Edible Gifts Your Children Can Make This Christmas

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Christmas is a time for giving. As adults we understand the joy that comes with giving gifts to loved ones, particularly children, and the pleasure we experience seeing someone unwrap something they’re truly excited about. So why not pass that same happiness on to our children?

In the lead up to Christmas there are so many activities to help get us in the festive spirit, whether it’s ice skating at the Natural History Museum, soaking up the atmosphere at Winter Wonderland, or simply cosying up with your favourite Christmas film and a cup of hot chocolate (marshmallows and whipped cream optional); but one pastime we cannot recommend enough, is making homemade Christmas gifts… edible ones at that!

We’re sharing two of our favourite child-friendly recipes: Rocky Roads and Cake Truffles. Both can be portioned up as you wish and wrapped in cellophane bags tied with ribbon, or presented with some decorative paper inside a gift box this Christmas but more on that later…

RECIPE 1: ROCKY ROADS 

Ingredients

• 200g rich tea biscuits

• 135g set coconut oil or butter 

• 200g milk chocolate

• 2 tbsp golden syrup

• 50g mini marshmallows 

• 50g gummy bears

Method

1. Grease and line a shallow brownie tin with baking paper.

2. Place your rich tea biscuits in a clean teatowel bag and bash with a rolling pin to form crumbs of varying sizes.

3. In a saucepan, gently melt your butter or coconut oil, dark chocolate and golden syrup until it forms a smooth, glossy mixture. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

4. Gently fold in the marshmallows, gummy bears and biscuit crumbs until everything is coated in your chocolate mixture and evenly distributed.

5. Pour the mixture into your lined tin and place in the fridge for 2+ hours to allow it to set.

This recipe can be adapted to reduce refined sugar intake, or to suit a more mature palette as well:

Alternate recipe:

Ingredients

• 200g mini pretzels

• 135g set coconut oil

• 200g dark chocolate (70% works well)

• 2 tbsp maple syrup or rice malt syrup

• 50g dried cranberries or dried peel

• 50g GF rice puffs

RECIPE 2: FESTIVE CAKE TRUFFLES

Ingredients (makes approx. 24)

• 520g vanilla sponge 

• 60g plain flour

• 100g granulated sugar

• 60g melted butter

• 2 tbsp milk

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 850g white chocolate

• Rainbow (or green + red) sprinkles

Method

1. Break up your vanilla sponge using your hands until you have fine crumbs. Add in your flour, sprinkles and sugar and mix through until combined.

2. Stir in your wet ingredients - the melted butter, milk and vanilla - until the mixture is able to hold its shape when pressed together.

3. Using a tbsp scoop at a time, roll the mixture into evenly-sized cake balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm.

4. While they’re cooling, gently melt your chocolate in the microwave or, to avoid the risk of burnt chocolate, melt it in a pyrex bowl over simmering water.

5. Once melted, use a toothpick to pick up the cake balls and coat them in the melted chocolate. Allow the excess to drip off before putting on a sheet of baking paper or a cooling rack and dust with additional sprinkles or edible glitter before they set. 

As with the rocky roads, you can adapt this recipe to use carrot cake or chocolate cake in place of the vanilla sponge as desired. Or, for a really festive treat to suit a more refined palette, swap the vanilla sponge for Christmas pudding / fruitcake!

Once you’ve made your edible gifts, it’s time to wrap them! For an added creative element for children, opt for clear cellophane bags, and let your child’s creativity run wild picking out a favourite ribbon to tie the bags with. Simply print out our downloadable gift tag templates too and your children can decorate tags with pens and glitter glue to their heart’s content.

As an easy alternative, these cellophane gift bags are suitably festive and come with handy ties to make the wrapping process simpler for you and your children. Equally, these festive gift boxes will be a treat for anyone to receive! 

By making homemade gifts, children are able to express themselves creatively, feel a sense of pride and achievement in what they’ve produced, and experience first-hand the joy of giving gifts to others.

And that feeling is one we can extend through personalisation. Encourage your children to think about how best to customize gifts for the recipients based on their hobbies, favourite colours or perhaps with a hand-written message. These small touches are sure to go the extra mile with the recipient but also teach a valuable lesson to children about thoughtfulness.