DIY Gift Desserts

Bake individual, pineapple upside-down cakes.

Whether you are looking for an inexpensive gift to give a neighbor or an elaborate gift to show appreciation for being invited to a friend's house for dinner, consider making a dessert. Give a simple gift which takes little time to prepare, but requires the recipient to prepare or make a ready-made dessert which showcases artistic talent, like springerle cookies which take, from start to finish, more than 10 hours to prepare.

Things You'll Need

• 1-quart canning jar with lid
• Soap
• Dish rags
• Dessert ingredients
• Drinking glass, tall and narrow
• Fabric, 7 inches by 7 inches
• Rubber band
• Ribbon, 48 inches
• Yarn, 48 inches
• Twine, 48 inches
• Card stock
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper
• Springerle dough
• Flour
• Rolling pin
• Cookie stamp
• Springerle rolling pin
• Knife
• Spatula
• Food decorating powder
• Lemon extract
• Toothpick
• Paintbrush
• Glass dessert tray with lid
• Bow

Instructions

Dessert in a Jar

1. Wash and dry a 1-quart canning jar and its lid.

2. Choose a dessert to place inside the jar. Only the dry ingredients will be placed inside the jar, so select recipes which use a variety of color. You could fill a jar with the ingredients necessary to make sugar cookies, but it will lack visual appeal. A few examples of desserts which work well when packed into a jar are chocolate chip cookie mix, butterscotch brownie mix, dreamsicle bar mix and oatmeal raisin cookie mix.

3. Place the first ingredient inside the canning jar. Pack it down with the bottom of a long, narrow drinking glass to prevent it from mixing with the next ingredient.

4. Wipe the inside of the jar clean and repeat Steps 3 and 4 until all the ingredients are inside the jar.

5. Screw the lid on the jar tightly.

6. Cover the lid with a 7-inch by 7-inch piece of fabric. Place a rubber band around the lid to prevent the cloth from falling.

7. Write the name of the dessert, ingredients needed and cooking instructions on a piece of card stock. Punch a hole in a corner of the card.

8. Feed a 48-inch piece of yarn, ribbon or twine through the hole in the card stock.

9. Hide the rubber band by wrapping the yarn, ribbon or twine around the rubber band on the jar. Tie it closed.

Springerle Cookies

1. Cover your baking sheets with parchment paper. It will prevent the springerle cookies from sticking.

2. Follow your springerle recipe instructions to make a cookie batter. In general, you will need to mix most of the dry ingredients together. Blend the eggs and sugar, add your flavoring extract and anise seeds. Combine the wet sugar mixture with the bowl of dry ingredients.

3. Dust a clean work surface with flour. Place the cookie dough on the counter and knead it until it is smooth.

4. Shape the dough into a ball. Cut the dough in half. Place half of the dough on the counter and roll it out until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Cover the unused half of dough with plastic wrap.

5. Sprinkle flour on the springerle stamp or rolling pin. Press the stamps into the dough. Or roll the springerle rolling pin across the dough. The image or design carved into the stamp or springerle rolling pin will transfer to the dough. Cut around each piece of imprinted cookie dough with a sharp knife.

6. Scoop the dough up with a spatula and place it on the baking sheet. Let the dough set for about 10 to 12 hours.

7. Adjust the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Place one tray of cookie dough in the oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes. The cookies should be firm, but not golden. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

8. Make a paste by combining lemon extract and food decorating powder. Paint the image that you stamped or rolled onto the cookie in Step 5. Dip a paintbrush in the damp decorating powder and use short strokes to paint the cookies. The cookies will need to dry for five to 10 minutes.

9. Place the cookies on a glass dessert tray, cover and place a bow on the top.

References

• "The Mason Jar Soup to Nuts Cookbook"; Lonnette Parks; 2004
• Gifts in a Jar: Cookies; CQ Products; 2001
• Gifts in a Jar: Bars and Brownies; CQ Products; 2001
• "Country Living"; Delicious Homemade Food Gifts--Springerle Cookies; Cheryl Slocum
• "Country Living": Springerle Cookies
• House on the Hill: Perfection Springerle Cookies
• House on the Hill: General Directions for Printing Cookies

Resources

• "Country Living": Springerle Cookies
• House on the Hill: Perfection Springerle Cookies