Gift your friends homemade flavours this deepavali

Even with Indian sweets that you whip up at your home, you can create creative dessert jars that can be the cutest and the most delicious gifting options. Whether it is gulab jamun, carrot halwa, or motichoor laddus that you’re making at home, you can turn them into mason jar desserts that your friends would relish till the last bite. Take a few clean mason jars that have been washed thoroughly and dried, and layer them with a sweet of your choice at the bottom. If it’s laddus or gulab jamun, you can cut them into bite-sized pieces so it’s easy to eat. On top, layer the sweet with condensed milk, or khoa. Add another layer of sweet over it. Close the jars’ lids and keep them refrigerated. You can prepare these jars a day in advance and can gift them chilled.

If you’re looking for ways to include your kids into prepping for Deepavali, get them to put their little chef’s hats on and help you in creating desserts to make your own sweet hamper. You can pick from easy choices like dry fruits barfi, ravva laddu and gulab jamun to have your kids be involved in the process. Since recipes like dry fruits barfi just require you to chop up all the dry fruits along with dates to make a fine mixture. Have your little ones grease their hands and roll them into little spheres or squares using a cookie cutter to make dry fruit barfi. Similarly, you can create other quick desserts to make your own sweet hamper. Add a handwritten note, drafted by your child, to the hamper in order to make it truly personal and special.

Most of the homes usually get filled up with packs of dry fruits as Deepavali is right around the corner. One of the most delicious ways in which you can use the dry fruits is to turn them into crisp crackers that you can gift. To make these crackers all you need is whole wheat flour, baking powder, sugar, an egg and some chopped up dry fruits, including cashews, almonds, pecans and raisins. Start by mixing the flour in a mixer, and slowly add in the baking powder, sugar and butter, and then the egg, water and dry fruit mix. Once the dough comes together, roll it out and cut into desired shapes. Bake the crackers for about 15 minutes. Once they’re cool, wrap the cookies in gifting paper and tie together using a decorative ribbons or twine to make for a highly indulgent gift that your friends and relatives are sure to love.

Nothing says home like a mother’s special podi or spice mix. What can be a better way to offer a slice of your home to loved ones than with a jar of milagu podi or a blend of sambar powder or garam masala that your family kitchen is very popular for? With a bit of pre-planning, you can prepare your household’s much-loved recipe of masala mix or podis and bottle them. This gift will certainly win over your relatives and friends, who can relish it with their daily meal. You can also opt for fresh, homemade pickles to gift. You can also think outside the box and pickle ingredients like carrot, cauliflower, ginger or even drumstick. Add labels to the jars to mention the spice mix or pickle’s name and a personal note, along with a recipe if you’d like to share.

If your friends prefer savouries to sweets, opt for homemade savoury jars for a lip-smacking gift. Most Tamil homes are known to keep a stock of murukku, ribbon pakoda or cornflakes mixture during festive times. With little effort, you can create healthier versions of these snacks right at home using ingredients like millets. Upgrade your regular butter murukku to foxtail millet or little millet murukku, by simply cutting down your regular flour and instead replacing it with millet flour. A simple mixture that can be a hit snack while enjoying family time can also be given a healthy twist using fox nuts (makhana). These can be the perfect snacking gifts for your visitors.