter.
If you can't bear to give away all the fruits of your labor, you're in luck: the vinegar that rises to the top of the hot sauce as it cures can be skimmed off, bottled separately, and kept for yourself as a homemade Tabasco substitute.
Get ready to spice up your life — and get the recipe — after the break.
