Infused Oils for Homemade Holiday Gifts

We decided this year we were not going to participate in the hustle bustle go broke Christmas, so all of our gifts are going to be homemade.

I have been busy making scarves, afghans and crafts to give to the family. It has been a blast and I can’t wait to see what the kids have made for each other!

I wanted to make some edible gifts as well, but since we don’t eat the breads, cookies, and sugars most Christmas goodies contain I was at a loss.

Then it came to me! Why am I making this so hard? We are all about oils and fats! Why not make flavor infused olive oil?

Sounds super hard right? Wrong! It was one of the easiest gifts I made all season! Here is what you need

A couple bottles of organic cold pressed olive oil
Bottles to gift the infused oils in. (I used bottles with a flip top lid like these)
Ribbon, string, twine ( whatever you would like to use to tie around the top of the bottle to make it pretty
Labels (optional) for the bottle
Gift tags with a hole punched in them

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Y29JMW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2KQZXNM4Q71FY

Something to flavor the oil like
Chili peppers (Dried 2 TBSP)
Lemon Peel from one lemon (remove as much of the white stuff as possible so you have a large piece of the zest)
Orange Peel from ½ orange (remove as much of the white stuff as possible so you have a large piece of the zest)
Rosemary sprigs (Fresh bunch (4ish))
Thyme Sprigs (Fresh 4ish)
Garlic and Peppercorns ( 2 Fresh peeled garlic cloves and 1 tsp whole peppercorns)

Measure out enough oil to fill your gift bottle about ¾ full. Heat the oil on low with the ingredient of your choice. Heat for 20 minutes just to warm, you do not want to cook the oil. This will release the flavors from you infusing ingredient.

Strain the infusing ingredient from the oil and place oil in the gift bottle. Add a fresh piece of the infusing ingredient to the oil in the gift bottle. It looks pretty, will help the oil keep the flavor, and will be a visual to which oil is in the bottle.

Tie a ribbon around the top of the bottle with a gift tag attached.

I made these gift tags you can print out for free as my gift to you….

Printable Gift Tags