20 Nov 2020
Vegan edible homemade gifts for Christmas 2021
Strawberry and Aronia Fruit Roll-Ups
With a shape similar to brandy snaps or classic French tuiles, our fruit roll-ups make an elegant gift for a snacking connoisseur.
If you have trouble getting hold of fresh strawberries this time of year, simply sub in frozen berries. Defrost them in the fridge overnight before you start the recipe.
These are best eaten fresh, so prep them just before you intend to give them. Alternatively, you can make them up to two weeks ahead and pop them in the freezer. Simply defrost before you gift.
How to wrap our fruit roll-ups
Our roll-ups look effortlessly elegant rolled into a square of greaseproof paper and tied with thin red ribbon or string. Alternatively, to give your edible homemade gifts the star treatment, tuck them into a small cigar box lined with greaseproof paper and finish with a festive bow.
Festive Dark Chocolate Bark
Chocolate bark is a classic Christmas gift - and so easy to make! In essence, all you need to do is select your favourite festive flavours and pepper them through indulgent dark chocolate.
What’s more, because you make our bark in a large slab which is then broken into shards, you can experiment with adding different toppings. Give them out to different people, or give everyone a selection of flavours.
For Christmas, we love adding dried cranberries, pistachios and candied orange peel to our chocolate bark.
How to wrap our Dark Chocolate Bark
Once you’ve broken your bark into shards, simply stack them into recyclable cellophane bags and tie with red ribbon. To avoid any melting, it’s best to store your bark shards cool, so don’t forget to tell the lucky recipient to store them in the fridge.
Gluten-free Amaranth Cookies
If you have children, or are likely to be entertaining some over the Christmas period, these biscuits are a lifesaver.
Simple and quick to make, they’re perfect for involving your little helpers. Assuming that any remain uneaten once completed, they make fantastic edible homemade gifts for friends and family.
As they’re made with amaranth flour, they’re also completely gluten-free. For additional Christmas spirit, our chef suggests adding cinnamon, cardamom and orange peel to the basic recipe.
Use Christmas cookie cutters to shape them into pine trees, reindeer, stars and snowflakes. Decorate with white icing, if you like.
Alternatively, throw caution to the wind and leave the kids to decorate with coloured icing and sprinkles.
The final cookies may not end up quite as elegant as yours, but they certainly will have provided a lovely afternoon activity for little hands.
How to wrap our Amaranth Cookies
Our amaranth cookies have a texture similar to a sugar cookie, so they hold their shape well and can easily be stacked. Recycle a biscuit tin and wrap with gift paper to help them stay fresh for longer. Out of all our edible homemade gifts, these cookies are the most hardy.
Alternatively, turn them into Christmas crackers by stacking a few cookies of the same shape. Roll the stack up in recyclable cellophane or a beeswax wrapper, leaving lots of free space on either side. Secure the cellophane with tape (you should now have a cylinder with two open ends).
Now, pick some festive twine or ribbon and tie it tightly around the open ends, as close as possible to the biscuits. Fluff out the remaining cellophane to create the shape of a Christmas cracker.
Chocolate plums
These delectable (and surprisingly healthy) treats may be novel to us, but they are a classic sweet treat in Poland. They are also extraordinarily easy to make and look like fancy chocolate truffles - with none of the effort required to produce them!
Simply dip high quality organic prunes into rich, dark chocolate. Sprinkle with a festive topping of your choice. Here, we've chosen nuts, but a clever idea would be to make a large batch and choose a few different toppings. You could try drizzling with white chocolate, dusting with freeze-dried raspberry powder, or sprinkling with crunchy seeds. Then, divide your chocolate plums into individual gifts with a few of each type.
How to wrap our chocolate plums
As a healthier alternative to truffles, it seems only right to use the same amount of fanfare for our chocolate plums. We love to pop each one into a petit-four case (which looks like a tiny muffin case) and nestle them into individual boxes. It's best to keep them on a single layer, to prevent sticking.
You can pick up little favour boxes from art and craft shops, or even search YouTube for tutorials on how to make your own gift boxes at home to your exact specifications!
Tuscan almond biscotti
The legend goes that these crisp and delicious biscuits were invented to provide energy for armies on the move. Nowadays, they're a lovely, elegant gift which makes a perfect partner for a cup of espresso or a glass of vinsanto!
'Biscotti' literally translates as 'twice baked'. The recipe involves first creating a large loaf shape from the dough, before slicing and baking each biscuit individually. That is the only complicated part of the recipe, however! The dough itself is a cinch and comes together in minutes.
We flavour ours with a classic Italian almond, inspired by traditional Tuscan recipes. However, feel free to experiment with flavours. Dried cranberries and white chocolate chips would be a delicious flavour combination for the holidays, with the bright red berries standing out like jewels.
How to wrap our almond biscotti
Moisture is the enemy of biscotti, as they lose their characteristic crisp texture and become soggy if exposed to too much moist air. An airtight container is best for these. Many bakers swear by lining the tin with kitchen paper to soak up any moisture that manages to get inside, and inserting a piece of greaseproof paper between each biscuit to stop them sticking. Once safely stored, they'll keep safely for several days.
Thus our wrapping recommendation is to re-use an airtight biscuit tin or plastic container. Seal up your biscotti the day before you gift them and wrap the box normally with eco-friendly wrapping paper and a reusable fabric ribbon.
