Kids can have a great time with supervision spending a rainy Saturday creating crave-worthy gifts to share with family and friends. Colleagues and co-workers love them, too! You can level up your culinary creations with an added extra, like a new loaf pan, cookie cutter(s), or festive mug. Top it with ribbon or an ornament, and a recipe card for a perfectly put-together presentation.

MAKES: 36 Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tspn ground cloves
1/4 tspn nutmeg
1/4 tspn salt
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar 1/2 cup margarine

INSTRUCTIONS:
– Stir together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
– In a medium pot, heat the margarine, corn syrup, and brown sugar over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until the margarine is melted.
Pour the hot mixture into a large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until all ingredients are well combined and a sticky dough forms.
– Transfer dough to plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
– Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare your work surface and rolling pin with flour.
– Pinch off 1/4 of the dough at a time and keep the rest wrapped in plastic so it doesn’t dry out.
– Flour the piece of dough you are working with and roll out to 1/8′′ thick for harder and more precisely shaped cookies or 1/4′′ for softer, chewier, and slightly puffed shapes.
– Bake your cookie cutouts on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 10 minutes or until baked all the way through. If you want even softer cookies, you can also bake for less time.
– Make sure your cookies don’t have doughy centers by check- ing that the color is consistent over the entire cookie.
– Let cool on the parchment paper before removing. When they are completely cool, you can start decorating them.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1 tbsp meringue powder
3 tbsp warm water

INSTRUCTIONS:
– In a clean, grease-free bowl of an electric mixer, stir together the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
– Add the water and beat on high with the whisk attachment until the icing forms soft peaks (about 8-10 minutes).

MAKES: 2 loaves

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour 2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil

CINNAMON SUGAR SWIRL INGREDIENTS:
1 tbsp cinnamon 2/3 cup sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:
– Preheat oven to 350F and grease two 8”x4” loaf pans.
– In a medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
– In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and oil.
– Combine both mixtures into one bowl and stir until smooth.
– In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar swirl ingredients.
– Pour half of the mixture equally into the two loaf pans. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture and swirl into batter with a toothpick.
– Pour the remaining batter into the loaf pans and repeat with more cinnamon sugar.
– Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
– Let cool completely before removing from pan.

MAKES: Two 16 oz jars, 15 servings per jar

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups dry whole milk powder 1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup mini marshmallows

INSTRUCTIONS:
– In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients.
– Add your mix to two 16 oz airtight jars, top with marshmallows and wrap together with ribbon and directions for cocoa preparation.

HOT COCOA PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:
Add 2 tbsp of cocoa mix to 8 oz of hot milk. Top with marshmallows and enjoy!