It’s hard to believe that the year is half over and that Christmas is only 6 months from now. Holy cow! If you know me from my guest appearances on Knitting Pipeline podcast or follow the KP group on Ravelry, then you probably know that I love to give unique handmade gifts. I typically find one or two items that I can produce en masse and give to everyone at Christmastime. Pinterest has made searching for ideas both easier and overwhelming. Pinterest also makes it easy to save ideas throughout the year, sort of like a knitting pattern queue.
Finding something that will appeal to everyone can be challenging, but once I choose the project, I can usually save money and time by making a lot of them at once. For instance, I might want to package my gifts in Mason jars, typically sold by the dozen. Buying a whole dozen jars only to use seven of them means I’d have five jars sitting around until next year. It’s not such a big deal if it’s just a few jars, but it’s a different story for ingredients with a shelf life. The ever-popular handmade bath and body products use oils and butters that can turn rancid after a while; being able to use up more of the bulk ingredients reduces leftovers, and therefore, waste. Simply planning the number of people to give the items to and/or tweaking the recipes can reduce waste as well as cost per gift. That’s something to keep in mind.
I thought I’d post a super simple idea to get the ball rolling. I chose to highlight this idea because it actually has to do with summer and 4th of July (US Independence Day). Traditional chocolate bark is made with melted chocolate spread out in a thin layer with add-ins (nuts, peppermint, etc.) sprinkled on top. After it cools, the whole pan of chocolate is broken up into big chunks. Well, by molding it in an ice cube tray or silicone mold, you get a festive presentation as well as great portion control. After reading this post a couple of years ago, I found a set of three star-shaped ice cube trays on clearance at Wal-Mart in July for only 50 cents. (Think outside the box. Not all things for Christmas are marketed as Christmasy.)
Here are a few recipes to stir up some inspiration:
Trail Mix Bites: This was the inspiration for today’s post. I whipped up a small batch of these yesterday to try them out. I melted about 6 oz. of white chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave. Then I poured blobbed it into a quart-sized freezer bag. After snipping off a tiny corner of the bag, I piped the chocolate into the wells of the ice cube tray. The sweetness of the white chocolate is a little overpowering, so filling each well no more than 1/2 full is recommended. With half a bag of chocolate chips, I managed to make about 12 stars. (There are 14 stars per tray.) Once the chocolate was piped in, I dropped in almonds, dried cranberries, and salted sunflower seeds. (If you have a favorite trail mix, that would be a good place to start.) Just be sure that each nut/fruit/seed is touching the melted chocolate; use a toothpick to poke them down into the chocolate if necessary. This might even allow you to add more trail mix. If you’re impatient like me, you can pop these into the fridge or freezer. I think mine were hardened enough after 30-45 minutes in the fridge. My ice cube trays are just plastic, not silicone, but they do have a bit of “give” to them. I was able to press the underside of each star to pop it out of the mold.
A couple of tips:
I thought placing one or two nuts or cranberries in the tray before adding the chocolate would be a good idea: I was wrong.
A good balance of color, crunch, chewiness, and saltiness will make these turn out best.
I bought my almonds from Amazon. A (giant, yes) 4-pound bag costs about $27 after Subscribe & Save discounts. If you do a lot of baking, you might want to check Amazon. (And even though it’s a subscription, you can schedule it for every 6 months and then change it or even cancel it. You still get the discount.)
Give large nuts a rough chop before adding them to the chocolate. You’ll be able to fit more trail mix into each star and it will be easier to bite into.
Gourmet Chocolate Heart Candies: Aren’t these adorable?
Peppermint Bark: There are tons of recipes for peppermint bark out there. Before I make these, I think I’ll compare recipes across the web to get an idea of the right proportion of candy cane to chocolate. And then have fun taste-testing on my own.
(I’m also dying to try these English Toffee Bites, but I don’t think my ice cube trays would tolerate the heat very well; a silicone tray would work better.)
Now, I don’t recommend making edible gifts 6 months ahead of time. It is a great idea, however, to start trolling Pinterest for ideas. And by all means, if you’re thinking of making non-perishable crafts, the sooner you start, the better!
Have you started planning your Handmade Christmas list yet? I’d love to hear your ideas!
You are so creative! I just started a knit hat for Christmas, but I was toying around with this being the year of mittens. One thing I’ve noticed is that my handmade gifts (e.g. peppermint bark) are definitely not cost-saving, but that is not the point. I would love to create a clever ornament and reproduce it for my younger relatives to save for their Christmas trees.
I admit that a lot of my gifts don’t save me money, either. Giving a unique handmade gift is what is important to me. However, if I know I’m going to spend money on something handmade, I want to save as much as possible.
It’s great that you’ve started your Christmas knitting! Hats and mittens make fantastic gifts. (Have you seen my Quiver Mitts pattern? I give options for fingerless, convertible, and regular mittens. Just throwing that out there.) Cowls are great, too, especially since you don’t have to worry so much about sizing.
I love cool ornaments. Are you thinking about knitting them or using some other craft?