We Wish You a Homemade Christmas. . .


I love my friends. I love my family. I love my work.

Basically, I love WAY too many people.
Especially around Christmas time! Gifting, for me, becomes a hierarchical battle.
I am forced to attempt to quantify my love for people, and then rank them accordingly.
"Super love", "Kind of like" "Find annoying but don't dislike".

These are real categories. Don't pretend you've never done it.

In the end, I give most people some sort of gift. This is selfish on my part. I love to shop, even for other people. After hours of perusing, and many dollars spent, my joy is cut short by the arrival of my bank statement, and I decide to get thrifty about things.

So I share with you my Cinnamon Espresso Butter & my Salt n' Spice Blend.
The butter will make you wish you could eat it raw, by the bucket load. Seriously it smells that good. Slap it on an English Muffin with your coffee & you're good to go.

The Salt n' Spice is a spice recipe meant to mimic a McCormick product that was discontinued a bit ago. This stuff was the BEES KNEES on a microwaved baked potato. It's basically how I survived college. I found the recipe online (strangely enough from McCormick itself--hmmm) I bought cute spice bottles from Cost Plus World Market (did I mention this place is my Mecca?) Also, both these recipes follow my "takes less than 20 minutes" rule of DIY. Score!
Anyhow, enjoy.

And if you are a possible recipient of these gifts, STOP READING THIS! :)

Salt n' Spice

Ingredients

1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons McCormick® Perfect Pinch® Salt Free Garlic Pepper Seasoning, McCormick® Seasoned Pepper Blend or Lawry's® Seasoned Pepper
1 tablespoon McCormick® Garlic Salt
1 tablespoon McCormick® Onion Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick® Celery Seed, crushed

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients until well blended. 
2. Store in tightly covered jar in cool, dry place.

 

Cinnamon Espresso Butter

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
  • 2 teaspoons water
  • 1/2 teaspoon Spice Island® Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

  • In a small bowl, combine the coffee granules, water and vanilla. In a small bowl, cream the butter, confectioners' sugar and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Add coffee mixture; beat until smooth. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Yield: 1/2 cup.

4 comments:

Anonymous | December 21, 2010 at 9:59 PM

The Cinnamon Butter sounds delicious!

Anonymous | December 22, 2010 at 5:22 AM

ohh my gosh.. these sound SO delicious, and i love your labels!! (nice typography :) :) .. that butter sounds divine.. i hope you had a fabulous holiday xxx

Shannon | December 22, 2010 at 2:31 PM

Awesome idea.

I LOVE those labels, I'm assuming you utilized your graphic design expertise in making those. Such a great DIY gift (which I'm all about this year!)

Happy Holidays Rachel!

stephanie Toole | December 23, 2010 at 10:23 AM

umm.. i put myself in your super love category and along with that I expect some expresso butter.. because, it is expresso butter and I must have it... don't worry you're in my super love category too!

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