Mary Berry’s top tips for homemade Christmas gifts

Show your family and friends how much you care with hand-crafted edible gifts this year…

Image caption,
On the festive special Mary is joined by Nick Grimshaw

“I believe there’s nothing more special than a delicious homemade gift,” explains Dame Mary Berry at the start of her new festive special Mary Makes Christmas.

The Christmas special will be on BBC One on Wednesday 18 December at 8pm and focusses on, “beautiful presents to say thank you to all the important people in your life.

“I’ll show you how to put your heart and soul into creating gifts that are truly special.”

“There’s nothing better than a gift made with love”

Mary makes gifts for her friends and family every Christmas and loves to receive something homemade in return. “There’s something special about being generous with your time,” she says.

Here are Mary’s top tips for crafting your own special edible gifts this Christmas…

1. Tailor your gifts to personal tastes

Think about the key flavours, textures and tastes the lucky recipient likes. That way it will feel particularly special and personalised.

On this year’s special, Mary heads to Rye, East Sussex. Where Oti Mabuse joins her on the beach to make some memorable gifts. Oti explains “I love sweet things, but my dad is obsessed. After every meal he has to have a cheesecake.” So it makes sense to create something sweet as a gift for her dad.

Together they make almond snowballs – delicate light biscuits made with chopped and ground almonds and meringue. The result is a crispy outer shell but soft middle. Oti knows her father will want to eat them all.

2. Make use of what you’ve got

When you make homemade edible gifts, one unexpected cost can be what you present them in. It can be tempting to buy lovely new jars, or fancy gift boxes, but these can end up costing more than the food itself. So, where possible use what you’ve already got. Clean and sterilise those nearly-empty jars at the back of the fridge or decorate old biscuit tins to present your wares in.

If you are going to buy new containers you could do what Mary Berry does with her almond snowballs and buy something from a charity shop. She buys “pretty, charity shop glassware” which also helps to personalise your gift even more.

3. Make multi-purpose gifts

“With my guest, Amanda Holden, we made apricots in brandy, which were a bit boozy but delicious – you can serve them on their own or with crème fraiche on the top, or over ice cream. You make them and put them in a jar for the ultimate boozy gift,” says Mary.

Amanda suggests they would make a nice festive breakfast, while they could also be a dessert. However, you could of course, just eat them straight from the jar, as Amanda demonstrates in the festive special!

They are a brilliant last-minute option because they are ready to eat straight away. You don’t need to spend a fortune on top quality brandy either. In the episode, Amanda goes to the bar where they’re filming and requests “a bottle of expensive brandy and a bottle of plonky brandy.” The expensive one is for the two to drink, the ‘plonky’ brandy is added to the apricots.

4. Consider gifts that will last

Boxes of homemade chocolates, fudge and biscuits are great for instant gratification, but they won’t keep. The apricots in brandy will last two months and there’s another gift Mary loves to make that gets even better with time - chutney.

Mary Berry and Oti Mabuse stand on Rye beach with a jar of chutney

Chutney will keep for a long period (unopened) due to the sugar and vinegar content. However, the key is to use sterilised jars. Mary makes a batch of a spicy chutney with Oti on the show, something Mary describes as “a first-rate savoury gift.” And it’s packed with tomatoes, aubergine and peppers. And of course, plenty of spices are added to the mix.

“I think chutney is the perfect present and [my Christmas chutney] is a lovely bright red colour – of course it’s not the time to use fresh tomatoes – it’s chopped ones and absolutely delicious to go with all those cheeses and the cold meats over Christmas.”

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Sterilising jars is easier than you'd think

5. Give the gift of a delicious meal

The hour-long Christmas special doesn’t just focus on gifts. We also get an insight into the meals that Mary makes over the festive period, from a fish pie on Christmas Eve to turkey pasties on Boxing Day. What could be a better gift than inviting your loved ones over for a home cooked meal they haven’t had to cook?