The weather outside may be cooling down, but the holiday season is heating up. It’s time to start making our lists and checking them twice. It’s also a great time for a cooking project. Why not bring the warmth of your kitchen to your friends and family with a few make-ahead food gifts? After all, everything seems to taste better when it’s homemade by a loved one.
Farmers’ markets are still offering up the best of the harvest and grocers are brimming with the season’s freshest produce. Retailers are stocking a festive selection of packaging options — lovely jars and bottles, creative boxes and tins, labels, fabric, ribbon and yarn. You can also take inspiration from your own home and choose to recycle vintage cans, trays, baubles and doodads to decorate your gifting goodies.
Of course, jars, bottles and boxes look charming adorned with scraps of fabric from gingham to organza and tied with raffia or ribbon. But why not take creativity a step further? Cut squares from craft-store fishnet and add beachy shells and gift tags tied with rustic twine. For more local flavor, reproduce area maps complete with a bright star locating your home place. Cut the paper to size and create personalized labels and tags. Your impressive products make great stand-alone gifts, but you can pair them with simple kitchen tools like spatulas, spoons or baking mats for the perfect foodie gift.
One good day in the kitchen can yield dozens of presents. Before you begin your project, take careful inventory. Few things are more disappointing than being halfway through cooking and realizing you’re missing a critical ingredient, or finishing up the job and finding you’re short on packaging. Plan ahead and make a strategy that ensures success. Here, we feature classic homemade food gifts like jam and biscotti, and an easy, creative chocolate bark, but you can also be adventurous and bottle your specialty limoncello liquor or whip up a delicious Dijon mustard.
As we head into the holiday season, any retailer in America is stocked with dazzling displays of cheerfully decorated gifts for loved ones, hostesses, teachers and friends. So why would anyone wish to spend time cooking and packaging a profusion of homemade gifts? Perhaps the best reason is love. It’s about inspiration, patience, personal attention and optimism. What could be more satisfying than giving a bit of yourself — making and sharing tasty, quirky recipes wrapped up in gleaming packages of goodness? Who wouldn’t smile thinking of dear ones doling out a little love from you, one serving at a time?
ALMOND BISCOTTI WITH CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE
The perfect coffee cookie (Makes about 2 dozen)
Ingredients:
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups almonds or hazelnuts, finely chopped
• 1 egg yolk (optional)
• 1 tablespoon milk (optional)
• 1 pound good-quality melting chocolate (Merckens, available in many specialty stores and on Amazon, is a reliable melting chocolate.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter or margarine with an electric mixer until softened, about 30 seconds. Add 1 cup of flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and vanilla extract. Beat until combined. Stir in remaining flour and nuts. The dough will be very stiff, so if your electric mixer isn’t strong enough, you may have to use your hands. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into a 9-inch log about 2 inches wide. Place logs about 4 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. If desired, brush with the mixture of egg yolk and milk. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool for one hour. Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees. Cut each log diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Lay slices on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake slices for 8 minutes, then turn them over and bake for another 8 minutes. Allow biscotti to cool completely. Melt chocolate carefully in the microwave, or in an oven-safe bowl in the oven on its lowest setting. Dip the cookies, or drizzle with chocolate. Allow the chocolate to set and store or package the biscotti for gifting.
RASPBERRY-ALMOND JAM
(Makes about four 1/2-pint jars, but the recipe doubles easily.)
Ingredients:
• 5 cups fresh raspberries
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Directions:
Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, 40 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in salt and extract. Cool; pour into airtight containers. Decorate for gifting. Refrigerate jam in airtight containers up to six weeks.
LIMONCELLO
It’s a good idea to invest in a giant Ball jar so that the final concoction can rest in one container. A couple of whole vanilla beans dropped into the lemon peel/alcohol mixture while it marinates (before you add the simple syrup) make for a nice mellow flavor, while rosemary, basil or mint sprigs are good summertime additives for a change of pace.
Ingredients:
• 6 1/3 cups 100-proof Vodka, or two bottles of 750 ml Everclear grain alcohol
• 14 organic lemons
• Two whole vanilla beans or your choice of a bunch of basil, mint, or rosemary
• 6 1/3 cups water.
• 4 cups sugar.
Directions:
Carefully peel the lemons, making sure to separate only the yellow part of the peel from the fruit. Don’t cut too deep. A trace of the white pith won’t hurt anything, but too much will make the product bitter. Some people use a grater, zester or peeler, but a very sharp paring knife works best.
Place the peels in a large glass jar or jars. You can buy an oversized Ball jar in the canning section of most large grocery chains (or on Amazon), but something like a commercial-sized pickle jar would work as well. Add the vanilla beans or your herb of choice. Add the alcohol, seal tight and let the mixture rest for two to three weeks. A cool, dark(ish) spot is best, but certainly no direct sunlight.
After the resting period, strain the alcohol/lemon peel mixture through a sieve or cheesecloth. Return the infused alcohol to your large jar.
Heat the water in a medium pan and stir in the sugar until it’s completely dissolved. Let the syrup cool for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Pour the syrup into the alcohol/lemon mixture and seal it again. Pay attention to volume. (Make sure all the liquid will fit into your jar without running over. It’ll make a sticky mess.)
Most recipes recommend letting the mixture rest again for an entire month. It doesn’t have to age that long, but the longer it ages, the richer and more mellow it becomes. Use a funnel to divide the limoncello into 4-8 ounce bottles (also available on Amazon). Seal and label for gifting.
CHOCOLATE BARK WITH GINGER AND PISTACHIOS
(Serves 4, but the recipe doubles easily.)
Ingredients:
• 6 ounces bittersweet dark melting chocolate (Merckens, available in many specialty stores and on Amazon, is a reliable melting chocolate.)
• 2 ounces white melting chocolate (optional)
• 3 tablespoons salted pistachios, chopped
• 3 tablespoons dried apricots or cherries, diced
• 2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, diced
Directions:
In a small bowl, melt the dark chocolate in the microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes (or in a heat-proof bowl in the oven set to the lowest heat setting), stirring often, until smooth. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or wax paper. Spread the melted dark chocolate into an approximately 8x5-inch rectangle. If using white chocolate, melt in the same manner described above and drizzle it in a zigzag pattern across the dark chocolate. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios, fruit and ginger across the chocolate rectangle and press gently to set them into the chocolate. Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Break into pieces and package for gifting.
HOMEMADE DIJON MUSTARD
(Yields 2 cups)
Ingredients:
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 ounces mustard powder
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or canola oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
Directions:
In a non-stick saucepan, combine the wine, onion and garlic; heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool, strain liquid and discard solids. Return liquid to saucepan. Add the dry mustard to the cooked liquid, stirring constantly until smooth. Blend in honey, oil and salt; heat slowly until thickened. (Keep nose away; fumes are strong.) Stir constantly. Pour into a glass container; cool. Let the mustard sit on the counter at room temperature overnight. Divide into jars and refrigerate for 2-8 weeks to age flavor before using. Decorate for gifting.