One of my favorite gluten free treats of all time are the Carrot Cake Muffins that I made to taste almost like Mimi's Carrot Cake Muffins. So last year, I gave all the neighbors in my circle little loaves of the Carrot Cake in those little aluminum pans and I wrapped them in wax paper with some baking twine. Totally cute. This year I came across some of these:
That's right. Cute give-away-able mini loaf pans, that look cute whether or not you wrap them. So I decided to show how to make these little treats with or without a little bit of wrapping.
First, mix up a batch of Carrot Cake batter. Wrap each loaf pan with some foil and place on a cookie sheet. There are small holes in the bottom of the pans for ventilation, so you don't want the runny batter to drip out. 
Bake about 40 minutes for three little loaves. Test with a knife inserted into the center to make sure they are baked through. Let cool. 
Bake about 40 minutes for three little loaves. Test with a knife inserted into the center to make sure they are baked through. Let cool. Then, I took one of those cellophane treat bags and just put the little loaf inside it and taped up the open end like a present. So much easier than wrapping the whole thing in plastic wrap. 
Next, you have two choices. Actually, three or four, but two for now. One, simply wrap the loaf with cute ribbon (this was about 47 inches of ribbon) with a bow and add a tag saying to and from. 
Or, take a piece of tissue paper in a festive color, and wrap it butcher-style, like this:
Or, take a piece of tissue paper in a festive color, and wrap it butcher-style, like this:
And there you have it. A perfectly respectable neighbor gift. The price on these will be a little hard for me to estimate, because the ingredients are a little pricey. The loaf pans were $4.49 for 3, the cake mix was $6.99, and the nuts, coconut, zucchini, carrot, raisins and pineapple added about $6 to the whole batch. So I'm guessing each loaf cost about $7 with ribbon and tissue paper. Give or take a dollar.
Happy giving!
If you want to drizzle with chocolate, wait until they dry a little, then melt some more chocolate, place into a ziploc bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle away.
Happy giving!
This recipe makes about four cups of granole, so I took some over to my friend JoLayna, who introduced me to the site, to say thanks, and I made one of these super easy little scrapbook paper cones to put it in.
First, you take a piece of 12"x12" scrapbook paper and twirl it into a cone. Tape it together down at the bottom of the cone and in the middle, to keep it together. Snip the top so that it's an even circle all the way around. Then snip about six slits down around the top of the cone.
Put about a cup of the granola into a ziploc bag and form it into a cone shape before you zip it up. I have it open inside the cone here so you can tell that it's granola in there. 
Then fold down all the tabs you made with your snips and make an "X" of tape across the top to hold it together. 
Attach a cute nametag from Hobby Lobby and you're ready to make someone's day! 
Granola is a little expensive to make, and this particular granola was a little more expensive because the pumpkin seeds are not cheap. Even with that though, a gift like this still comes in at under $4. Now this recipe might not seem Christmasy enough for some of you. A little too much harvest on the palate? Here's another great recipe for granola from the site 
I found this delicious Lemon Curd that makes me want to go home and make crepes just so I can spoon it out of the jar. I have some friends with very cosmopolitan tastes, and I thought they might like some too. Instant gift idea.
Posts
