Save Money AND Give Better Gifts! Fruit Crisp Mix
This year we all seem to be feeling or at least dreading the crunch on our wallets more than ever. Whether its fear of job security, more payments than usual, or a simple lack of money, one thing is clear : This is not what Christmas is supposed to be about.
Christmas is about family, love, a giving spirit, and that special holiday magic. Generosity of heart is the time honored tradition which outweighs generosity of wallet by far. Lets go back to an old fashioned Christmas and give gifts from our heart, rather than gifts from our credit cards.
This time of year, everyone looks forward to holiday baked goods, but some of us simply don’t have the time to bake 20 loaves of banana bread or umpteen dozen cookies. Why not streamline that by giving home made gift mixes? These mixes can be made now and last for several months (or longer), cutting out the last minute gift rush completely by allowing you to finish your homemade goodies before December even arrives!
Whats more, by giving a homemade mix, you are giving your friends and loved ones an opportunity to share something special with their family, even when they might not have otherwise had time to do so.
Today I am bringing you the second of my holiday gift mixes, an all purpose (and totally delicious) fruit crisp mix. I am including links to printer ready labels which you can include with this mix that have the directions on one side and the entire recipe on the back. If you missed my Chocolate Gravy mix last week, be sure to check that out for more packaging ideas (and printer ready instruction labels) as well!
This is a very versatile mix in that it goes with pretty much any type of fruit you have on hand to bake with! I generally stick to apples and peaches because you can get them canned all year long and they are relatively inexpensive.
Who doesn’t love a good fruit crisp? Served piping hot with vanilla ice cream slowly melting into the yumminess, fruit crisp makes the ideal dessert. You can often this mix for sale on the shelves of specialty shops, with an astonishing price tag! I have seen a single recipe of a crisp mix selling anywhere from $5.99-$7.99. If you want to add in an additional bonus (for around a dollar more), you can include a can of peaches or fried apples along with your gift mix. I have a cute idea on how your kids can help you package those later in the post.
This is the same recipe we have used for our fruit crisp for as long as I can remember. When I was a girl, this was the special dish that Mama always let me make. I remember being as young as five and stirring the oats, flour, and brown sugar together. I would carefully cut in the margarine (making a mess, I’m sure!) and then Mama would place an 8×8 dish with peaches spread over the bottom so I could begin sprinkling the topping over it to complete the dish. I loved the evenings Mama decided to have peach crisp for dessert because I always got such praise for my cooking skills at supper that night!
You’ll need: Brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, and all purpose flour.
You can add nuts in this if you like, but that makes your mix considerably pricier. If you only have self rising flour on hand, just use that and it will be fine. Likewise if you only have quick oats versus old fashioned or dark brown sugar versus light brown. This is a very forgiving recipe. Just remember: Fruit crisp loves you and doesn’t want you to make a special trip to the grocery store on it’s behalf. Just use what you have.
Place flour and oats in a medium mixing bowl.
Add brown sugar and cinnamon.
Stir and your mix is made!
What I do is dump this mix into a plastic zipper bag and then make several others while I have everything out.
Like this!
What I did to package this one (and again, just see my Chocolate Gravy Mix if you’d like more packaging options – I’ll also have more in future gift mix posts!) was cut a rectangle of Christmas fabric with pinking shears and fingerpressed the sides inward.
Like this. Just turn the side over and press with your finger or nail along the fold. Isn’t it fun to be lazy? Keep that iron put up for another day.
Now just roll up the sides over your bag and then fold up the ends so that it looks like a sack…
Like this. I just tied mine with a scrap from the actual fabric.
Then, I inserted a Christmas Pick which I bought from Big Lots for a whopping fifty cents to make a beautiful presentation of my gift. You can simply print off my printer ready tags and attach them to have a completed gift with instructions on using the mix as well as the recipe.
(See bottom of post for links to tags)
If you’d like to make it even more special (and give your kids a chance to get creative), you can include canned fruit to use along with your crisp mix and let your kids make new labels for the cans! (Trust me, they LOVE this!)
My son and I made labels for apples and peaches.
You can then place them both in a gift basket, goodie bag, or gift box.
Or just give as is! This is a gift sure to be enjoyed and appreciated!
Ingredients Instructions
For the front of the tag, go here.
For the backside of the tag, go here.
(the tags include instructions on how to make the Fruit Crisp!)
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!
Gratefully,
Christy
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Nov 17 2008. Filed under Dessert, Gift Mixes, Holiday Favorites!.
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Great Ideas for gifts. What better than home made rather than store bought.
What a cute idea! Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad that I found this site…I love it!
I’m going to make your crisp mix for gifts this year.
You’re so clever, and your recipes are divine.
I love fruit crisp! I am definitely gonna use this one.
CUTE CUTE CUTE!!
very nice idea to send gifts. looks so cute!
I am so excited about these mixes, I can only buy maybe one or two things and make all of them to give as gifts, you are so awesome to give these ideas!!
These are the greatest ideas for gift giving in the economic situation we are going through.
Wow & Hello Christy !
I am really geting nostalgic & even a tad of excitment that I will be able to give one of your great gift mix ideas for a holiday cheer!
The fruit crisp is also a long time favorite of mine that I made for my 2 boys growing up as well ! So I feel like you may be a long lost sister soul!
Your articles are very informative with great photos, wrapping ideas & gift tags!! Oh My !
I can’t wait to get back to exploring your site.
Keep up the great & frugal ( but tasty!!) work !
Christy, Thanks so much for your great gift mix ideas! I love how you package your mixes, also. I hate to spend so much on packaging when you know it most likely will be discarded. You make your gifts so pretty and at a low cost. Thanks again!!
You have such wonderful ideas, you have inspired me to make some gift mixes to give as gifts this year.
Gifts from the heart and inexpensive too, what’s better than that?!
Keep the wonderful ideas and recipes coming!!
Oh, this is such a good one. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas. I am grateful.
P. S. The red dishpan is a fantastic addition. My husband loves the dishpan cookies, me too. He recognizes the recipe by Brady’s delightful face and hands. LOL too cool
I just love the basic recipes and somehow they always bring back memories. This reminds me of my Mom just taking the good cooking apples, peeling and slicing them and just adding brown sugar and butter on top and baking, yummy. And my sister-in-law Deb makes the quickest cobbler, just take a can of whatever fruit you want or have on hand, put into your 8×8 baking dish. Take a box of Yellow Jiffy Cake mix and sprinkle it over the fruit just right out of the box. Then just slice off some margarine or butter randomly over the top and pop into the oven. Looking forward to seeing all the other gift giving ideas you have Christy……. thanks!!
I LOVE this idea! We are always looking for quick & easy dessert ideas. This is a great thing to pass on. This would be great for a teachers gift!
These were great- i sent them with my hubby to work for his bosses- and they loved them!
This is a wonderful idea! I’ve been looking for easy recipes my almost 3 yr old grandson can help me with and be able to be proud of his newly acquired cooking skills, and this looks like a good one to start him with. Perhaps we’ll make one batch for home so he can eat it, and one batch for him to give to his babysitter as a gift. Thanks!!!
Hi Christy I love fruit crisps. They are the best in comfort food (in my humble opinion) so when I saw the mixes,I had an ahaa moment. I thought of all kinds of people on my list, that would love to receive one of these mixes. Thanks Christy you saved my sanity lol
Love anything with the word ‘crisp’ in it! Hopefully, some will make it’s way out of the house
Yummy … these sound wonderful. I’ll have to try them!
not sure who I’m gonna make this for…but I’m sure I’ll find someone
I can’t wait too try them all out
Love this idea too! You have given me so many choices for gifts for the neighbors.
This is a great idea for the kids to give. I’m making gathering baskets this year and the kids can make the mixes for inside! Thank you so much!
Beth from PA
My grandmother taught me to mix up something very similar when I was *very* young!
Your idea of treat mixes for Christmas is terrific – we plan to share the love.
Fruity Crisps. mmmm.
Your treat mix is a wonderful gift idea!
What a great idea! I made cookie mix in a jar several years ago and everyone loved them. Ii just enjoy the personal touch!
I posted some pics on my blog of using two of your mixes to fix for the gals in my office! I love your site!! Thanks! Have a Merry Christmas!
Wish I had found these sooner. They are all great. I am going to add them to “My Favorites” and use in the very near future.
Love it all!
Jill
it is one of our family traditions to give out home made gifts. More often than not they are from the kitchen
Thank you, thank you, thank you for these wonderful gift ideas on a budget!!!!!!!!! They sound delicious and are so personal plus wallet friendly. I have now to decide which one I will make for co-worker gifts this Christmas. Funds are very tight this year as I am sure it is for everyone else out there, too. Thanks for a wonderful site and wonderful ideas. I am so enjoying reading the recipes and printing out things I want to make. I am so hungry just reading all these delicious things. I plan to make the steak and milk gravy for my son’s birthday on 9/11. I think he will love it but I’ve never had much success with it. Your recipe is ridiculously simple and I think my problem was not getting the oil hot enough. Yummy stuff:)
love the idea of a frugal christmas with homemade mixes. We are on a tight budget this year but I still want to show people that I appreciate them and all they do for me. Thanks for the great ideas!
Hugs!
Natalie
Thanks for sharing your ideas. I can’t wait to see more. We would love to make these and give as gifts. My 17 year old daughter always wants to give all her teachers and bus drivers a gift. Very sweet, but gets very expensive. I have 4 children, if we do for one we do for all! She is always trying to come up with new things to make, this will definitely go on her list! Looking forward to more of these.
Blessings,
Connie
These ideas are the topper for all the children and I have been working on and planning since our Christmas in July
Thank you!
[...] Fruit Crisp Mix [...]
This is another recipe that I am going to try, sounds delicious. Thanks again.
Wanda
[...] Fruit Crisp Mix [...]
I was just wondering how much mix goes into each bag. I love the idea of having the kids make new labels for the cans and will be doing it!
Thank you so much for a quick/easy & delicious gift idea!!
I’m confused… In reading the recipe card, it doesn’t seem to account for the mixed pouches. Aren’t the recipients just supposed to dump the pouch over the fruit, add butter, and bake? Am I missing something? Help!
I wanted to make the fruit crisp for my husband’s lunch today, but discovered that I was out of apples and peaches. The only canned fruit in my pantry was a 15 oz.can of pineapple chunks. So…… I improvised AND….. we had pineapple crisp! It was delicious!
[...] oven and warm up this winter!The cookbook recipes are also available on the Southern Plate website:Peach Crisp MixChocolate GravyHot Chocolate MixI’m also thinking it would be a good idea to get some [...]
[...] we happened to have on hand.The cookbook recipes are also available on the Southern Plate website:Peach Crisp MixEasy. Posted by Hodgepodgemom at 10:11 [...]
[...] oven and warm up this winter!The cookbook recipes are also available on the Southern Plate website:Peach Crisp MixChocolate GravyHot Chocolate MixI’m also thinking it would be a good idea to get some [...]
So easy….I love it!
I’m CRYING I’m so happy!!!!! I had this written out on my phone, but deleted it by accident & I’ve looked & looked all over your site, but couldn’t find the recipe!! I totally forgot it was a GIFT MIX!!! HOOOOORAY!!!!!! Now I xan make this for our dessert tonight!!!! OH THANK U THANK U!!!!! (got your email of easy candies & gift mixes today 12/14/11). XOXO!!
Im glad you have the touch of creativity and the personality to share all you with us…i have neither lol