Homemade Holiday Presents
The holidays can be fun, but the mindless purchasing of useless gifts always kind of bummed me out. And shopping stresses me out in general, but during the month of December, shopping in New York is impossible. So many crowds. So much Christmas music. This holiday season I wanted to do something different.
Baked goods are nice. But during this season, everyone gives sweets as presents. And most people aren’t too stoked about even more calories to pack in before the new year’s purge. So, after entertaining several ideas and really wanting to use mason jars in some capacity, I decided upon making and jarring up my favorite meat rubs. A gift that all of my culinary-inclined friends and family can enjoy. Creative and useful and affordable. I also re-purposed olive oil into cute bottles with some herbs.
More after the jump.I got a 16-pack of 4-oz. jam jars from Whisk (my favorite kitchen supply store.) You can order them online too. Then I designed and printed out labels for the tops of the jars. I printed out the designs on white paper, then cut them out.
Then I prepared some black tea and used the wet teabag to stain the white circles so they looked more “rustic”. Once those dried several hours later, I rubber-cemented them on to the tops of the jars.
Next, I blended up my secret spice mixture, which includes undisclosed ratios of brown sugar, sea salt, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, Schwartz’s seasoning, lemon Adobo, Cayenne pepper, and smoked paprika.
And I packed it in to the jars. Then wrapped them up in brown paper and twine and shipped them out to a few lucky people. Holiday presents, check. Holiday shopping crisis averted.
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mallorylance posted this
