Christmas baking, candy, and treats: Tips for making and buying

Like it or not, things are getting awfully Christmas-y these days.

And this season, sweet treats are an awfully popular present for just about anyone on your "nice" list.

So how do you give sweet gifts the right way?

On The Coast's Urban Foodie Anya Levykh has a few tips.

"[It should be] something unique, handmade or made locally, with quality ingredients. Nothing wrong with giving a box of truffles, but make sure they're high quality," she told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn. "It's better to give a smaller amount of something good than a larger amount of something mediocre."

• Vancouver Christmas food options don't have to be expensive
• Casual dining in Vancouver is a growing trend, says Anya Levykh

And, now, the best tip of all.

"Don't forget to gift to yourself, the season of giving should extend at least a little bit toward yourself."

A few ideas from Levykh are a box of milk and cookies from Beaucoup Bakery (the box includes a litre of Avalon Dairy's organic homogenized milk plus an assortment of cookies for $30), 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters' Santa Barbara sampler (which has three different coffees from Santa Barbara, Honduras) and for something further afield, chocolate bark from La Petite Sourise on Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast.

And if it absolutely has to be handmade, this week's recipe has you covered.

This week's recipe: Biscomes (Swiss gingerbread with marzipan)

Recipe courtesy of Chez Cristophe

Ingredients:

• cup homo milk
• 1 Tbsp baking soda
• 375 g liquid honey
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 medium-sized egg
• 100 ml cold water
• 1 Tbsp gingerbread spice
• 3 cups baking bread flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 150 g almond marzipan (usually one package)

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients together in an electric stand mixer, on low speed for five minutes until ingredients are combined.
2. Put in a container, and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge for at least a week to let the dough rise slowly.
3. Take it out of the fridge, let it get back to room temperature. Roll it with a rolling pin, about twomillimetres thick. Use a round cookie cutter and cut the dough in even sections.
4. Roll out your marzipan to four millimetres. Cut with a ring cookie cutter, one size smaller than the gingerbread dough.
5. With a brush, brush some milk on your gingerbread. Then, take your marzipan and put it on top. Slightly press the edge to stick them together.
6. Poke with a fork, about four times. Brush some more milk on top. Then let it rest in the fridge for at least two hours.
7. Preheat oven to 340 F. Take the cookies out. Brush more milk on top. Then put in the oven.
8. Bake for five minutes. Rotate. Then another three minutes.
9. It is then ready. You can decorate as you wish!

To hear the full interview, click the audio labelled:Gifting sweets this Christmas? Anya Levykh has some tips