Sweet Bread Gift Baskets

During the holidays you always have that one person you don't know what to give them. Why not give them a basket full of an assortment of sweet breads. Making sweet breads can be fun and inexpensive and you don't have to be a great baker to make them. The first step would be to compile a few sweet bread recipes. If you don't have any of your own, you can find them online or ask family or friends for some of theirs. If you don't want to bother with making them from scratch, you can find convenient box mixes in your local grocery or specialty store. Have a variety of about six different kinds of breads, such as banana, pumpkin, poppy seed, cranberry-apple, cranberry, zucchini or applesauce, just to name a few. You can also make your own combinations.

After deciding what type of breads to make, your next step is to plan how many people you are going to give the baskets to. This is so you can figure how many loaves of each bread you will need. Plan to give at least two of each kind of bread per basket. Next, make sure you have the right baking pans. Buying disposable mini loaf pans will make your job a lot easier and less time consuming. A recipe that makes two standard loaves will give you around five to six mini loaves. Six mini loaves can be placed on a cookie sheet to be baked all at once. Allow approximately ten more minutes in your cooking time when baking this many loaves together. When using the disposable pans, you can reuse them about four times before they begin to loose their shape.

After the breads have baked and cooled, next comes the packaging. There are two different types of bags you can use, both of which can be bought at your local dollar store. Starting in early fall, the dollar stores get in clear bags with holiday designs that are usually used to put candy in. These are great for the breads. Another choice is plain ziploc-type sandwich bags. Make sure to cut the zipper part off the top. Whichever type of bag you use, tie them off with decorative ribbons. Label each bag to indicate what type of bread is in them. Use either plain white labels or purchase the holiday-themed ones.

Now you are ready to put them into baskets. Any department store, dollar store, flea market or anyplace you shop has a variety of baskets available. The type and price is a choice you can make based on the person you are giving the basket to. Make sure to put a napkin in the basket before placing in the breads to give it a more decorative and personal touch.

After giving the baskets out, watch the faces of those lucky people who received one, because everyone enjoys getting food.