Today we are going to make 5 different gifts that you can give away to people who love

food which is pretty much every one. The first one that we are going to make is

Chocolate bark this is such as easy one to make and it is well loved by everyone who

receives it. What you need to do is spread out some tempered white chocolate onto

some non-stick baking paper in a thin smooth layer. Then let it set then once it is firm

pour over some tempered milk chocolate. And spread it over in an even layer over the top.

Before that sets move on to sprinkling your choice of decorations over the top. I am using

blanched almonds, roasted coconut strips, dried goji berries, pistachio nuts, and freeze

dried strawberries.

You can use whatever you like, fruit and nut combinations are pretty popular but kids if

you are making it for them they tend to like things like candies on top and tiny teddies

and lots of more sugar more sweet stuff added to the top there.

For a different style of chocolate bark you can pick out different colours I've got two

colours here that are in pistachios the green and the purply colour and I've used some oil

based food colouring to colour some white chocolate.

Spread out a rectangle of milk chocolate and then before it sets add one colour and then

the other dolloping it on top there and then just and mix it through. Then before it sets

add the pistachios on top and you can of course do that with whatever colours you like.

Once they are starting to firm up you can slice them into blocks and then package as

blocks like that or you can break or cut them into shards put them into smaller boxes putting

lots of slices in there. And they make just beautiful looking and delicious gifts.

Next super easy again we have candy cane hearts What you need to do is take two candy canes

of equal size and place them next to each other on a lined baking tray and then get

a cake pop stick you need a paper one and not a plastic one. and put that down the middle

Place them in a hot oven for just a few moments like about 10 20 seconds. If you leave them

in there too long they will turn into liquid. So keep an eye on them

Pull them out and have a feel and if they are warm enough to bend that's great. These

ones are very slightly softened but not quite enough to bend so I'll put them back in the

oven for a tiny bit longer.

There we go that is much better, now pinch them together onto the stick and use a knife

or your fingers just to make them a little bit of a plumper heart shape. You'll notice

these are still holding their shape and they are warm but not too hot to touch, if you

pull them out of the oven and they look like they are liquid then don't touch, you've made

them too hot and you will burn yourself. Once you are happy with the shapes of your hearts

you can leave those to cool and go firm again. Then fill each heart with some tempered white

chocolate and then sprinkle it with decorations of your choice before the chocolate sets.

And then you can wrap those individually in cellophane or if you want to serve them at

an event just put them into a little jar that you can serve them in.

Another easy gift is the savoury sweet combination of decorated pretzel sticks or you can use

bread sticks if you can't get the pretzel sticks. All you need to do is put your tempered

chocolate into a cup. Dip your stick in on one end and then tap it to get rid of the

excess. quickly roll it in your chosen topping, this is just coloured sugar. Then place to

one side to set. If you are using something heavier like m&m's dip one side in then out

it on the paper to set and then add more to the top by them by hand arranging so they

look pretty. If you just keep dipping it they are going to fall off because they are too

heavy. You can use your imagination of what you want

on them, you could use sprinkles, or why not crushed candy canes for that minty flavour

and that christmassy sort of look depending on the time of year. And then you can just

box those up once they are set.

Next we have an m&m dispenser I first started making these when I was studying,

they are great low cost gift. They look impressive and they take a bit of time and you'll need

some tools to make them but they don't cost much at all.

You'll need one long square shaped piece of wood.

Then you'll need measure the width of your wood, mine is 1.75cm wide. And then multiply

whatever your width is by 5. Measure that distance along your wood and draw a line.

Saw that through and then repeat that until you have 13 pieces of wood that same length.

Then measure your width again if you can't remember what it is and multiply it by 2.

Mark that off and you want to cut two of those. Then for our last piece of wood you need to

multiply your width by 10 this time, an easy one and measure that across.

Now take one piece of wood and place it across one end, then one of the longer bits and put

it along the wood and mark where that comes to. Place a piece across the wood and mark

that again. Now those two marks there you don't want to

cut them all the way through just about 2/3 of the way so that it looks like this. Then

place a chisel on the top and bang it with a hammer and chisel out that piece. Then sand

off any rough edges from all of your pieces.

And now we are ready to to put it together. Take 5 of the pieces and using wood glue glue

each one to the next so you end up with a nice square.

Take another piece and glue it on two sides and add it on top to one side going across

the ones that are on the bottom layer. Not the same way, that is going to give it more

strength. Add another one right next to it this time only putting glue on the bottom.

Wipe off any excess glue there we don't want any that is oozing out. Then rest your longest

piece next to it, don't glue this into place just place it there.

Add one bit in front of it, only glueing the bottom. and then one more bit gluing the side

and bottom so that is firmly in place. Then quickly remove the long piece so it doesn't

get stuck by any little bits of glue. To make the top layer arrange the pieces that

are left so that the two little ones are on the middle row so that you get a square hole

in the middle. Glue them altogether just like we did with the bottom layer. And just leave

them flat on the paper there. I am not putting them on top yet, we will let them all glue

those two sections and let them dry first. Take a jar that you like the look of this

one is a jam jar. Use a knife to pierce the top to make like a cross shape and then bend

the metal upwards. Place it over your wood and using something

firm push the metal open into the hole. Don't use your finger because the cut metal will

be sharp and I don't want you to cut your finger.

So just push it down so that you get a nice open spot there. Add some glue to the underside

and then put that into place, then rest something heavy on top while you wait for it to dry.

Once it is dry we need to add some nails and they are going to stop the middle bit going

all the way through and falling out of our dispenser.

Place it in the gap and line it up so that cut out chunk is lined up with one side so

that it is open on one side. Mark where the edge of that meets on the other end, then

slide it along so the missing chunk is in the centre and mark where that is on the side.

Add your nails to each end, I am using rounded ones but if you can't get them normal ones

are fine. Now when you put it in and slide it from side

to side you can see it stops at just the right points.

Grab a candle and rub some wax on the edges and that just makes it run smoothly. You don't

want to have heaps of wax on it so if you've got heaps of wax on it just rub it off and

then you just want just a really thin layer it just aids it in running smoothly through

there. Add some glue on the two outer pieces being

careful not to get any on the middle bit and add your top layer across the top. Once that

is dry pour m& m's into your jar turn the wood upside down screw it on and then flip

the whole thing the right way up. When you push the wood across it releases

some m& m's, pull it back so more can fall into the hole then push it across again.

And it makes a great gift and as I said it doesn't cost that much all you've paid for

is one piece of wood and you've got a jar that you've repurposed.

Next we have Chocolate Puzzles these are one of my favourite they are so easy and super

cute. ,

Take a puzzle cutter, this is for cutting crusts off sandwiches and making them into

cute shapes for little kids, but when I saw it I of course thought of chocolate. So I'll

see if I can find where i got them online on link to it below if I can. Place it on

some acetate or non-stick baking paper or foil and fill opposite sides with tempered

white chocolate. Once it is full make sure its going right into the corners and then

level off the top. Then add dark or milk chocolate to the other

two pieces so you get that nice contrast in your puzzle. And then once it

is all set just push the pieces out of the cutter. and you have a quick, cute little gift hat

you can give to someone.

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in the comments below. Have a great week and I'll see you all on

Friday. [music: the boat song by youtube.com/setsailtv

used with permission]