Three Tins, One Saturday: Homemade Christmas Gifts From a London Market Haul
By 10 November 2026, the Christmas market cabins have already started to appear along the South Bank and around Borough. I am not here to tell you they are a rip-off. Rent is rent, and a stallholder has to eat. But a small jar of spiced nuts for £7.50? A pouch of lemon salt for £6? These are the kinds of prices that make a home cook tilt their head. If you have an oven, a few jars and a spare Saturday, you can make the same sort of thing for a fraction of the cost — and you get to control the salt, the spice and the amount of glitter.
The Saturday route
Start at Ridley Road Market in Dalston. Go early — before 10am if you can — because the nut stalls are busiest later and the good pistachios go first. Pick up 500g mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans), 200g shelled pistachios, 150g dried cranberries, a handful of cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and chilli flakes. Ridley Road is not precious about quantities; you can buy just what you need.
Next, head to Borough Market, but go with a list. It is easy to spend £40 on cheese you did not come for. You are here for coarse sea salt — Maldon if you like, or a cheaper flaky salt from a grocer — and maybe a small bottle of neutral oil. If Borough is heaving, a supermarket does the salt perfectly well. The market route is a guide, not a religion.
Finish at a charity shop or a hardware shop for jam jars, small tins and brown paper. Reusing jars is the quiet secret of every good homemade gift. Wash them, remove the labels with hot soapy water, and dry them properly. A mismatched set of jars looks intentional. A set of new plastic tubs looks like a meal prep mistake.
Project one: maple and chilli spiced nuts
These are the gateway gift. They take 20 minutes and make your kitchen smell like a winter market stall, minus the queue.
Heat the oven to 160C fan. Whisk one tablespoon of maple syrup with one tablespoon of neutral oil, a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, half a teaspoon of ground ginger, a pinch of ground cloves and a good pinch of chilli flakes. Toss 500g mixed nuts in the mixture until glossy. Spread on a lined baking tray and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring once. They catch quickly, so stay nearby. While they are hot, sprinkle with flaky salt and toss. Cool completely before jarring, or they will go soft.
Makes about four 125g jars. Cost: roughly £9 for the nuts, syrup and spices if you buy from Ridley Road. That is about £2.25 a jar. The Christmas stall equivalent — a 150g jar of spiced nuts — is usually £6 to £8. The maths is not subtle.
Project two: three flavoured salts
Flavoured salt is the gift that makes people think you have your life together. You do not. You have a tray and a lemon.
Use 500g coarse sea salt and divide it between three bowls. For lemon-thyme salt, add the zest of two lemons and a tablespoon of finely chopped thyme. For rosemary-chilli salt, add a tablespoon of chopped rosemary and a teaspoon of chilli flakes. For smoked paprika salt, add two teaspoons of smoked paprika and a little black pepper. Mix each well, spread on a baking tray and leave somewhere dry overnight. This stops the zest from clumping. Jar it the next day.
Makes four 100g jars. Cost: about £4.50 if you buy salt, lemons, herbs and spices sensibly. That is just over £1 a jar. A market stall will charge £5 or £6 for the same thing. Keep the salt in a cool, dry cupboard and use within three months. Label it, because nobody wants to put lemon salt in their coffee by accident.
Project three: pistachio and cranberry biscotti
Biscotti looks fancy and behaves like a very firm biscuit. It is also the most forgiving of the three projects, which makes it a good one to do with children or after a long day.
Heat the oven to 180C fan. Mix 250g plain flour, 150g caster sugar, one teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Beat in two eggs, then fold in 100g pistachios, 100g dried cranberries and the zest of an orange. Shape into two logs about 20cm long and flatten slightly. Bake for 25 minutes, until firm and lightly golden. Cool for 10 minutes, then slice on the diagonal into 1cm fingers. Lay them on a tray and bake again at 140C fan for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once, until dry. Cool completely.
Makes about 20 biscotti. Cost: roughly £5.50 for the whole batch, or £1.65 for a gift bag of six. A Christmas market stall will sell a bag of six for £7 to £9. They keep for two weeks in an airtight tin, which means you can make them now and still have gifts in December.
Wrapping that does not look like a school project
Brown paper, twine and a plain label go a long way. So does a square of fabric over a jar lid, held with an elastic band and a bit of ribbon. Charity shop tins are excellent for biscotti; line them with greaseproof paper first. Save small glass jars from olives and capers, wash them well and use them for the salts.
Write the contents and the date on every label. If you are giving to someone with allergies, list the nuts, dairy and gluten. It is not glamorous, but it is kind. A gift that says 'contains pistachios' is better than a beautiful jar that someone cannot eat.
The honest cost of doing it yourself
One project on its own will not save you a fortune. You still have to buy spices, jars and wrapping. But if you make all three in one Saturday, the costs overlap: the oven is on once, the jars come from the same charity shop trip, and the brown paper does for everything. My rough total for three projects — four jars of nuts, four jars of salt and four bags of biscotti — is about £25 to £30, depending on where you shop. The same quantity at festive stalls would be £80 or more.
That is the real argument for homemade gifts. Not that the market stall is bad, but that your kitchen can do something the stall cannot: make a small, specific thing for a small, specific person. A jar of lemon salt for the friend who actually cooks. A bag of biscotti for the neighbour who feeds your cat. A tin of nuts for the office desk you forgot to buy for.
Start with one project this weekend. The Christmas market will still be there if you run out of time.
