A Few Gift Ideas
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1. Something homemade: Toasted Muesli
Since discovering toasted muesli this past summer, I can’t get enough of it — seriously, we make double batches of it twice a week. Its virtues are countless — healthy, whole grain, full of fiber, gluten free, easy to make, delicious, delicious, delicious — and I can’t introduce enough people to it.
If you are interested in printing these labels at home, these are the two sets of Avery stickers I ordered:
Circular: Avery, 2.5″ diameter, White
Rectangular: Avery, 3″x3.75″, Ivory
Here are the label files to download:
off white
blue
blue & off white
rectangular
Two other foods I love giving as gifts this time of year are rosemary shortbread and orange and ricotta pound cake. This pinboard has more ideas, too.
2. The Baking Steel
Many of you know that I love my Baking Steel and contribute every month over on the Baking Steel blog, and so I will keep this brief. In sum, I believe that to start making really good pizza at home, you need three things:
1. The Baking Steel, discussed in more depth here.
2. The Jim Lahey pizza dough recipe (or his book: My Pizza). Once you make the Lahey dough, which is a bit wet and sticky, a few times, working with it becomes second nature. No pizza dough comes together faster — it takes five minutes to mix up — and while it does require a long, slow rise, the timing is quite forgiving. I have baked the pizza anywhere from 10 hours to 18 hours after mixing.
3. Tipo 00 flour.
Made on the Steel: Margherita Pizza, Za’atar Flatbread, Arugula & Prosciutto, Apple Galette, Summer Squash & Ricotta, Grapes & Rosemary:
I love my Baking Steel storage sleeve, too:
And this cherry chunk cutting board:
And this flour:
3. Barney Butter
Before my children started attending school a few days a week, they obtained 95% (or something like that) of their calories from peanut butter. Peanut butter, of course, is a no-no at school, and unfortunately other nut butters just don’t cut it for them.
Last week while visiting my sister, who has a son with a peanut allergy, I learned about Barney Butter, an almond butter that magically looks and tastes like peanut butter and, most importantly, fools the little beings I am packing lunches for. Moreover, it is made in a peanut-free facility, which means the children are allowed to bring it to school.
Now, what sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients are packed into Barney Butter to make it spread and taste so deliciously? Mostly good things: dry roasted almonds, evaporated cane juice (sugar, I know, but that I can handle), palm fruit oil (not to be confused with palm kernel oil), sea salt. I found Barney Butter at my local grocery store, but you can order it online as well.
4. Pie Box or Cake Box or anything from Food52’s Provisions
I love my pie box. With or without a pie in it, I just like staring at it, and I think it makes such a fun gift.
You can buy the PieBox and CakeBox in various places, but you might have fun poking around Provisions, the kitchen and home shop created by the beautiful food website, Food52. Santa, I would like one of everything but especially one of these.
If you own Canal House Cooks Every Day, you may have unknowingly read about Boxwood Linen aprons on page 180 and coveted one ever since. For the cook who has everything, one of these beauties might be a nice addition to his/her kitchen.
The same friend who introduced me to the Negroni this past summer also introduced me to this vanilla bean paste, something she had read about in Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery. What can I say, she has impeccable taste. Vanilla bean paste behaves like a vanilla bean, scattering seeds throughout whatever batter it is mixed into, and imparts a wonderful flavor, too.
6. Lifefactory Bottle
I still absolutely love my Lifefactory glass bottle. I have been sipping tea in it all fall.
7. For the Do-it-yourselfer: A Cheese-Making Kit
I have had this cheese-making kit in my fridge for about a month now, and I cannot wait to get started on making mozzarella, burrata — yes, burrata! — monterey jack, feta, chèvre, cultured butter, and so much more. I will be sure to report back when I do. Perhaps you might want to order one, too? And we could exchange notes?
8. Julia Child Notecards/Holiday Cards
As always, the Julia Child Cards (now available for sale individually) and the Julia Child Holiday Cards (this one and this one) are for sale here.
(Update: Cards are not available at this time … apologies!!)
9. Pearl Sugar, Parchment Paper and a Few Other Things:
Just a few things I love: IndriVanilla Beans, Temecula Olive Oil, Lake Champlain Chocolates cocoa and chocolate, Alfetra Pasta, Fair Trade treats, peelers, parchment paper sold in sheets, pearl sugar, Catamount Flameware measuring cup.
10. Your Favorite Tea Towels Repurposed:
You know those 79 cent Ikea tea towels everyone loves so much? With a few simple stitches, they can be transformed into countless things: napkins, coasters, placemats, bread bags, wine sleeves, to name a few.
Sometimes Anthropologie has fantastic sales on their linens:
11. Vintage Pyrex Bowls and SAF & Red Star Yeast
So, this fall I picked up a Pyrex #441 bowl at a nearby flea market. It soon became my favorite bowl to bake the peasant bread in — the perfectly round shape of the bowl creates a beautiful round loaf. The more I researched the bowl, I discovered it belonged to a set of four nesting bowls (also called Cinderella bowls, specifically the Pyrex #441, #442, #443, #444), which I found for sale/auction on Ebay. I absolutely love the set in general, but I love most of all that I can bake the whole batch of peasant bread in the second largest bowl (#443) and half of the batch in the smallest bowl (#441). The set runs anywhere from $35 to $50 or higher depending on the pattern of the Pyrex.
I have two extra #441 bowls that I would like to give to two of you along with bulk packages of my favorite yeast: Red Star Active Dry and SAF Instant. I have used both of these yeasts for ages, but yesterday I contacted Red Star Yeast to get a little more information on when it’s best to use one or the other. In our brief email exchange, I learned that instant and active dry yeast can be use interchangeably, but that instant yeast is not recommended for refrigerated doughs that would be kept longer than 48 hours. Red Star also recommends using active dry yeast when baking gluten-free doughs, however, many people have had success using both active dry and instant yeast. More information can be found on their website.
Also, you can buy both SAF instant yeast and Red Star active dry yeast in bulk from Amazon. After you open the pouches, transfer yeast to airtight container and store in the fridge or freezer, where they will last forever.
So, if you are interested in this little giveaway, leave a comment. Tell me your favorite holiday movie. We watched Love Actually the second Thanksgiving was over.
Update: The Giveaway is now closed. Alex and Prashanti are the winners.
A few more ideas can be found on last year’s gift guide. And this pinboard, dedicated to homemade food-related gifts, might be helpful, too. Happy cooking and shopping, Everyone!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
77 Comments on “A Few Gift Ideas”
Thank you for your list!! I now have Christmas ideas for my co-workers and added a few more wish list items to my list :). My sisters and I always get together to watch Love Actually and we watch A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve on repeat with my Daddy!
I don’t know if it’s fully a Christmas movie…but when we get out of classes for winter break, my sisters and I power through the Harry Potter films while shamelessly consuming baked goods! The double chocolate cake is a favorite 🙂
I thought I didn’t have a favorite Christmas movie – but at the mention of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, above, I broke into a smile. That’s a classic for me! And, I’d love to try baking your peasant bread in one of these bowls.
The only one we have watched as a family more than once is Love Actually. I guess not growing up in America (I have lived here for 12 years) makes for different tradidions. I guess we are not movie people 🙂
To be perfectly honest, I dread the holidays and try my best avoid anything that reminds me of them. But at some point, I do watch A Christmas Story.
Your gift suggestions are great, and I also appreciate the link to your Homemade Gifts for Foodies pin board. I’ll be making most of our gifts again this year and am always looking for new ideas. Thanks!
you are hilarious — you sound like my mother, and I mean that in the best possible way 🙂
Hi, just wondering where that blueberry tea towel/bag is from. I need it! (for a gift, of course..)
Heather, it’s from Anthropologie, but I got it on clearance earlier this fall. You might be able to call and ask if they have any in stock. They were selling them in those blue cartons that you see berries piled in at farmers’ markets (and the grocery store for that matter :)), so it kind of looked like a carton of fruit if you can picture it. Really cute.
My favorite holiday movie is While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock. Ashley Bartlett Bacon still makes me laugh every time.
A favorite holiday movie…too many to count. Elf. Home Alone. White Christmas. Meet me in st. Louis.
Home Alone! And, of course, It’s a Wonderful Life. As kids my sister and I avoided It’s a Wonderful Life for years due to us assuming it was old and boring because it was in black and white, but one year we watched it because there was nothing else on (remember that feeling in the pre-internet / DVR / DVD / VHS days?) and we loved it. Go figure.
Those Julia Child cards are fantastic, btw.
thanks for the great ideas! my favorite holiday movie is elf, but love actually is definitely up there among the best too 🙂
I would love to have that Pyrex bowl! My favorite Christmas movie is Family Stone, the perfect mixture of laughing and crying.
We all love White Christmas, and watch it every year. I also find Elf hilarious, but my parents don’t get it.
My favorite movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life”
Those Pyrex bowls are beautiful!
Hope you enjoy a blessed holiday season.
Thanks for the giveaway!
My favorite holiday movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life”. A classic 🙂
Have to chime in on “it’s a wonderful life.” – the scene where they’re so close to each other on the phone with Sam Wainright – sooo romantic!
Just made your bread recipe and it turned out really well….having the perfect Pyrex would be great! I’m unashamed to say my favorite holiday movie is Home Alone.
Elf and White Christmas like many others – and those bowls are the best! My mom has them in pea green – totally early 70s!
I am truly suspicious, duckie, that we are somehow related….last night I was being sad because I was tired and had to go back to work today after the weekend and my darling husband propped me up on the couch with a treat, a drink and Love Actually in the DVD player….the holiday movie that can ALWAYS cheer me! A tradition in our house for as long as we’ve been married! Hey missy, what blood type are you??
What a nice husband! Nothing would make me happier than that trio of treats. You lucky duck! Blood type: AB+ you? Xoxo
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer if for nothing else than Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snow Man.
Granted, I also count Die Hard as a Christmas movie.
It looks like I will forevermore be scouring all second hand stores for vintage Pyrex, which really just makes sense since I’m already hunting All-Clad pans.
Your blog is best.
Alex(andretta
I would say ‘don’t you love the part where they’ except it would be the whole movie….but don’t you love the part where Mark is walking away after telling Juliet that he’s in love with her and he says “enough, enough now”? Gets me everytime! sigh…I love this movie so much and now I want to watch it again! Maybe with a Negroni! lol!
Yes yes yes, I do love that part. It’s so heart breaking. The whole movie gets me! I find myself crying at nearly every scene. And omg, if I had a Negroni in hand, forget it…I would need a case of tissues to make it through the movie. Though, I think that’s a brilliant idea 🙂
I am slightly embarrassed to say that my favorite is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but only because it is a family tradition. While You Were Sleeping is a close second. I tried your peasant bread last week and loved it! I will be making it again!
Made your orange ricotta bread & it was delicious! Also gotta watch It’s a Wonderful Life every year.
I seriously had to think hard about this since I barely can get through a movie nowadays (I just fall asleep) since having kids 3 years ago. Its pathetic I know, but I hope once they get a bit older we can watch things together – I have such great memories of watching Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolf the Red nosed Reindeer at every single Christmas growing up. But I digress, my favorite holiday movies are Miracle on 34th street and Sound of Music (not sure if thats really a Christmas movie, but always pops up during the holidays :-).
LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog (always admire your efficiency and how you cook all the stuff you do with 3 kids). Hope you are having a wonderful December 🙂
Love your site. Elf and it’s a wonderful life are my faves.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without…. Gremlins!
I love so many Christmas movies, but no matter how old I get, Prancer is always my go-to Christmas classic.
Hi,
Love your site … as for Xmas movies ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’
Tough one. I’d have to say a tie between It’s A Wonderful Life and White Christmas.
I just love Elf, it’s really silly, different and a true feel-good movie. Grinch and Love Actually are also foolproof movies that most people love.
https://maybetodayistheday1.blogspot.com/
The original Grinch has to be my all time favorite. I listen to that soundtrack year round.
I am loving your website! My favorite holiday movie is Terry Pratchett’s “Hogfather”. My husband and I watch it on Christmas Eve while we eat takeout–a tradition we’ve had since we were dating. 🙂