By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Dani Naughton-Andersen always makes some homemade gifts for Christmas.
She says, “I like to do it because things that are handmade are something personal that takes time to do. They tend to be more cherished when you’ve taken the time to make them.”
This year she has knitted a shrug for a sister – she won’t say which sister – by altering a pattern she found on Pinterest. Last year she knitted a beret and leg warmers for her 5-year-old daughter, Elisa.
Last year Dani Naughton-Andersen made this beret and leg warmers for her daughter./Karen Parr-Moody
At this point in the game most people won’t have time to knit a mitten, much less an adult-sized shrug. But there are many gift items that one can make from scratch in one’s own kitchen in the time it takes to watch a movie.
Take Melissa Hale, for example. She is giving out homemade vanilla extract and vanilla sugar.
“It actually takes eight weeks for the vanilla extract to be ready, but you could give it in a pretty jar with the vanilla bean still in it,” she says.
Rita Arancibia, the founder of the Empty Bowls annual fundraiser, loves to bake decorated Christmas cookies each year.
“The cookies are always for family, friends and co-workers,” she says. “In the past I have baked up to 25 different varieties of cookies, but this year I pared it down to just seven.”
Rita Arancibia gifts her decorated Christmas cookies each year./Karen Parr-Moody
Arancibia’s show-stopping cookies are the ones she decorates by hand and include shapes such as candy canes, gifts, Christmas trees and lambs.
“I use pastry brushes to paint the cookies with a base color and I use squeeze bottles to decorate or I can also use pastry bags.”
She notes that if children are helping, it is much easier for them to decorate with squeeze bottles.
Arancibia explains, “The cookies are sort of a tradition in our family, too. Each grandchild has a favorite and they can’t wait for Mimi’s cookies.”
If you would like to try out Arancibia’s decorated cookies, the recipe for the dough and the frosting is located below:
Cookie dough:
1 cup butter (salted)
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla (good quality)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time and add vanilla extract. Reduce the speed of mixer to low and add flour and baking powder. Do not over mix. Chill dough for at least one hour.
Roll out dough to ¼- to ½-inch thick and place on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup powdered meringue powder
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl. Then add enough milk and water to make thin icing; start with six tablespoons and continue adding until you have consistency that can be painted onto the cookie. Separate into batches of various colors to decorate. Use a pastry brushes to paint cookies with a base color, then let dry. Use squeeze bottles or pastry bags to decorate on top of the base color.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.