Homemade hampers - inspiration?

[Wigeon]

Posted this on the Poncetastic thread but I am clearly not in their league as no one replied to this amateur ponce attempt. Trying again!

Am making some little hampers for some relatives. Have made so far:

Spiced apple chutney (homegrown apples - extra points on the ponce-o-meter?).

Er, that's it.

Am also planning:

Sweet spicy pecans (cinnamony / nutmegy - DH colleague has fantastic recipe).

What else? I need specific tried-and-tested recipes please ather than just "oh, something boozy"! Thinking of doing dry cookie ingredients layered in a jar with raffia-tied wooden spoon (as per a thread last year here) - would that just look like powder in a jar? Also saw a piccalilli on River Cottage which looked tasty.

Last year we did homemade hampers of: red onion marmelade, Nigella cheat's fudge, sloe gin, Christmassy biscotti (already been linked to above - were very good), all packaged and wrapped up prettily - was quite proud of myself as not natural ponce!

Any ideas for this year's hampers?

[lilmamma]

no ideas,but just to let you know all sounds lovely,ita lovely present as so much thought has gone into it,well done you.

I made choc santas for the pensioners party in my sons school,they do down well.simple,a walnut whip,draped in red icing,and then decorated,and put on a small Christmas cake board and wrapped in Christmas cellulode,and a bow..ps remove nut before hand,the dog had all ours lol .

[AttillaTheHan]

Last year I did similar hampers. As far as I can remember I did;
Fruit in rum (just got frozen berries -defrost first, and covered in rum, great once they have been kept for a month, served over ice cream)

Fruit and nut chocolate (pecans, walnuts, apricots, cranberries etc laid on greasproof paper covered baking tray with chocolate poured over top to half cover them, then drizzling white chocolate over the top to decorate, broken into pieces when set.

Chilli and tomato jam (plenty of recipes to be found if you google)

I also tailored the hampers a bit to individual taste so for my brother (cheese lover) included homemade rosemary crackers and a wedge of stilton.
My sister (coffee lover) had good coffee and some small bottles of flavoured syrups.

If I manage to remember any more things I will let you know.

[Wigeon]

Lovely ideas! I like the fruit in rum and fruit and nut chococlate - easy but impressive! Also good idea to mix in some shop-bought things (think the penny has dropped that this wouldn't be cheating, it would be nice!)

Thank you!

[gillybean2]

Check out the recipe's section if you want tried and tested recipes.
Ok for ideas...
How about chilli vodka - decant vodka into a nice clear bottle and add chillis. Gives a destinct taste though often gets milder with time. Ponce factor can be gained by growing your own chillis

Chocolate truffles - whatever recipe you like

Fruit cake - again whatever recipe you like

Cystalised peel - 3 oranges, 2 lemons 15g bicarb, 750g granulated sugar - let me know if you want the recipe as it's lengthy

Cumberland rum butter - 1225g softened butter, 350g soft brown sugarm 125ml rum, ground cinnamon. Again will post recipe if you're interested. but it's pretty straight forward

petticoat tails - my best recipe comes from mrs beaton (assume you have a copy if you're being ponce...?)

[asdx2]

how about lemon curd? I love homemade lemon curd.

[tassisssss]

Nigella's pink grapefruit marmalade is lovely.

There's a white choc and cranberry fudge recipe on here that's much nicer IMO than Nigella's pistachio one.

[moosemama]

Not sure I can add much, there have already been some lovely suggestions.

The mix in a jar can look lovely if you layer it up nicely, but you have to pack it well and consider what layer to put in where so that it doesn't settle or mix. There's a nice recipe for christmas muffins in a jar here and this site has quite a few ideas for gifts in a jar as well. Also lots of ideas for different truffles, chocolates and fudges if you search on google - or even better youtube as then you get a tutorial on how to do it and how the end result should look.

We are also doing hampers that sound remarkably similar to yours, with:

Christmas morning muffin mix in a jar
Spiced apple chutney
Spiced apple crumble in a jar with crumble topping in a pretty cello bag
Individual christmas cakes
Variety of chocolate truffles
Shortbread and choc-dipped shortbread
Home made christmas decorations salt dough and felt
Small stocking filler type gift for each of the children in each house

Ours are complicated by the fact that we have both gluten free and dairy intolerant people in the family. I'm trying to keep it fairly simple so I can adapt the recipes where needs be.

By the way, D0G is too modest, she gave me the idea for making my truffles more fesive by using edible glitter.

[Wigeon]

Thank you very much everyone! I will digest (hollow laugh) and plan!

[DandyDan]

Home-made toffee. Very easy to make.

Lemon curd.

[Wigeon]

Ooh, home-made toffee, yum - do you have a fail-safe recipe? I assume a sugar themometer isn't essential?

[pepperonipizza]

I would agree with lemon curd, really easy to make (nigella recipe good) and delicious. If I was receiving a hamper I'd also really like a bottle of cava or prosecco (for added touch if ponce!). Bubbles are always welcome! Nice olive oil good too, doesn't need to be expensive particularly. And how about a nice bread mix (if recipient has bread maker). Also, proper leaf tea. I've just come back from living in Australia for a couple of years and they love their leaf tea over there. There must be a website in uk that gas a nice selection of leaf teas (not just fruit tea or black tea, I have discovered a world of subtle flavours that are delicious, never thought I'd get into it. Sounding super-poncey now!!).

There, I feel I have surpassed myself! Will be making hampers for chrissy pressies next year for sure!!

Oh, and do you fancy posting the recipe for the spicy sweet nuts? Sound yum!!

[Wigeon]

Pepperoni - do you fancy making me a hamper this Chrismas?!

Here is the nut recipe. I haven't actually made it myself, but a friend made it for us last year and it was delicious, so I'm making it this year.

1 lb pecan halves
1 egg white (room temperature)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar

Mix the sugar and spices together and set aside.

Beat egg white till stiff. Beat in 1 tbsp water and beat again till stiff. Add pecans and toss with a fork till well coated. Put egg-coated pecans into sugar mix and mix well.

Bump re home-made toffee ?
Spread out on a baking sheet and cook for 1 hour at 250 degrees. Separate nuts when slightly cooled.

[pepperonipizza]

Oooh thanks. Will be testing that out this weekend!