Link Round-Up: Homemade Food Gifts
Monday, December 10, 2007 at 09:29AM Friends and relatives, plug your ears and avert your gaze.
Okay, are they gone? Well, then, everybody else, here’s a link round-up for some homemade food gift ideas. Don’t have time to cook? Tune in tomorrow (eh, Wednesday) for some food-related gifts made by somebody else.
(So I missed the chance to do this in a timeframe that would be useful for Hanukkah-celebratin’ folks – sorry! But maybe if you celebrate Hanukkah and are as behind as I generally am with gifts, this timing might still work out for you?)
I haven’t ever quite mastered the art of saving money via homemade gifts, but I sure do enjoy the process, right up until about 2:00 am when I’m smack in the middle of something I can’t stop doing and I’m dead tired and frustrated and cursing the fact that I started this ridiculous project. I have said before that I am waiting for the day that Werner Herzog shows up to document my holiday baking and making projects because I think the combination of hubris, quixotic idealism, lack of foresight, masochism and eventual despair would be right up his alley.
BUT – let’s stay focus on the fun part, shall we?
Here are some gifts that are relatively easy to make and ship well...
Biscotti – my number one favorite thing to make and give in recent years. They keep really well, they’re sweet but not too sweet, you can make them in a variety of flavors and give a selection, and they have a nice ease-of-creation to happy-reception ratio. I have made several recipes in the past that were successful, including the following:
- Martha Stewart’s Pistachio Fig Biscotti
- Capuccino Biscotti (Only I put the chocolate chips IN the biscotti and didn’t dip them in chocolate – I am not a fan of dipped biscotti. If you do that, you won’t need the teaspoon of shortening.)
- Gingerbread Biscotti – one year I wanted to make all holiday flavor biscotti, and so made this and an Eggnog Biscotti (which turned out gross, I’ll have to try to make my own recipe someday) and something else that I forget. A Pumpkin Pie flavored biscotti might also be fun – I haven’t tried this particular recipe.
- Chocolate-Orange Biscotti - The first couple of times I made this recipe they were amazing and a big hit. The last time – which was, of course, the time I was making them as a thank you gift for my favorite chef and his restaurant for doing me a solid – they turned out embarrassing. It is most likely that I am the bad factor in that equation, but just a note that you might want to run a sample batch with this one just in case.
- The newer Joy of Cooking has two very solid recipes – a Low-Fat Plain that can be modified pretty easily to include different flavors or mix-ins, and a Mocha Chocolate Chip that is a big hit with most folks.
- And if you have someone in your life who doesn’t like sweet, here’s a recipe for a savory biscotti, Parmesan Black-Pepper Biscotti. I am not sure how I feel about this – I feel like the sweet helps offset the dry and crispy nature of a biscotti – but I might give them a try just to see.
Cookies - If you just want some regular cookies, not biscotti, here are some links:
- Martha Stewart Cookie Slideshow includes some traditional like gingerbread and sugar cookies with some new twists, like chocolate pretzels and some whimsical icebox cookies. The slideshow continues to include other edible gifts and creative presentation ideas.
- Eating Well has their 2007 Cookie Contest Winners listed.
Quick Breads - also a good choice because they can ship very well, although they don’t last quite as long. Okay, no actual links for some because I primarily cooked these from Joy of Cooking (first three listed below – have made all several times with great results), but here are some flavor ideas that you can search for if they hit your sweet spot.
- Orange Loaf with Dried Cranberries and Pecans
- Cheddar-Scallion Beer Bread
- Chipotle-Cheddar Cornbread
- Lemon-Poppy Seed – I usually would not ice them so that they would ship better, but that’s a tasty option for in-town guests. Can’t remember what recipe I used, but remember: more zest = more lemony flavor. Don’t count on lemon juice to emerge from the baking process as the main flavoring agent.
- Martha does have a little section on some overall Quick Bread ideas.
Spice Mixtures – I haven’t made these yet, but here are some ideas. Nice in a tin, jar or sachet.
- Spice rubs aren’t just for the BBQ fanatic in your life; some are noted for use on veggies, too.
- Coriander-Herb Spice Rub – Epicurious notes this is tasty on potatoes as well as meat.
- Yemeni Spice Rub – recommended for roasting carrots.
- Dry Jerk Rub – is noted for use on fish, but I bet veggies could find a good use for it too.
- Mulling Spices – even if your recipient is unlikely to make mulled wine or cider, these are still a great gift as they make your house smell delicious when simmered in water on the stove.
Nuts – you might want to note for the recipient that the nuts will last a little longer when fridge’d or freezer'd.
- Spiced Nuts
- Ginger Scented Pecans
- Tamari Almonds
- P.S. Did you know you can make spiced nuts in a slow cooker? Cuz apparently you can. More on this once I’ve tried it.
Miscellany
- Epicurious has a customized hardcover cookbook service called Tastebook - $34.95. Might be a nice gift for families with favorites or groups of foodie friends.
- Martha has a slideshow on homemade gifts. Sections one and four have food related gifts, with ideas for a recipe booklet (if you don’t have enough for a whole book), homemade flavored coffee, holiday drink mixers and a beautiful display of holiday candy jars. One quibble with the last part; they note you buy containers or use “peanut-butter, jelly, and olive jars.” Peanut-butter or jelly, I’d consider, but olive? No amount of bleaching, baking soda or other cleaning methods have ever taken the olive smell out of the lids and jars I’ve tried to repurpose. Maybe if you have a dishwasher that would steam out the smells, but I would just be careful. I once stored my couscous in an well-cleaned apple-sauce jar and it made the grain taste like apples.
- Martha also has a section on successful packing and shipping of homemade food gifts.
- Another note on containers – dollar stores have definitely improved the aesthetic of their canisters, tins and jar, but be careful. With all of the recent news about product safety, I would line any container with tissue or cellophane or some other barrier unless the container specifically says "food safe." I am not usually this paranoid about food safety, but it just seems like a good idea right now to be cautious.
Tomorrow Wednesday – those who can’t make, buy.
Reader Comments (1)
my fav gift from you was the home made chapstick years ago...also, a blog you may enjoy from a local friend of mine is FoodShed Planet. Check it out....