Our favorite holiday gift ideas

With the holidays looking different this year and many of us unable to spend time with our friends and family, making gifts is a great way to connect with those who you are unable to see face-to-face. Below is a list of my six favorite vegan gifts – both humans and dogs will appreciate this list! 

Vegan Sugar Cookies

These Vegan Sugar Cookies are great alone or when decorated with your favorite frosting and sprinkles.  I keep this vegan cookie recipe handy and make these cookies year-round, changing up the frosting depending on the time of year.  They are truly delicious!  Make sure to save your Forager Project Butter (or Sour Cream) containers to reuse as gift boxes for these tasty vegan cookies.

Vegan Energy Balls

An easy to make, beautiful and healthy treat for a friend.  These Vegan Blackberry Bliss Balls  are naturally sweetened with dates and Forager Project Blackberry Drinkable yogurt. I also recommend these Chocolate Clusters for a similarly delicious no-bake homemade gift.  

Vegan Granola

Reuse your multi-serve containers and gift your own homemade vegan granola in one of our 24oz yogurt containers.  We love this nourishing homemade vegan granola recipe from Halsa nutrition. If your friend is nearby and you are not shipping the granola, you can even leave a multi serve yogurt with the granola at their doorstep. Your friend will thank you every morning as they dig into the perfect breakfast!

Vegan Sour Cream and Onion Biscuits

For your vegan friends that prefer savory to sweet, these Sour Cream and Onion Biscuits are a super easy and crowd pleasing recipe.

Vegan Dog Treats

The dogs of Forager Project

With so many people adding dogs to their families during the pandemic, most of us are sure to have a friend that would love a dog treat (if we are not one of the lucky ones who have a new puppy ourselves)!  I recently made these dog treats for my sister’s Golden Retriever and he could not get enough of them (see top row above for evidence).  The peanut butter is the trick to making these dog treats extra delicious for our furry friends.

Ingredients 

• 1 cup peanuts (or 1 cup peanut butter with no additional ingredients)
• 2 ½ cups whole wheat flour (if your dog or your friends dog is gluten free, then substitute gluten free flour)
• 1 cup Forager Project Unsweetened Cashewmilk
• 1 flax egg

Prep

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  If using whole peanuts, blend peanuts in a food processor to form a smooth nut butter consistency.  Then, slowly add flour.  Add in remaining ingredients – the dough should not stick to your hands and it should be relatively dry.  
• Roll out the dough until slightly more than ¼ inch thick.  Cut out the shape of dog biscuits with a knife or use a cookie cutter to shape cookies. Cook at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, until golden brown (cooking time depends on size of dog biscuit so check regularly after 20 minutes).

Planted Seeds

Give a gift that keeps on giving – planted seedlings!  To make, grab an old yogurt container (single serve container or multi-serve tub).  Puncture holes at the bottom of the container and add organic potting soil to the cup.  Add seedlings to the yogurt cup and carefully water your seedling, (note: the amount of water required will depend on your seed type). Thank you, Girl Gone Green for the inspiration on this green gift!

Combining all of our ideas into a vegan gift basket is also a great idea for a loved one. Regardless of how different the holidays will be this year, our DIY vegan gifts are sure to be a hit with anyone near or far!