Holiday recipe baking can be fun for the whole family. There comes a time you will want to send your special baked recipe to your relatives, the troops serving our country or even an elderly shut in. This helpful guide will help you with recipes that pack well and will end up in the perfect condition you sent them in.
Containers
- Jars
- Tins (they come round, square, shapes)
- Plastic
- Boxes
- Baskets
Decorating
If the baked goods are the celebration of a holiday event, choose festive colors. Tins come decorated, boxes and jars can be decorated with bows, stickers. Simple is better. Even a strip of holiday wrapping paper, wrapped around your box or jar, tied with a festive ribbon; add a tag that states who the recipe is from. Even a decorative recipe card with the recipe on it, makes an attractive statement.
Plastic bags can be used as liners for your tins and boxes. Use a twisty tie to close. Cookies and candies can be inserted individually in bags, with ribbons for decorating the tree.
Aluminum foil wrap cookies candy, breads from a bread machine, and cakes in aluminum foil after baking to keep moisture in your baked goods, the flavor and breads will flavor the baked goods even further. The aluminum also protects the baked goods for shipping
Shipping
After your baked goods have been wrapped in their holiday festive wrappings, you still have to pack them for shipping. The key is to make sure your shipping box is big enough to put added shock absorbent around your baked goods. Packing peanuts, bubble wrap, you can even get these free from some local business that get shipments every day, would be glad to give you a big box of packing material. Just don’t skimp on this.
Recipes
Sugared Pecans
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 cups pecan halves
- Boil sugar, water, butter until thermometer reads 238 degree
- Pour In pecans, stir constantly until syrup begins to harden.
- Turn out quickly onto wax paper. Separate the halves and let cool.
Salted Pecans
Place any amount of pecan halves in shallow pan with enough melted butter to moisten all. Roast in 300 degree oven until nuts are light brown, turning from time to time for even roasting. Remove sprinkle with salt, cool. Store in tightly covered container.
Peanut brittle
- 3 cups sugar
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1 13-0z can salted peanuts
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp soda
- 1 tsp water
Butter 2 cookie sheets
Cook sugar, corn syrup, water together in 3-quart sauce pan, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then simmering over low heat until candy thermometer reads 270.
Add peanuts and butter, continue cooking until thermometer reads 300 degree. Remove from heat, add soda dissolved in the teaspoon of water- when foaming has almost stopped, pour out onto the cookie sheets, spread thin and let cool. Break into pieces-quite large pieces to allow for some breaking in traveling… Pack in decorative boxes and use ample wax paper for tight as possible packing. This recipe keeps well and packs well. And is so delicious.
Candy cane cookies
- 2/3 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp soda
- 1 ¾ – 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter, sugar, egg, add vanilla. Stir in sifted dry ingredients by hand. Chill dough about 1 hour. Then roll small portions at a time into shape of pencil… cut 5-inch strips and place on greased cookie sheet. Bend strip over at top to look like a cane.
Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees make 60 candy canes.
Cool and decorate with tinted frosting or colored sugar.
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