The Best Gift Homemade Food Baskets

 What do you gift foodies and gourmands for the holiday season? Try a homemade food basket. These are not only fun to give but fun to make. Even better is that they can be tailored to the person's likes.

The first thing to do is figure out how many you;re going to make and what each recipient's tastes are.ONce these are established then head to your local dollar or craft sote and pick up wicker baskets. Buy ribbon to wrap around the baskets and if you want buy some fake holly and berries or put a candy cane or two in front for a more restive look. As for wrapping the entire basket, consider buying holiday Saran wrap that comes in red and green tints.(if you can;t find itat your local grocery store, Amazon has the rolls for fifteen dollars). Now it's time to think about what to put in. Pizza lovers would probably like a bag of bread flour, olive oil , pizza sauce and a pizza cutter. You can add a pack of pepperoni along with a tin of olives or even anchovies. Include a shaker jar of red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese if they like their pizzas extra cheesy. pasta lovers would appreciate a similar basket, but with different kinds of pasta to try a long with a couple of jars of different flavored sauces. Include a pasta measurer and pasta tongs (again Amazon and Target sell these). Add a jar of Parmesan too along with bottles of thyme and oregano for flavoring. A garlic press would be a great addition too.

Barbecuers would love a basket filled with different hot sauces . Get then in varying degrees of heat so the griller can experiment. A pack of homemade or purchased dry rubs would be appreciated. A good dry rub recipe has a blend of brown sugar, mustard powder, ground pepper and onion powder. You can put this in  a mason jar and tied a festive bow around it.Add barbecue mitt too which can be bought at either Home Depot or Sur la Table. Ice cream fanatics would love a basket filled of  extras to make the perfect cone or sundae. Include a package of waffle cone bowls and cones along with both hot fudge and salted caramel syrups. Wet walnuts and a container of maraschino cherries complete it along with a variety of colored sprinkled. Add a bottle of hard magic shell sauce for those perfect Dairy Queen dipped cones.You can  also put in a set of sundae spoons and metal straws for those who loved ice cream sodas. Bakers would love a basket full of different flours along with dry yeast, cinnamon and other spices like nutmeg and cardamon,Add festive cookie cutters along with powdered sugar, food coloring gels and different decorations like dragees and sprinkles. Target has cute Christmas tree spatulas that would go well in this kind of basket.

Creating a holiday food basket is fun. It could be for the barbecuer or the baker in your life. It could be a treat for a pasta and pizza lover or an ice cream fan. Whatever you make will be most appreciated by any food lover.