Unique Christmas and Holiday Gift Ideas

You know the normal Christmas and holiday gifts for your family and instead of exchanging socks and underwear this year, consider giving a gift you know your loved ones will enjoy. Chocolate cheesecake is one of the best holiday gift ideas for family and friends. Whether your loved ones are chocoholics or just indulge in chocolate cravings every now and then, you are sure to see their faces light up on Christmas morning!

Unique Gift Ideas for Christmas and Other Holidays

No matter which end of the year holiday your loved ones celebrate, they will be excited to unwrap a chocolate cheesecake. The Hershey's swirl cheesecake and Ghirardelli cheesecake are perfect for committed chocolate lovers, while the chocolate peanut butter cheesecake is the best choice for someone who enjoys a little variety.

If your loved ones are not partial to cheesecake - though we are not sure these people actually exist - you can still satisfy their chocolate cravings with cookie and brownie gift buckets. These gift buckets can be customized to make sure your chocolate lover is satisfied!

Gift Cards Make the Best Holiday Gift Ideas

When you just cannot decide what to get the chocolate lover in your family, consider sending that person a gift card! This will allow your loved one to pick the perfect chocolaty gift- and enjoy it well after Christmas and the other holidays have ended. The best part of gift cards is an extension of the holiday season, because your loved ones will be able to choose their own gifts and those gifts will arrive weeks after the holidays have ended

Find Holiday Gift Ideas Online

We all understand the stress that surrounds the end of the year. From fighting traffic to on the way to the mall to trekking through the parking lots and battling shoppers for the last of this year's hot gift, shopping can quickly cause your blood pressure to skyrocket!

This year, you can skip all of the stress, make some hot chocolate and find the perfect unique gift ideas for Christmas. Fire up your computer this holiday season and purchase your gifts online. Shopping online not only takes away the stress of battling the crowds and finding time to get to the mall when it is open, it also removes worries about transporting the present to your loved ones. The convenience of shipping gifts to loved ones is one of the biggest benefits to online shopping during the holiday season. You can shop 24 hours a day, seven days a week - no matter the time zone - to find the perfect gifts for your family.

No matter what kind of chocolate gift you choose for your chocolate lover, he or she is sure to be excited by a chocolate cheesecake gift! Order your chocolate cheesecake - or chocolate cookies and brownies - online today and it will arrive at your loved one's home well before the holidays are here.

Baking Christmas Cookies

As the Christmas Holiday gets closer, it is time to start thinking about baking those Christmas cookies that everyone loves. They are nice to have around the house for those visitors that stop by to wish you a happy holiday. They are also nice to take to the office, to share during the coffee break, and they make nice gifts for friends and family alike.

Here are 5 all time favorites to try.

Apricot Coconut Delight
1- cup salted butter, softened
1- 8 oz cut sour cream
2- cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup apricot preserves (not jelly)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or other nuts of your choice.

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sour cream until light and fluffy. Combine the salt and flour and gradually add to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Divide the dough into four equal parts. Wrap each part in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for from 3 to 4 hours or until easy to handle.

2. In a small bowl, combine the apricot preserves, coconut flakes and chopped nuts. set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion of sough until it is 1/8 inch thick.

3. Cut into 2-1/2 inch squares, spread each square with a rounded teaspoon of the apricot mixture. Very carefully fold one corner over the filling. Moisten the opposite corner with water and fold over the first corner to seal.

4. Place on an ungreased baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 17 - 20 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Haystacks
2+1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2+ 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
1- 12 oz. container of chopped nuts. Pecan or peanuts work great.
8- ounces of chow mein noodles.

Melt butterscotch and chocolate chips in the top half of a double boiler over hot water. (Bring the water to a boil, then stop the boil and work with the hot water.) Make sure that the water does not get into the melting chips. Stir in the nuts, then the noodles. Using a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Let cool. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Peanut Butter Cookies
1+1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large Egg
1/2 cup super fine sugar
1/2 cup salted butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (you can change up with chunky peanut butter if you like chunky better)
1/2 cup brown sugar.

1. Shift together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
2. In another bowl Cream butter with sugar, brown sugar and peanut butter, creaming after each addition until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg to the peanut mixture and mix thoroughly.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until smooth. (if using chunky peanut butter, mix allowing for the peanuts.
5. Drop the mixture onto a ungreased baking sheet, one teaspoon full at a time, spaced about 2 inches apart.
6. Flatten with a fork, then turn the fork 180 degrees and flatten again to make a crisscross pattern on the top of the cookie.
7. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9 - 11 minutes. Remove and place on a cookie rack to cool.

Pecan Meltaways
1 cup of butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2+1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped pecans
4 ounces granulated pecans for coating
4 ounces confectioners' sugar for coating.

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour and salt: gradually add it to the creamed mixture and mix well. Refrigerate until well chilled.
2. Remove from refrigerator, roll into 1 inch balls and place onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
4. While they are baking, mix the 4 ounces of confectioner's sugar and the 4 ounces of granulated pecans together.
5. Roll the warm cookies in this mixture, remove and let cool. Once cool, roll them in the mixture once again. These are sure to become one of your favorite cookies.

Lemon Drop Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Large Egg
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel. (This is sometimes available at your local spice shop, or you can make your own.)
1 tablespoon half and half
1+1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces (1/2 cup) crushed lemon drops
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, lemon peel and half and half.
2.Combine the flour, lemon drops,baking powder and salt, gradually adding it to the cream mixture, and mix well.
3.Drop, by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown lightly.
5.Remove from oven, let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before placing on wire racks to complete the cooling process.
6.If you can find them, it is nice to add a small candied lemon slice on top of each cookie. Ask your local bakery, they use them to decorate cakes and might be willing to sell you some. You will need about 4 dozen, as this recipe makes about that many cookies.

The Holiday Season is a great time to gather the family in the Kitchen and bake cookies together. If you have children, here is where those memories are made. Be sure to make enough, because they have a way of disappearing before you know it.

Christmas Dessert Ideas

Christmas is all about getting together with friends, loved ones, and eating lots of yummy treats. No matter what gathering that you go to for Christmas, there will be food there, and lots of it. Part of the fun is eating until you can't eat anymore, and then eating more. This is the time of year that you can indulge and not feel bad about yourself, because everyone around you is doing the same thing.

When you host a holiday party or gathering, you want to make sure that you have lots of tasty Christmas desserts on hand for you and your guest. It's great to not only have some old standby favorites, but it's also great to introduce some new recipes that can become new favorites. The usual suspects for the dessert table will be cakes, cookies, and pies. Everyone will want to eat one of these items. But you can get really wild and creative by adding in new ingredients to these favorites. You can also add in extras that will change the flavors up a bit, and make your new version special and enviable.

If you want to save money and see how creative things can get, just have your guest bring over their own desserts to your gathering. It's an interesting time to see what other people consider to be holiday standards. Even if they bring the same recipes that everyone expects, they might put their own spin on it that makes it a favorite for their family. It's always good to taste the recipes of others, and see how you can come up with different and new versions of old standards. Or, you might just love their family recipe, and you might want to adopt a part of their family into yours, by way of a favorite recipe.

You might think that it'll be hard planning your desserts, because you don't want to seem boring. But the great news is that in today's world, anything goes. In addition to this, there are so many cultures that we can be inspired by. So you can stick to the standard recipes, or you can let your imagination run wild, and try out different variations, spices, and ingredients.

You can get more dessert ideas than you know what to do with from magazines, or from recipe websites on the internet. Get creative! Look up a few different versions of recipes, and then find out ways that you can change some things around to make the recipe your own. You can totally make some variations to make the taste outcome to your liking.

The thing is that you know what direction that you are going in for the big party day. Trust me, the dinner will be on everyone's minds, but your dessert table can be the star at your next holiday party.

Cupcakes and Christmas Sweets

Weekends are my favorite time of the week for my mom has all the time in the world for us. She's a working mom so we seldom have time for each. She's the chief nurse at the hospital and when I am off to school at day, she's out on duty at night. But when weekends come, she never forgets to bake my favorite- a cupcake topped with Christmas sweets.

Traditional cupcakes are commonly adorned with sprinkles and my mom used to do it too. But when I grew up loving Christmas sweets, I asked her if I can incorporate my favorite candies as topping too. Of course I could and I was so delighted with the colorful result. We bake cupcakes because it takes less time to cook. We also created chocolates, cookies and other pastries but I love holding this tiny creation.

Cupcakes are easy to make and you'll only have to memorize 1, 2, 3 and 4 to know all the ingredients. The numbers equals to the number of cups you need for each ingredients. You'll need one cup of butter, two cups of sugar; three cups of flour and of course four eggs. Remember the equation butter, sugar, flour and eggs and equate that to 1, 2, 3,and 4. It's simple as gobbling up my favorite Christmas sweets lions fruit pastilles.

Cupcakes were called such because in the olden times they were baked in single pottery cups or ramekins. Even now that my mom and I used to bake them in various sizes of tin steel cupcake pan, they still retain the name "cup cake". However, some bakers still prefer cooking them in small coffee mugs or large tea cups. One time in my haste to learn, I tried baking cupcake in the microwave oven. Cupcake pans can't be used so I poured the mixture in my milk mug. To my surprise it took only a few minutes to bake it and I was too ecstatic when I finished topping it with Christmas sweets cherry lips.

But most of the time I top mine with colorful Christmas sweets jelly beans. Sometimes my mom would buy Catherine wheels and they look good on chocolate cupcakes. We also make butterfly cakes but I let my mom do the designing with a spoon. I tried sometime but it looked ridiculous. But with practice, I can now make perfect butterfly wings and top it with frosting.