Eat Free. Live Free. G Free.  

Homemade GF Food Gifts for the Holidays by Carol Fenster

by info@gfreecuisine.com 14. December 2009 07:22
Here are some easy ideas for little gifts that are sure to make the recipient grateful and won't break the piggy bank this holiday season.

Homemade Baked Goods
Make the batter for muffins or cakes, but divide it into mini-loaf pans (about 6 x 3 or so); most of my recipes make 3 or 4 loaves. Bake, cool, and wrap in plastic wrap,  tie with a pretty ribbon, with instructions for how to reheat and serve, etc. Better yet, give the loaf still in the pan, so the recipient gets a new pan to use as well. When I give dinner parties for gluten-free friends, I often send them home with a mini-loaf of quick bread for breakfast the next day.

Homemade Mixes
Choose a baked item that you know the recipient loves (quick breads or cakes work great). Assemble the dry ingredients in a glass jar that's just barely big enough to hold everything, laying the ingredients to show pretty layers of color. Then add individual layers of the add-ins, such as dried cranberries and nuts. Screw the lid on, cover  the lid with a circle of pretty fabric or paper,and tie a bow around it with kitchen twine or pretty ribbon. Attach the directions for adding the liquid ingredients and baking. While you're at it, mix up at batch of the dry ingredients for yourself and keep it on your pantry shelf for unexpected events. Right now, I have a mix for Cranberry-Nut-Orange Muffins in my pantry, ready for those unexpected house guests who love something warm and comforting from my oven.

Homemade Granola
Choose gluten-free rolled oats (Bob's Red Mill, Cream Hill Estates, Gluten-Free Oats, Gifts of Nature, Farm Pure or Only Oats) to make Granola. Better yet, include a package of GF rolled oats and the recipe so the lucky recipients can make their own granola next time.

Homemade Seasoning Blends
Seasoning blends add such wonderful flavor to our food. When giving several gifts of seasoning blends, it is often cheaper to buy all the individual ingredients and mix them yourself. Here is a recipe for Pumpkin Pie Spice that will be handy for the bakers on your list: 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Save your old glass spice jars throughout the year and you have the perfect container. Tie the jar with a pretty ribbon. You'll find other recipes for seasoning blends in my books, Gluten-Free Quick & Easy and 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes.

Homemade Vanilla
Cook's Illustrated, magazine rated McCormick pure vanilla extract the best. But, they make their own vanilla which is so easy and about half of the cost. (I do it all the time): Split a fresh vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Put both in a glass jar (with a tight-fitting lid) and add 3/4 cup of heated (not but boiling) vodka. Let it cool to room temperature and then screw on the lid. Store at room temperature for one week. Strain the vodka and store in a dark, dry place. Use it in the same amount of store-bought vanilla. (NOTE: Scientists say that vodka is a distilled alcohol and therefore gluten-free; gluten cannot survive the distillation process. If you are unconvinced, there are many gluten-free brands, according to www.ClanThompson.com: Absolut, Gordons, Luksosowa, Skyy, Smirnoff, Tanqueray..... to name just a few.)

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

E-mail | Kick it! | DZone it! | del.icio.us
Permalink | Comments (311) | Post RSSRSS comment feed

Comments

Add comment


 

biuquote
  • Comment
  • Preview
Loading



About the Authors

Ann Bender & Karen Hutcherson
Marketers by profession, both Ann and Karen have a fondness for good food and healthy cooking. They understand the importance of the nightly family dinner and developed Relish! a premier menu-planning service (relishrelish.com). Relish! received hundreds of requests to offer the same type of service but to make it gluten-free. Because of the complexity of the product, they solicited the help of gluten-free cooking expert, Carol Fenster, to provide all of the recipes and many of her famous bread and dessert recipes!