21 of the Best Holiday Food Gifts
During the holidays we all need gift ideas! Check out this post for 21 of the best holiday food gift ideas!
I love this time of year for many reasons – one of them being the endless options of gifts you can give that involve food! I’ve compiled 21 of the best holiday food gifts; for the record, I’ve given every single one of these as a gift at one point in time and would do/will do so again in a heartbeat.
While they are all fantastic, a few standouts that I love gifting (uh, and getting) are a jar of hot fudge sauce tied with a simple ribbon or a savory cheeseball wrapped in saran wrap and a bow with a sleeve of crackers. Both are unique and delicious (p.s. my father-in-law used to make over 80 cheeseballs each holiday season to deliver to friends and neighbors; he kind of became known as the cheeseball guy). I also love the cookie dough tins, allowing your recipient to bake cookies anytime they want them and the giant cinnamon rolls are spectacular also (you can bake these in disposable aluminum pans, leave the cinnamon roll in the pan, and give the baked roll with simple instructions on how to warm up and enjoy).
Enjoy these ideas. I hope they help you as you give food gifts this holiday season!
Happy holiday baking and gift-giving!
Perfection. I will email you my address.
Would the chocolate chip treasure cookies work for the cookie tins or is the dough too soft to roll into balls?
Missy – unfortunately, I think the dough would be too soft for the cookie dough tins, darn it!
Wow…I want to make every single recipe! Thanks for compiling this list, Mel!
I just love what you do! I hope you make a bunch of money and get tons of joy from it! These ideas are wonderful. I LOVE the cookie dough balls! Such a practical idea! I love your regular recipes, too. Butter chicken, turkey/sweet potato soup, etc. make regular rounds in our mealtimes. Also loved the post on how you make the steel cut oats. They were a hit.
Merry Christmas!
Sharlin Wieland
Hi Mel- Thanks so so much for all these ideas. Our family has tried to really simplify things in the last couple of years and food gifts are the perfect way to give a little remembrance to people without having to worry about malls and stores and lines and getting a gift receipt., etc. I love to be in a warm kitchen baking away instead of being in a
slushy mall parking lot. literally can’t wait to make the homemade peppermint patties and the caramel corn.
I’m already getting tired of sweet things this season so the savory cheeseball caught my eye. I made it this evening to try them out and see if it was a contender for neighbor gifts. Oh my gosh, it’s the best cheeseball ever! I meant to just take a taste of one and have eaten 1/3 of it by myself. I keep getting it out of the fridge for one more taste! I am going to give them as gifts with a box of crackers. You said they freeze well. Any idea how long it will keep in the fridge? I want to make them up this weekend but may not deliver until mid-week. How long will they last?
Jen – I’ve made these a week in advance and kept them in my fridge until I could deliver (and some don’t get delivered for 10 days and all reports say they are still fantastic). As long as your ingredients are fresh and not close to expiration, you should be good especially if you are delivering them within a week.
These are fabulous food gift ideas, Mel! Absolutely love it. I give homemade gifts every year to my neighbors and friends, and these would all be such a hit!
I’m on a mobile phone and Any picture I click goes to the dolce de leche 🙁
Ok, friends, I just edited the post so all the links should work no matter what device you are using. Love ya!
I’m back! I’m on my laptop using Chrome and the links are working just fine here. I’m debating between the cheeseball, the hot chocolate balls and the butter toffee popcorn…plus some salted peanut nutella chex mix that I recently tried 🙂
I saw several things I’ll probably make from your gift ideas. They all look great. The dulce de leche and caramel sauces look especially appealing, and so do the candies.
One other thing I’m making is a copycat Zingerman’s sour cream coffee cake for a friend who mentioned he’s craving it. They cost way too much to order one, so my friend will have to make do with a copycat homemade version. I got the box and everything I need to make it so I’m ready.
Great round up! Edible gifts are one of my favorite things to give…and, maybe to receive too 🙂
I made the pretzel toffee for teacher’s as well & it was very well recieved. My kids were getting compliments for a few days! Cinnamon roll popcorn is next on my list!
These look fabulous! My links are to the wrong recipes, as well. If I needed the recipes right now, I wouldn’t let that stop me, though! This morning I needed a last-minute teacher gift, and your recipe for chocolate pretzel bark was the solution. I had it made, cooled, packaged and ready to give in time for school! Thanks, Mel! You are my go-to recipe girl, and you never let me down!
Catherine (and others), unfortunately, these pretty little clickable collages don’t like to work quite as well on small devices. I’m working on a fix but until then, the links should work fine on a computer or iPad. Sorry about that!
We made your cookie dough fudge for cookie plates last year, and they were a huge hit! Thanks for all these Mel! You Rock!
This is the best timing ever! I’m about to do some baking for the neighbors but hadn’t decided what yet. Now I have even more options to decide between…but yum! Maybe I’ll have to do something different for each neighbour so I can sample multiple recipes 😉
I’m using my phone so it’s possible a real computer will solve my problems, but the photos I’ve clicked have not led to the correct recipes – for instance the chocolatey balls near the bottom led me to the blondies in a jar, and the second cheeseball to the thin mints (I double checked in case I had actually tapped the thin mints, but nope!). I will try on my laptop later.
You’re wonderful! (And how I wish I was on your gift recipient list!)
THANK YOU!!!!!
Some of these are on my to do list for this weekend. Thanks for all the great recipes Mel!
Wonderful gift ideas, Mel! Many people’s credit card bills would be a whole lot lower if they gave these gifts of love coming straight from their heart. Love that the food gifts cover every skill level from the very easy to the little more complicated or time consuming.
Awesome round up. You have such great recipes and gift ideas not just for Christmas but all year through! 🙂