Gifts from the kitchen

Homemade Almond Joy Candy is better than the original because of more nuts and more chocolate! JOY never tasted so good!!

Today’s Homemade Candy Recipe Roundup is for those of us who enjoy giving, making, and eating delicious homemade gifts of love during the holidays. Sweet!

Easy to make and hard to resist. With only three ingredients these chocolate-covered shoestring haystacks make great snacks, and a tasty food gift!

I don’t actually remember the when the lightbulb moment hit to mix my used coffee grounds with my favorite facial cleanser as my daily exfoliant, but since I’ve been using it my skin feels softer and I believe my pores are less noticeable.

The idea for the coconut oil moisturizer came shortly thereafter. It’s a mix of coconut oil, my favorite moisturizer (to keep the oil from solidifying too much) and some cinnamon and orange essential oils for a lovely and lingering Christmasy fragrance.

No Bake Peanut Butter & Chocolate Granola Jumbles also are perfect for gift giving. Think Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in particular.

And don’t forget to get the kids busy in the kitchen with you when you’re making these. Since these Peanut Butter & Chocolate Granola Jumbles are basically a “dump” recipe, the kiddos will have a whole lot of fun dumping and mixing all the ingredients!

You can’t have Christmas without the images and flavors of gingerbread men dancing through your memory, right? Well, maybe that’s just me. However, since I always like to put a new spin on old traditions, I’ve come up with this recipe for Sticky Chewy Gingerbread Toffee with Almonds. I do hope you’ll enjoy making it this holiday …

For everyone out there with a sweet tooth, this Old Fashioned Chocolate Caramel Turtle Fudge with Pecans that I’m sharing for #Choctoberfest has got your name written all over it. Well, not really, but I double dog dare you not to love everything about it!

Chocolate Cranberry Quick Bread with Pecans comes together quickly, and it’s chock full of creamy, chewy and crunchy ingredients. It’s perfect for to serve for all of your autumnal gatherings.  When you’re looking for something a little sweet but not cloyingly so, this Chocolate Cranberry Quick Bread with Pecans fits the bill, perfectly.

These Timeless Chocolate Chunky Candy Cups are inspired by the iconic Chunky candy bar from years ago. They’re super fast and easy to make and will make awesome holiday gifts that everyone will love. Can you spare 5 minutes and five ingredients to make a delicious holiday treat that you’d be as excited to gift …

If you’d like to up the chocolate ante of this bread (nice, but certainly not necessary), feel free to add some semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter before baking. And, as I’m always prone to do (but didn’t do this time), tossing in some chopped toasted nuts is never a bad thing in my book. But, if you’re giving it as a gift, sometimes the simpler the better.