I really love giving – and receiving – homemade Christmas gifts. There is just nothing better than a delicious homemade brownie or even a cookie in a jar gift. If you love making your own holiday gifts – or you’re just really trying to cut down on the cost of your Christmas gifts this year – these 20 easy to make jams and jellies recipes are perfect.
These are great gifts in a jar ideas. You can just give out a decorated jar of jelly or jam or put them in a basket with homemade breads, hot cocoa mixes or other goodies.
If you are planning to give the gift of homemade goodness this holiday season, I really think that you will love these easy jam and jelly recipes. All of them make up pretty quickly and some of them even use the crockpot, so you can cook them while you’re busy making your own Christmas decorations or other gifts.
You should be sure to check out these 25 amazing hand sewn gifts that you can make this holiday season, too. Maybe put a basket together with some homemade food goodies and sewn gifts. There are so many ways that you can hand out homemade goodness this holiday season!
The great thing about these jams and jellies is that you can make an entire batch, which makes more than one jar. So, you have multiple jars to create multiple homemade Christmas gifts.
This is a great way to use up some of those old mason jars that you have on hand. And, be sure to take a look at these 50 brilliant mason jar projects to get even more ideas on using up those empty jars. Grab those empty jars and let’s get busy making some great jams and jellies to hand out to your friends and loved ones this holiday season.
1. Easy Homemade Pepper Jelly
Green pepper jelly has been a favorite in my house for years. I serve it every Christmas eve with cream cheese and crackers and I found a really easy recipe so that you can serve it, too.
This one can use red or green peppers, so it all depends on your choice of colors. This would be great in a basket with some fancy crackers and a tub of cream cheese.
Recipe: geniuskitchen
2. Traditional Homemade Christmas Jam
Strawberries and cranberries give this traditional Christmas jam its wonderful flavor. This one is really easy to make and is such a delicious treat. It has a gorgeous deep red color that is perfect for holiday gift giving and the recipe makes 14 half pint jars.
Plus, it only takes 15 minutes to make, and that includes the prep time. You will definitely want to add this recipe to your DIY mason jar projects. It’s even better if you tint your mason jars before you add your jelly.
Recipe: afamilyfeast
3. Retro Jezebel Jelly Recipe
This Jezebel jelly is such a vintage recipe and it makes a delicious treat that you can share with family and friends. The recipe calls for a jar of apricot jelly, pineapple preserves, horseradish and a few additional ingredients and makes several half pint jelly jars.
This one is really easy to make and is perfect if you are looking for something with a bit of retro flair.
Recipe: csmonitor
4. Simple Cranberry Crock Pot Jam
Cranberries really are the fruit of the holiday season, which makes this cranberry jam the perfect gift for your Christmas goodies list. This one can be made in the crock pot, too so there is less hands on cooking time for you.
You cook this one in a slow cooker for eight hours and it makes four jars of jam. You have to love good slow cooker recipes.
Recipe: crockpotladies
5. Festive Homemade Apple Cranberry Jam
Apples and cranberries have a wonderful flavor when combined, and this jam recipe incorporates both of those flavors along with lemon zest for a tangy taste that your gift recipients will love.
This one cooks up pretty easy and there is little prep work required. It makes a lovely and chunky jam that has a gorgeous color and a wonderful flavor that goes perfectly with hot biscuits in the morning.
Recipe: foodinjars
6. Yummy Homemade Coffee Jelly
This homemade coffee jelly is the perfect gift for the coffee lovers in your life. This would be great in a basket with some homemade flavored coffee creamers and maybe a mug or two.
To make this one, you need strongly brewed coffee, pectin, lemon juice, sugar and at least five or six eight ounce jelly jars. It has a delicious flavor and the coloring is simply gorgeous. Now you have repurpose projects for coffee cans and something to do with your leftover coffee, too.
Recipe: foodiewithfamily
7. Easy Homemade Mixed Berry Jam
Everyone loves a good berry jam and this one is really easy to make. The recipe makes about six half pint jars and it takes less than an hour to make from start to finish.
You use raspberries, blackberries and blueberries in this one – although you could easily substitute different berries if you prefer, just make sure that you keep the ingredient amounts the same.
Recipe: suburbansimplicity
8. Simple DIY Wild Plum Jelly
This wild plum jelly is one of the easiest recipes that you will find for holiday jellies and it’s delicious. You use plum juice, sugar and pectin to make this one – that’s it!
Just three ingredients and you have a wonderful batch of yummy jelly to give away. The recipe makes 10 eight ounce jelly jars full and it only takes a few minutes to get this one from the stove to the jelly jars.
Recipe: brendid
9. Easy Freezer Christmas Jam
This Christmas jam can be made in the freezer, so there is really no canning or preserving required. It’s a really easy recipe and it produces the most delicious jam! This one is super easy to make and who doesn’t love a good strawberry jam?
You get about 72 ounces of jam from this recipe, so you can decide how many jars based on the size of the jelly jars that you are using. If you use the small four ounce jars, you’ll have enough to give everyone you know a jar of jam for Christmas. Add this one to your list of freezer meals to save time and money.
Recipe: thefrugalgirls
10. Homemade Blackberry Jam
I absolutely love blackberry jam – well, anything made from blackberries, really. This recipe calls for strawberries but you can easily replace that fruit with any fruit of your choice, like blackberries.
The jam itself is really easy to make and you get a huge batch from it. Add this homemade blackberry jam to a basket filled with homemade breads or some great hot cocoa mix for a truly wonderful holiday gift.
Recipe: northcarolinacharm
11. Homemade Roasted Pecan Vanilla Butter
Here is another delicious fruit butter recipe. If you love apple butter, you are really going to love this roasted sweet vanilla pecan butter. This one is also really easy to make and is perfect for giving as a gift this Christmas.
The recipe makes just one jar, but you can easily adjust it to make several small jelly jars. It’s great in a basket with muffins or teas.
Recipe: strengthandsunshine
12. Easy Two Ingredient DIY Grape Jam
This delicious grape jam recipe only requires two ingredients. It’s a really easy and really cheap jam to make and let’s face it, practically everyone loves grape jelly.
To make this one, you just need grapes and sugar and it cooks up really quickly. The recipe makes one jar but can easily be adjusted to make several if you have a few gift baskets that you want to make.
Recipe: mamalikestocook
13. Homemade Holiday Cranberry Orange Jam
This delicious jam has the flavors of the holidays with cranberries and oranges and it takes less than half an hour to make. This is a really easy recipe to duplicate if you want to make several jars.
You make this one with cranberries, orange zest and apples and you can store the jars in the refrigerator for several weeks or can it if you prefer to keep it longer.
Recipe: omgyummy
14. Pear, Mission Fig And Cinnamon Jam
This jam with cinnamon, figs and pears is really perfect for the holidays. This one is super easy to make and has such a delicious flavor.
You get six jars – eight ounce jars – from this one and although it takes about two hours from start to finish, it’s an easy to follow recipe and you get so many jars for giving! Butter and orange zest add to the wonderful flavor of this holiday jam.
Recipe: seriouseats
15. DIY Pumpkin Butter
Pumpkin butter is delicious, easy to make and perfect for gift giving. If you have never tried pumpkin butter, you definitely need to. It’s great on muffins or toast and has a wonderful pumpkin flavor that is perfect for the holidays.
This recipe takes less than an hour to make and you can get several small jelly jars from it. Put this one in a basket with muffins, like these Nutella banana muffins.
Recipe: allrecipes
16. Festive Cranberry Ginger Jelly
Cranberries are the perfect start to your holiday jellies and this particular recipe has the wonderful flavor of ginger, another great Christmas flavor.
This recipe makes about two cups of jelly and it’s perfect for serving alongside your turkey for Christmas dinner. It also makes a gorgeous gift to give. Put it in a basket with some homemade biscuits or a loaf of homemade bread.
Recipe: marthastewart
17. Homemade Lemon And Fig Refrigerator Jam
This lemon and fig jam is so easy to make and you can have it finished in less than an hour. The recipe makes two cups but you can easily double or even triple it to make more.
It has a gorgeous deep red color that is perfect for the holidays and it tastes so good! This stores in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about three months or it can be frozen for six months or longer.
Recipe: southernliving
18. Easy 30 Minute Blueberry Jam
In about half an hour, you can have three full cups of this delicious blueberry jam. If you know someone who loves the taste of blueberries, this is the perfect jam to make as a gift.
You can put this in a basket with a homemade pancake mix or any number of other goodies or just give the jar of jam. It has a beautiful color and is so easy to make. If you really love blueberries, you should definitely make this blueberry pie, too.
Recipe: realsimple
19. No Sugar Homemade Jam
If you have someone on your Christmas gift list that cannot have added sugar, this no sugar jam recipe is perfect. It’s a really easy recipe and makes more than a cup of jam.
You can use any fruit that you want and easily adjust the recipe to make more than one jar if you need to. This is a really tasty jam that uses honey for sweetening as opposed to refined sugar.
Recipe: fountainavenuekitchen
20. Old Fashioned Raspberry Jam
Raspberry jam is a favorite of so many and this old fashioned jam recipe makes the perfect holiday gift. The recipe makes four cups of jam – so you can get at least four jars depending on the size of jars that you are using.
It’s a quick and easy recipe and you only need raspberries and sugar to make it. Plus, the color of this one makes it perfect for adding to a Christmas gift basket.
Recipe: epicurious
