Poor Santa» make your own gifts

Make Your Own Holiday Gift Baskets

PoorSanta — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:32:07 +0000

If you have several people you need holiday gifts for this year and more time than money on your hands, consider making some homemade gourmet or spa gift baskets. With proper planning, these impressive and thoughtful gifts, can be made at relatively low cost .

To effectively assemble a number of baskets at minimum cost, just takes a little planning. Adopting a less is more approach, will help ensure that you are able to maintain quality and attractiveness of presentation. Two-three well executed and packaged items can make a lovely gift.

Poor Santa has been able to find all necessary packaging materials for holiday gift baskets at local dollar stores. Most carry small baskets, gift bags, jars, cellophane wrap, tissue paper, tins, ribbons and gift tags. Of course you will probably not need all of these items for your project, planning ahead will avoid extraneous purchases.

Now for the contents of your holiday baskets…

For gourmet baskets consider these, as well as, your own specialties:
Homemade Jams or Jellies
Dessert breads
Cookies/Biscotti
Cocoa or Mulling spice mixes
Candies
Flavored syrups

Spa basket suggestions:
Bath Salts (Lavender Bath Salts)
Sachets
Candles
Cloved Fruits

To keep costs down, whenever possible, use seasonal ingredients for your baskets. If you have a favorite craft or recipe, try and integrate it into your baskets. When planning your Christmas gift baskets, the choice of contents is all up to you, but having a theme or at least assembling items which relate to each other, will ensure successful results.

Poor Santa’s Lemon-Walnut Biscotti

PoorSanta — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:24:40 +0000

Lemon Walnut Biscotti are a delicious addition to any holiday festivity. Here Poor Santa presents you with an elegant biscotti recipe which will yield gourmet results, and not hurt your wallet. The bright buttery lemon flavor of this biscotti, will stand out against the usual holiday cookies. Lemon Walnut Biscotti are great with tea, or as a light dessert after a rich meal, and make a wonderful hostess/Christmas gift.

Poor Santa’s Lemon-Walnut Biscotti

3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 stick room temp. unsalted butter (if you want to use salted only use 3/4tsp. of salt)
1 1/3 cups sugar
Shaved peel of 1 large lemon (or 2 small)
2 lg. eggs
all the juice of 1 large lemon (aprox. 3-4 tblsp.)
1 3/4 c. chopped walnuts (8oz. bag)
Confectioners sugar for dusting

1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. Beat butter, sugar, and lemon peel in separate bowl until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just to blend after each addition. Beat in lemon juice.
3. Slowly add flour mixture, while still beating, then stir in walnuts.
4. Split the dough into 3.
5. Use plastic wrap to help form dough into 8-inch-long logs. Flatten them slightly, to about 2 ½ inches wide.
6. Keep in plastic wrap and chill until firm, (min. 3 hours / max. 3 days)
7. Preheat oven to 325°F & line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. Transfer flattened dough logs to prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly.
9. Bake until golden brown and just firm to touch (approx. 45 min.).
10. Transfer to cooling rack , and allow to cool completely.
11. Lower oven temperature to 300°F.
12. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
13. Cut the logs crosswise into 3/4 to 1″ thick slices.
14. Arrange the slices on prepared baking sheets.
15. Bake until golden brown around edges ( approx. 20 min.).
16. Dust the biscotti with confectionary sugar while still warm. Allow to cool completely, before storing to ensure crispness of the biscotti.
These can be stored at room temp, in an airtight container, for several days.

Poor Santa’s Gourmet Banana Jam Recipe

PoorSanta — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:45:43 +0000

Banana Jam is a delicious and unusual gourmet Christmas gift, you can easily make yourself. Not only is this kind of jam not available commercially, but bananas are one of the few fruits which are still inexpensive in the colder months. Don’t be daunted by the canning process, it is really quite easy, especially for jams and jellies. Jelly jars can be purchased at most grocery and department stores and are not very expensive. They commonly come in boxes of twelve and include lids and blank labels.

Poor Santa’s Yummy Banana Jam Recipe for Christmas

3 quarts. (12 c.) sliced ripe bananas (approx. 12-14 bananas)
6c. Sugar
1 ½ c. orange juice (can be substituted with pineapple juice if you prefer)
¾ c. lemon juice
Optional: ½ tsp. cinnamon

Prep jars:
Place jars& lids in a large pan & just cover with water. Bring water just to a boil, then shut it off. Jars are now ready for use.

Make the jam:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large kettle or stockpot.

2. Place over medium heat & stir until sugar completely dissolves.

3. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened (approx. 15 min.)

4. Ladle jam into hot jars and seal.

5. You will know jars are sealed when you hear them “ping”, after this the lid will look pushed in, rather than bowing out.

These go great in gift baskets, since they don’t have to be refridgerated. They also make a nice gift, for a teacher, neighbor, postman or as a small hostess gift. Wrap it in tulle and add a bow for festive flair.

PS. This is great over ice cream or with biscotti, not just for PB&J.

Old Fashioned Salt Dough: A Fun and Inexpensive Christmas Craft

PoorSanta — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:02:27 +0000

Here is a fun Christmas craft, which is low cost and durable. Old fashioned salt dough makes for a great kid’s craft, and you get some very inexpensive holiday decorations, to boot. Kid’s can even make gifts for the family. Due to the high salt content, once dry the dough is hard and resistant to mold, decay & bacteria, so creations can be displayed for years.

Recipe for Old Fashioned Salt Dough

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

1 tbs. lemon juice (this can be omitted, if you don’t have any)

Mix all ingredients. Knead dough for about 10 minutes, then let stand for about 20 minutes. Now you are ready to model the dough.

Get creative, anything you could make with modeling clay or play dough, can be made with this, only these Christmas creations will last for years not hours. Try making Santa, candy canes, reindeer & Christmas trees, maybe you could make a whole manger scene. Cookie cutters & kid’s play dough equipment will work fine with the salt dough, but you will find your hands work best of all.When you have finished modeling your holiday creations, they need to dry. Either set them out in a warm dry spot for 2-3 days, or bake in the oven for 3-4 hours at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Once hardened, paint with inexpensive craft paint, then varnish or lacquer once the paint is fully dry. After the varnish dries, your Christmas craft is ready to display or gift.

Making Bath Salts for Holiday Gifts

PoorSanta — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:35:05 +0000

Bath salts make can a wonderful inexpensive holiday gift, especially when you make then yourself. This craft is easy enough to do with your kids this holiday season. This basic recipe can readily be adjusted to make orange, rose, peppermint or other scented bath salts, as well. Poor Santa gets tired after a long day in the toy shop, and loves the soothing smell of lavender bath salts during the Christmas season.

Poor Santa’s Lavender Bath Salts Recipe

2 c. epsom salts

2 c. Sea salt

½ c. baking soda

15 drops of lavender essential oil

¼ c. dried lavender blossoms (if not readily available, or you prefer not to use them, substitute a 3-4 drops of purple food coloring)

1. Mix salts together, then mix in baking soda.

2. Add essential oil (and food coloring if not using blossoms) and mix well.

3. Stir in blossoms

4. Fill jars or cellophane bags with salts. Cork or tie with ribbon. Label.