Finding Christmas gifts for extended family, acquaintances and coworkers that are thoughtful and affordable can be a monumental task.

Felicia Moore knows the secret to a great gift — everyone appreciates food. Moore makes sweet and savory treats for friends and family, and sells jellies, jams, cakes, cookies and more to her Montgomery County neighbors through her business, Pintlala Pantry. She also sells at the Butler County Farmers Market. 

“I think people connect with food,” Moore said. “I try to make things that are traditionally Southern and bring back memories for people. It gets harder and harder to find inexpensive gifts, so a lot of times people will buy cases and cases of homemade jellies around this time of year to give.”

Moore is well known for her food gifts in the community.

“I like to set out big baskets of jellies at church and let people just get what they would like, and I give cakes, cookies and other things to special friends year after year,” she said. “I’ll ask them, ‘What would you like this year?’ It’s such a fun tradition.”

Moore has been cooking for others since she was young, so giving food gifts at Christmas is natural for her. 

“My mother would always go visit people and take them food,” she said. “When anyone was sick, when there was a funeral, when a baby was born — we took food. As I got older, I started baking with 4-H. Baking has always been a creative outlet for me.”

Moore took a long break from baking for fun while she raised her children, but in the past five years, she’s jumped back in. After realizing demand for her baked goods, jellies and jams was growing, she created Pintlala Pantry and has worked to make it a viable, popular business in the Pintlala community.

“I just love to connect with others over food,” Moore said. “When people buy things from me, I get to hear all their stories about cooking and baking with their mothers and grandmothers, and that’s so fun and special, especially this time of year.”