Five Delicious, Edible Gifts That Are Easy to Make
A good food gift doesn’t have to be an expensive gourmet gift basket; it has to be thoughtful, tasty, and a little unexpected. These thoughtful, drinkable and edible gifts will make your present stand out among the many boring cupcakes.
Super aromatic salts to order
Of course, you can buy fancy flavored salt for too much money, or you can make your own little set of samples for the cheap with flavors as unique as your marvelous brain. Almost any aroma – from coffee to lemon-ginger – can be thought of as salt, you just need to know how to make them.
If your flavors are dry (such as herbs, spices, dried fruits and vegetables), you will need a food processor (or mortar and pestle) and 1-2 teaspoons of dried flavors for every cup of salt . If you’re drying something like lemon zest yourself, just put it in the oven at 200 ℉ until it’s completely dry. Whisk the add-ons in a food processor (or crush them with a mortar and pestle) until you get small, flavorful chunks the size of a grain of salt. Then, combine them with your favorite sodium chloride in a small bowl. Pour into an airtight container and let sit for at least twenty-four hours for the aromas to blend together. Scoop new flavored salt into cute holiday jars, label them, and hand them out to your gourmet friends. Flavored salts last up to a year, but probably won’t last that long.
If you need ideas to get your creative juices flowing, try one or more of these:
- Lemon Ginger: ¼ cup salt + ½ teaspoon dried lemon zest + ½ teaspoon dried ginger root.
- Tomato basil: ¼ cup salt + ½ teaspoon dried basil + ½ teaspoon dried, chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
- Ancho Chili & Lime: ¼ cup salt + ½ teaspoon dried lime zest + ½ teaspoon dried dried ancho peppers.
If you want to season your salty crystals with your favorite wet seasoning (hot sauce, hoisin sauce, barbecue sauce, any damn sauce), they’ll need to be baked in the oven for a bit. Simply mix 1 tablespoon of the flavored liquid with ½ cup salt and stir until combined (no white spots). Place the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake in the oven for two hours at 170 ° F, stirring frequently. Store your creation in an airtight container for up to a year.
Cooking salt with your favorite wine or liquor is a similar process, you just need to reduce the amount first. Pour three cups of booze over each cup of salt you will cook and cook for a thick, viscous syrup. Combine the syrup with salt and dry in the oven as described above.
Better than instant hot chocolate
This is the season for warm chocolate drinks and you definitely don’t want to hand out sad Swiss miss bags. There are two ways to make your own superior instant hot chocolate, and both are fairly easy to use. The first, which is shown in the video above, requires just three ingredients: 12 ounces of your favorite semi-sweet chocolate ( aim for anything between 60% and 80% ), one cup of heavy cream, and ¼ teaspoon of salt . Cook in the microwave for about two minutes, stir and repeat until everything is completely blended. Cover the mixture with a lid and refrigerate until firm. Once this is possible, form small pieces and wrap each in plastic wrap. (Alternate red and green plastic wrap for extra Christmas spirit, or use blue if you are going to celebrate Hanukkah.) Place the individual portions in a large stone jar and give the gift, making sure the giver understands that the gift should be kept in the refrigerator.
If you prefer a more stable, powdered version of hot chocolate , don’t despair: we have one of them. As with the hot chocolate above, this recipe also has only three ingredients. Just mix a cup of sugar with ⅓ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (you can get a really unusual taste here) with a pinch of salt and store in an airtight container. If you want a super-festive flavor, you can take it up a notch by adding cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, or even cayenne pepper for a sweet and spicy flavor. (Earn even more by adding a bottle of red wine to mix .)
Candy Cane Festive Syrup
To be honest, I don’t really like coffee (I get my caffeine from a little drink known as Diet Coke) and I’m definitely not a sugary coffee lover, but damn if I don’t like the hell of peppermint mocha. (I mean, let’s be honest: this is mostly hot chocolate with a little jolt.)
For a sweet peppermint flavor that can be added to any holiday drink (or ice cream), simply grab a handful of candy canes and some plain sugar. Add two cups of sugar to a saucepan with a glass of water and stir over medium heat. Break six to eight lollipops into two-inch pieces and place them in the pot. Continue simmering until the hard candies dissolve and then bring everything to a boil. Wait two to three minutes, remove from heat and transfer to glass bottles or glass jars when cool.
Homemade cocktail bitters for adults
Bitters are the spice shelf of the craft cocktail world , and just a few drops can add depth and complexity to an already decent drink. Of course, you can buy fancy cocktail bitters made by free-range hipsters, or you can make your own unique little alcoholic beverages that will make your friend think of you whenever they make old-fashioned ones.
Making bitters is a little trickier than some of the other edible gifts, but it’s not hard. You should check out our detailed guide on this subject , but here’s the basic procedure. First, as the name suggests, the most important ingredient in a bottle of bitters is the bitter agent, so you’ll need one along with the other fragrant parts of the plant. Here are some options to help you get started.
- Bitter substances: gentian root, greyhound, wormwood, Oregon grape root, wild cherry bark, sarsaparilla, licorice root (rough, but I’m not here to judge), kola nuts.
- Herbs / spices / different parts of plants: cinnamon, allspice, peppercorns, anise, cloves, juniper, ginger, lemongrass, sage, rosemary, thyme (possibly not parsley), lavender, mint, coriander, fennel, cardamom, the list is possible continue. and I think you get it.
- Fruit: Citrus peels, apple peels, Trader Joe’s awesome dried cherries, any other Trader Joe’s awesome dried fruits, raisins (I think).
- Nuts / Beans: Coffee beans, cocoa beans, almonds, pecans, peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts.
Once you have a clear taste of the flavor, place the plants of your choice in their own little jars and cover them with strong alcohol. (One to two teaspoons of dried plant parts in four ounces of alcohol should be sufficient.) Everclear is great if you don’t want the booze to add any flavor, but a strong rum or bourbon will work as well. Let everything sit for about a week (or use an immersion circulator to speed up the process ), shaking the jars every day or so. Once the aromas are as strong as you want – you can test them by adding a couple of drops to plain sparkling water – strain the plant matter and start stirring. If you want ideas for tasty combinations, try a few of these for size:
- Spiced Pumpkin Bitters Latte: Cinnamon Sticks + Ginger + Allspice + Nutmeg + Coffee Beans (I would use high strength bourbon for this).
- Strawberry and Rhubarb Bitters: Wild Cherry Bark + Dried Strawberries + Rhubarb
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Bitters: Oregon Grape Root + Grapes + Peanuts
The exact ratio is up to you, so mix, taste and tweak as needed, taking detailed notes so you can recreate your masterpiece when it is inevitably needed in the next holiday season.
A bottle of great cocktails
Anyone can donate a bottle of wine, but if you really want to get the party started, give me a bottle of cocktails. Making a large batch of pre-mixed cocktails isn’t as easy as pouring five glasses of Manhattan into a bottle, but it’s not much more difficult.
First of all, you will want to choose a slightly aged cocktail. Fresh juice drinks are best consumed on the day they are made (although sour juices can last a little longer), egg and cream drinks are best avoided altogether, as they can be very scary if you sit around. Classics like Manhattan, Sour, and Negronis are good options, and you can find recipes for them in our guide here .
Regardless of which cocktail you scale up, you will need to add a little water to simulate the dilution that occurs when the cocktail is shaken or stirred with ice, which rounds the flavor and tames the alcoholic bite. Stir everything together in a jug, transfer to a nice glass bottle and refrigerate. Tie a cute tag around the neck of your drinking vessel and proudly present this future (delicious) hangover.
Whichever edible (or drinking) gift you decide to give and make, remember that this is a really important thought, so have fun creating your own tasty treats and don’t take it all too seriously. If this all really goes to hell (and I can’t imagine it will), just make a big batch of cookies. Everyone loves cookies.