To keep costs down I like to give homemade gifts at Christmas and I usually do some kind of cookies or dessert bars. Does anyone have any recipes for some healthier treats?

I saw a really nice looking fig recipe the other day on a blog that the poster said was a Xmas type family tradition! Can't remember what the blog was though I think I googled vegan fig recipes. I think with anything like cookies and bars, the best thing to do is look for vegan recipes! The fat content's usually greatly reduced with there being no butter and I tend to find vegan recipes cut out the refined sugars too!

There are lots of ways to make treats healthier. Instead of worrying about cutting the fat or sugar, perhaps you should concentrate on adding nutrition? Then it wouldn't be empty calories, you know? Adding nuts and fruits is a great way to pack in the nutritional content.

Oooo interesting! I just had a quick look at Google, not something I'd thought about before and things like infused vinegars, pancake mixes, granola mixes in reusable gift jars came up. Not a bad idea maybe accompanied by homemade body products and novelty socks or alike? Mini treat gift basket/box?

Ooo olive oil with chilli and stuff in a nice bottle would be good too! There's a store in selfridges, I think it's called vom fass, they do all infused oils and things, could maybe check them out and take inspiration from them?

Here is a unique gift idea that I received from my sister last year. She made batches of her favorite smoothies and froze them in 1/2 cup containers. She presented them in a basket along with the recipes. She had three or four different recipes in each basket.

Mmmmmm!

I like to make different spice seasoning mixes and put them in cute jars with a little label. These are usually marinades for meats or seasonings mixes for a stir fry or soups. I made a batch of cocoa mix that got rave reviews from a couple friends.

I make apricot date bread and wrap it in a pretty wrapper. It's full of nutrition and much more delicious than most fruitcakes, I think. If you just Google "apricot date bread", some simple recipes will come up in the results.