Has your gift giving budget taken a hit this year due to your dwindling finances? You are not alone. So, what do you do when you want to give someone a gift for their Birthday, or for dog-sitting, or Christmas, or Valentine’s Day, or any number of times when a small gift would be appreciated?
When the budget starts to suffer, we start to rethink giving gifts. Yes, we want to show our appreciation to the people who support us and love us, but we just don’t have the money anymore. The answer goes back to the old days: giving a gift from your heart, using the talents you have, and you will never go wrong.
One of the most enjoyable gifts I’ve ever given is a gift of chocolate. Whether it’s homemade peanut clusters or fancy chocolate covered cherries, everyone seems to be enamored with their little boxes or bags of beautiful, and delicious chocolate goodies.
Making chocolate treats isn’t as difficult as it may seem. You’ll need just a few simple supplies, a little practice, and you’re on your way. Once you get good a making a few treats, your family and friends will look for them with great anticipation. This particular chocolate treat is really great because no one will think to make them just for themselves.
Chocolate Dipped Coffee Spoons
There’s a delicious connection between coffee and chocolate, so this gift is a natural for any coffee drinker on your gift list. Man or woman, if they drink coffee, they’ll love this gift.
Start with this list of items:
Purchase some heavy duty plastic spoons. You may even wish to check out some flea markets or thrift stores for silver spoons that are pretty. Either way, make sure they’re nice and clean.
In the grocery store’s baking aisle, you’ll find blocks of milk chocolate coating. That’s what you’ll need for your spoons, not the Real Chocolate. Real Chocolate tends to be harder to control, and will not stay shiny if it’s not handled exactly right. The chocolate coating is much better, and actually tastier, than the Real stuff.
Candy sprinkles or crushed peppermint candies may be a nice addition if you want to make your spoons even fancier. You may consider flavor additives like peppermint oil if you think your gift recipient would like the flavored chocolate.
You’ll need to cover cookie sheets with parchment paper so the spoons won’t stick while cooling. Don’t use waxed paper as the chocolate will stick and you’ll have a mess. Parchment paper can also help the clean up if you’re working on a larger number of spoons.
I recommend that since you’re giving a gift of food, buy the proper wrapping. Look in your candy making section of any craft store for clear cellophane candy bags in a size to fit the spoon, leaving some of the handle sticking out. You’ll also want to find some ribbon and raffia to tie the package closed and to decorate the gift.
This is how you proceed:
Put a big pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Carefully chop up your big chunk of chocolate into little chunks and put in a small pot that will fit in the big pot. When the water in the big pot comes to a boil, shut it off, and very carefully place the small pot in the hot water. Don’t let your water run over into the small pot with the chocolate. After the small pot sits for a few minutes and you see the chocolate start to melt on the edges, take the pot out of the water and begin stirring the chocolate with a big rubber spatula until it’s all melted.
When you are done stirring the chocolate, dip one spoon at a time in the melted chocolate and lay each one on the parchment paper you have on your cookie sheets. If you plan to decorate the spoons with other candy, do it while the spoon is still wet. Otherwise the candy won’t stick. Then move on to the next spoon, dip, decorate, and so on. Once all of your spoons are done, take your cookie sheet to a cold, preferably dry place. A refrigerator or freezer is okay to just get them set up a little, but don’t leave them in that moist environment for more than a few minutes.
Once the chocolate has set up, you can put each spoon in a candy bag, and tie a piece of ribbon, raffia, or what have you around the handle of the spoon to close the bag. Now you can add a little extra ribbon, a candy cane, or any other decoration you’d like. If you are giving more than one spoon to someone, be sure to put them in a candy bag first, then place all of them together in a pretty bag or box.
Now that you’ve finished tying up all those pretty little gifts, aren’t you pleased with yourself? You have spent your time creating gifts that show you care. Instead of running out to the store to quickly buy yet another gift card, your gift shows that you took time to plan and make a very special someone a very special gift… straight from the heart.
