Marmalade

I love marmalade...when I'm in a restaurant I've been known to search through every jam packet on the table for the little marmalade beauties.  It's totally a bonus if I find more than one, and if there's none at my table I'm not above searching any and probably every unoccupied table near mine.  Seriously, I should just carry my own jar!  Hehe. 

To make my marmalade, I use the recipe in the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook.  It's AMAZING!  Well, I love anything from the Barefoot Contessa, but I'll save my love for her for another day...today, it's about the marmalade. 

I was surprised at how easy this is to make - oranges and lemons, sugar and water...that's it.  I think the hardest thing is cutting the fruit thin enough.  The first time I made it, I didn't do a very good job, but I just ran it through the food processor each time I would open a jar.  I think I did much better this time around.

There's a lot of cooking and stirring.  

And then you get this - yes, magnificent!

 

I paired jars of marmalade and jam to put together a sweet gift.  My goal in packaging was to do something rustic and wintery and something that would show off the sparkling jars.  These little wooden berry baskets were perfect!  I found them at the local Tractor Supply store (more on that another day, too).    

 

I added a simple striped grosgrain ribbon, and in keeping with the rustic and wintery theme, I stamped this adorable snowman from Papertrey Ink's Holiday Tree stamp set on a kraft tag and attached it with red and white baker's twine. 

I always make a card that matches my gift packaging, and this was perfect and super easy to boot! 

I'm keeping this little packaging station ready to go for an easy gift that can be ready in minutes as the holidays get closer.

Thanks for stopping by, and God Bless!