{a-tisket, a-tasket...}

Not knowing what to get Tanner's family for Christmas, I decided against a store-bought attempt and instead made a basket of goodies for them to share. Here's the secrets into its creation:

The edible portion of the basket took up most of the space (I found the basket at AC Moore, by the way), consisting of cookies, pumpkin butter, a jar of "ready to make" chocolate chip cookies, and a loaf of homemade bread (not pictured... we'll get to that). Here are recipes for everything in the basket (except the snickerdoodle recipe, which is here):

{pumpkin butter}

Ingredients: 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree, 3/4 cup apple juice, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions: Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently. Transfer to sterile containers and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

 

{chocolate chip cookies in a jar}

Ingredients: 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions: Mix the salt and baking soda in with the flour, then layer the ingredients a quart-size jar in the order listed, with the chocolate chips on top. Use scissors to cut a 9 inch-diameter circle from calico. Place over lid and secure with rubber band. Tie on a raffia or ribbon bow to cover rubber band.

Baking Directions (to include on card):
Ingredients: Contents of the jar, 1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift dry ingredients through a colander to separate the chocolate chips from other ingredients. Beat butter in a medium bowl until creamy. Beat sifted ingredients into butter until blended. In a small bowl, beat egg with vanilla. Mix beaten egg mixture into butter mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter, spaced well apart, onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes or until lightly browned.

I knew his mom likes teapots, so I created a tiny "scrapbook" page with some bits of fun paper I had in my stash at home.
I cut the pink patterned paper to 4x6 and then layered a solid piece of paper on top of it, slightly smaller to leave an edge. I ripped the teapot pieces out of construction paper to give them a jagged look, and then secured them with craft glue. I outlined the whole thing in black gel pen ink and then did the lettering of the name by hand. I put the creation in a 4x6 black frame, and voila! Instant art!

The bread I let rise all day, so when it came out of the oven it was the last thing to be added to the basket. I might share how to make it one of these days (secret family recipe, you see....) but for now, it'll remain a mystery. It is one of my favorite things to bake, however, and easily trumps cookie making any day of the week. There's nothing more cathartic than kneading bread dough by hand, or smelling the wonderful scent of it as it comes out of the oven.... mmmm! A little butter on top and it was practically torture wrapping this loaf up without cutting off a slice for myself!

The finished product: