Quick Gift:Create A Great Gift

Here's tasteful news: You can give terrific presents this holiday season that are low in cost but highly appreciated. It can be easy when you give something you've made yourself, because as those with a gift for giving say, gifts that come from home, come from the heart.

For The Festive Touch

For example, you can bake traditional holiday cookies, then add:

• A glittering ornament that will add sparkle to the tree

• A CD of holiday music to set a festive mood

• Mistletoe, pinecones or fresh snips off a holly or evergreen bush that give off a wonderful seasonal fragrance

• Cinnamon sticks--a delicious way to add a subtle holiday flavor to their favorite hot beverage

• Festive ribbon to add the finishing touch

• The recipe so they can bake and share with friends, too.

To help you bake your best, the experts at C&H® Sugar offer these cookie-baking hints:

Baking Cookies

• If you're pressed for time, mix ingredients, refrigerate and bake later when family or friends arrive. Few things are more pleasing to people at your door than the welcome aroma of fresh-baked cookies.

• Let cookie sheets cool between batches. Use a clean cookie sheet or gently wipe the crumbs off the used sheet with paper towels and lightly regrease it.

• For softer, chewier cookies, bake just until they begin to brown.

• Increase spread with low oven temperature.

• Decrease spread with high oven temperature.

• To use more than one baking sheet, rotate sheets about halfway through baking time. Put the top pan on the bottom rack and the bottom pan on top.

• Check cookies at minimum baking time. All ovens are different. An extra minute or two can make a difference between perfectly baked and burnt.

Learn More

You can find great recipes plus more tips and holiday ideas online at www.chsugar.com.