If you like baking around the holidays or enjoy creating heartfelt gifts for the important people in your life, why not share some joy with edible holiday gifts this season? Homemade treats are a fun way to show friends, family, clients, and coworkers you care. Best of all, you can accomplish really easy desserts at home, even if you don’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen.
Chocolate Bark
Chocolate bark is one of the easiest treats to make and share. After melting your favorite kind of chocolate, spread it over parchment paper. Before it sets, add toppings like crushed peppermint candy, chopped nuts, and sprinkles, or swirl with other ingredients like peanut butter. Once your chocolate is set, start breaking it up into chunks. Then, all you need to complete the gift is to wrap your bark.
Chocolate-Covered Pretzels
This is another really easy treat that everyone on your list is sure to love. Chocolate-covered pretzels are the perfect combination of salty and sweet, whether you purchase pre-made pretzels or choose to make your own from scratch. Once you have your pretzels, use colored candy melts to drizzle over your preferred shape. You can also add sprinkles, crushed candies, or other toppings for a little bit of flair.
Cake Pops
Believe it or not, cake pops are actually pretty easy to make on your own. Once you have a cake baked, crumble it up, mix it with frosting, and form it into little balls. Insert lollipop sticks into the end of each ball and then dip the balls into candy melts to get that signature cake pop outer coating. Even if you’re not the best at decorating, you can turn cake pops into holiday creations. You can use candies, pretzels, icing, and other toppings to make holiday ornaments, snowmen, and even reindeer. For gifting, bundle up your cake pops and tie them with ribbon to make a bouquet.
Holiday Cookies
Cookies are a classic holiday treat. When it comes to gifting them to others, you can bake them yourself or even buy plain cookies and decorate them using royal icing or frosting. You can also do a spin on cookie gifting by making a cookie mix in a jar. Layer all the dry ingredients for your favorite cookie recipe into a decorative jar. Then, write up a recipe card with other ingredients and instructions and attach it to the jar. Recipients can then enjoy the process of baking cookies themselves.
Holiday Cupcakes
Cupcakes are a good idea for edible Christmas gifts because they’re pretty easy to bake and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t like them. Chocolate, vanilla, white, or red velvet are simple to make and crowd-pleasers, but you can experiment with holiday flavors like peppermint, pumpkin, eggnog, and more. After your cupcakes are cooled, it’s time to decorate. You can frost them to look like a tree with some piping and colored candy gems or use chocolate chips and cream cheese frosting to make snowmen faces. Pack them up in a nice box and they’re ready to gift.
Get Inspired at Frost Artisan Bakery
Want other ideas for easy holiday treats to make for gifts or just don’t want to bake your own treats? Stop by Frost Artisan Bakery in the historic Niagara Corridor. We have holiday gift baskets and gift cards available outside of our freshly baked pastries and confections. Next time you want to talk desserts, visit us or get in touch.
