Awesome, Home-Made Last Minute Gifts – Part 2

You can totally whip up some fancy gifts at home. Part 1 was all about sweet treats. Today, we show you some DIY aromatic delicacies to give away during holiday season to surprise your loved ones.

Aromatic Pasta Sauce With Noodles
You’ll need:
(makes about 0.5l)

• 850g tomatos
• 1 small onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1½ Tbsp olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, salt, lemon juice, pepper
• a pinch of sugar
• 250g pasta (of your choice)

Directions:
Start by blanching your tomatoes. This makes peeling easier. Chop the tomatoes into cubes, then peel the onion and garlic and chop finely. Heat the olive oil in a big pot and lightly sautee the onions and garlic. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 60 minutes on medium heat while stirring regularly. For the last 20 minutes, add the herbs. Season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar and a dash of lemon juice. When the sauce is ready, discard the bay leaf (and other, bigger leaves if using fresh herbs) and bottle your sauce. Immediately seal the bottle and leave to cool. When sealed airtight and stored in a dark, cool place the pasta sauce will be good for about 2 to 3 months.

Every great sauce calls for pasta–wrap 250g of noodles of your choice (maybe you can get your hands on some Christmas-themed pasta) in cellophane as an addition to your homemade pasta sauce.

Delicious Bread Rolls & Stars
You’ll need:

• 250g whole spelt flour (or 125g spelt flour + 125g whole spelt flour)
• 250g curd
• 1-2 eggs
• 1 sachet baking powder (15g or approx. 2 Tbsp)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp bread spice mix (optional).
• 80ml buttermilk
• decorate with: rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, sesame, poppy seeds (to taste)
• cut out with: differently sized cookie cutters (e.g. stars)

Directions:
For these delicious bread rolls, knead together the flour, curd, eggs, baking powder, salt, bread spice mix and buttermilk. Split the dough into several pieces (depending on the desired size of your bread rolls). If you want to try stars, form dough balls then press down with your hand. Use a large, star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out stars. Use another, smaller star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the hole in the middle of your stars. Knead together what’s left of your dough and use for another bread roll. Place the stars and rolls on a lined baking sheet, brush with a little water and sprinkle with oats, pumpkin seeds, sesame or poppy seeds–or a wild mixture of all those toppings. Important: Leave enough space between your bread rolls to rise without sticking together when in the oven! Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180° C / 360° F for about 20 minutes.

Colorful, Mixed Spices
You’ll need:

• different spices
• small glass / mason jar

Directions:
This gift is easily customizable and can be adapted to everyone’s individual taste and preferences. Our version consists of salt and different, colorful peppercorns. Use a funnel to fill the spices in a jar and make different layers. You can even try to do patterns–just get creative!

Flavorful Tea Potpourri
You’ll need:

• tea base (green tea, black tea, etc.)
• further ingredients of your choice, e.g. anise, cloves, cinnamon, ginger
• self-fill tea bags

Directions:
This gift idea is as easy to customize as the spice mix–just choose stuff your loved ones like. Start off by selecting a “tea base”, e.g. green tea, black tea, roobois, etc. Then create the perfect, personalized mixture by adding further ingredients. Holiday season and cold winter days scream cloves, cinnamon and ginger. But also dried apple chunks or a bit of grated orange zest (make sure it’s organic) is just great to evoke a cozy feeling on grey days. Fill the tea mixture into tea bags and seal with a knot or undyed string.

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