8 Food Blog Links We Love

We've scoured the web for our favorite food blog posts, and now we're bringing them right to your desktop. It’s hard work, but someone has to do it.

Still frantically trying to figure out how you're going to find perfect gifts for all the people on your list? Don't worry -- homemade treats are here to save you. Peppermint sugar cookies, saffron knots, and cranberry-buckwheat loaves are just some of the giftable recipes we've rounded up for you this week. What's that cranberry-pine cocktail doing here? Oh, that one is a gift to you. Read these links, then get cooking!

    

• Forget plain sugar cookies: Give out these candy-cane versions this year instead. (Dessert for Two.)

• Stuff pretzels with caramel and coconut, then cover them all in chocolate. Repeat. (Half Baked Harvest.)
  
  
• Remember muddy buddies (a.k.a. puppy chow)? Now you can have them in pie form. (Crepes of Wrath.)

• Celebrate St. Lucia's Day by gifting these gorgeous saffron buns. (My Blue & White Kitchen.)

    

• Make Alice Medrich's buckwheat-squash loaf with cranberries for all of your gluten-intolerant friends. (The Wednesday Chef.)

• Mix up this cranberry-pine mocktail for a festive drink. (Spike as you wish.) (The Merrythought.)

• Add a little oomph to linzer cookies with some pecans and ground clove. (Southern Soufflé.)
  
  
• Got vegan and gluten-free friends? These lime meltaways are a delicious option. (Heather Christo.)

Photos on top by (clockwise) Dessert for Two, Half Baked Harvest, My Blue & White Kitchen, Crepes of Wrath

Photos on bottom by (clockwise) The Wednesday Chef, The Merrythought, Heather Christo, Southern Soufflé

Which food blogs inspired you this week? Tell us in the comments!