What the Perfect Hostess Wants
Gift giving season is here! Though you may be starting out with ambitions of delicately curated homemade gifts, come the week of all your parties (if you’re anything like us) you probably haven’t had time to deliver on your goal.
Not to fear though, we are helping you do more without the stress this year with a few easy, homemade, holiday gifts that you can take to all of your parties this season! Little jars of Eggnog Drinking Chocolate, Peppermint Pinky Bath Salts and Ginger Molasses Cookies each add a festive twist to hostess gifts during the holidays – and we’ll even offer up suggestions for packaging!
Item:
Warm Eggnog Drinking Chocolate
For zero-proof sipper, dessert, or wonderful vehicle for rum
Makes:
8 cups
Total time:
25 minutes
What You Need:
227 grams heavy cream
67 grams corn syrup
933 grams white chocolate
3 grams vanilla bean
267 grams soft butter
227 grams eggnog
What to Do:
1. Bring the cream, eggnog, corn syrup and vanilla to a boil.
2. Pour over white chocolate chips.
3. Mix together with an immersion blender, and when the mixture reaches 90 degrees, add the soft butter.
4. Jar immediately, while it is still slightly warm.
5. This is the consistency of a soft spread, such as Nutella. You can warm one part ganache
6. to three parts milk of your choice for the drinking ganache. You control how rich you’d like it to be.
How to Package Your Gift:
A 4 or 8 oz Mason jar is the perfect vessel for your eggnog drinking chocolate. We like adding a sticker that doubles as a label to the tops of ours along with a heating instructions label to the bottom.
Item:
Peppermint Pinky Bath Salts
(For soaking in after the party)
Makes:
1 cup
Total time:
5 minutes
What You Need:
1/3 cup of pink Himalayan salt
1/3 cup of sea salt
1/3 cup of Epsom salt
1 teaspoon of crushed pink peppercorns
4 drops of essential peppermint oil (or essential oil of your choice)
What to Do:
1. In a wooden or ceramic bowl, stir salts and crushed pink peppercorns together.
2. Add the peppermint oil and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour into your bag or glass jar and close tightly.
4. Add 2-3 tablespoons of salt to hot bathwater and enjoy!
How to Package Your Gift:
We love packaging our pinky bath salts in an apothecary jar or test tube! We’ve found that adding a cork to the top of the test tube is a creative way to keep the contents contained. For an extra dose of festive, add a ribbon in a coordinating color.
Item:
Ginger Molasses Cookies
(you can never have just one)
Makes:
25 to 30 small sandwich cookies
What You Need:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
1 tablespoon honey
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger root
2-1/4 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
What to Do:
To make the cookies: In the bowl of a standing kitchen mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the butter, brown sugar, and sugar at medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the egg, molasses, honey, vanilla extract and freshly grated ginger root and continue to mix until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and whip for 1 minute at medium speed. In a separate bowl, sift together the pastry flour, baking soda, cinnamon, powdered ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and pepper. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-molasses mixture and mix well, scraping down the bowl several times with a rubber spatula. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. It’s best overnight. Scoop the cookies into 1-inch balls with a small ice cream scoop, and chill until ready to bake. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, cinnamon and sugar until well mixed. Remove cookie dough from refrigerator and roll the balls in cinnamon sugar, place onto parchment-lined sheet pans. Bake until just barely done, about 7 to 8 minutes. They will be slightly cracked on top.
To make the filling: In the bowl of a standing kitchen mixer with the whip attachment, whip cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.
When the cookies are cool, turn half of the cookies upside down. Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of filling, in a large dot, at the center of each cookie. Place the other half of the cookies on top, creating little sandwiches.
How to Package Your Gift:
Package your “crack cookies” in a cellophane bag with a cute tag!
