Lacy Gifford decorates white chocolate-covered Oreos with peppermint sprinkles. She and her sister, Vickie Sledge, top, holding Gifford’s daughter Zelda, spend two to four days making treats for the holidays.
In lieu of store-bought gifts, sisters Vickie Sledge and Lacy Gifford get together to make treats to share with friends and family for Christmas. Their M&M bites are made with pretzels that are topped with Hershey’s Hugs or Kisses, warmed slightly in the oven until the candy softens, then studded with an M&M in the top of each one.VARIATIONS ON A THEME• Sugar Cookies-Plus: Former Chattanoogan John Harr, now in Atlanta, says to jazz up any school fundraiser or grocery-store sugar cookie dough, add walnuts and dried cranberries (or any nut and dried fruit combo).• My Cookies: Mike Jennings of Rossville, Ga., says each Christmas his wife, Teresa, varies the basic oatmeal cookie dough by subtracting raisins and adding pecans and chopped candied fruit (especially cherries), like you would use in fruitcakes.LARGE-BATCH BAKING TIPS• Bake breads and cakes at your leisure throughout the month. Let them cool completely and wrap them in parchment paper and/or plastic wrap followed by a freezer bag or container. When it’s time to serve, take them out of the freezer and thaw completely before serving or icing.• Cookie dough freezes well, so prepare batches in advance and bake them as needed throughout the holiday season.• Make fruit pies in large batches by preparing them up to the point of baking. Instead of putting one in the oven, cover it tightly in plastic wrap and place entire pie in a freezer bag. When it’s time to bake, cook the pie from its frozen state by reducing the oven temperature by 25 degrees and baking it about 20 minutes longer than what the recipe calls for.• When baking cookies, only use two pans at one time to prevent overcrowding. Also, place them on different shelves so air can circulate evenly between the cookie sheets.• When measuring flour, don’t scoop the measuring cup directly into the bag. Instead, spoon out flour into a measuring cup and then level off the correct amount. Bagged flour is packed tightly, so cooks can accidentally get an extra cup by measuring incorrectly.– Spice Islands
Five years ago, sisters Lacy Gifford and Vickie Sledge decided their Christmas spending was growing out of control, causing stress and not providing a personal touch.
What they did to change things allows them to spend time together, provides a personal touch and offers those on the receiving end a sweet holiday season.
The sisters decided to give gift packages of treats they make themselves. While the gifts themselves are a variety of tempting morsels, even the packages offer a measure of the women’s creativity, festooned as they are with colored cellophane wrap and smartly tied ribbons.
“I have to say it is one of my favorite parts of Christmas,” says Gifford, a Chattanooga resident. “I enjoy the time spent with my sister and niece, and I can’t wait until my little one [11-month-old Zelda] is old enough to help.”