A Few Gift Ideas
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
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”
If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Miracle on 34th Street, but I love so many! Thanks for the nifty giveaway!
my favourite holiday movie is really not a movie, but what i call the “funny paper rudolph.” it’s just the 1964 Rudolph that they air every year on television, but it’s hands down my favourite.
thanks so much for this giveaway. your peasant bread (in our house, it’s “mama bread”) is a daily staple in our house. we love it, and my son will talk with anyone who will listen about mama bread. i also have a bit of a thing for pyrex, and i can’t find either the SAF or red star yeasts here in BC (nor will amazon deliver them to me) so this is perfect! happy holidays to you!
We have a family tradition to watch Charlie Brown Christmas and Love Actually before Christmas is out. Happy memories!
Our new Christmas movie favorite is “ELF”. It’s family friendly and I just can’t help but laugh and repeat all of Buddy’s weird sayings. Smiling is my favorite!!
I love me some Pyrex, and I don’t yet have any of the Cinderella bowls. I’d love to give one of them a new home. 🙂
different movies for different days – miracle on 34th and alistair sims 1930s version of a christmas carol with my mom, christmas vacation with my dad, love actually when wrapping presents, and christmas story and its a wonderful life early and often! love your blog! thank you for the great recipes all year!
A Christmas Story and Love Actually are our two favorite Christmas shows.
I made your thyme dinner rolls for Thanskgiving……wonderful. Looking forward to making them again soon!
Thanks for your wonderful blog and a great give-away!
My kids have Rudolph on endless repeat- the old 60s animated version. The Christmas Story will forever be my favorite! Thanks for some beautiful ideas!
Watching “Santa and the Three Bears” is one of my family’s holiday traditions – it’s an old, old, old cartoon about two cubs who learn about Santa from a park ranger, and mama bear is frustrated that it’s now weeks past their bedtime. It’s quite goofy actually, and we don’t so much watch it as nap during it. Something about it just puts us all into a deep winter slumber after setting up the tree 🙂
love actually is my favorite
I have two favorite holiday movies. The first one, “White Christmas,” is deeply sentimental, as my mom and I always make a point to watch it together every Christmas – a tradition that’s been going strong for as long as I can remember! The second one, “The Holiday” with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, is just contemporary, cheesy goodness.
Also, I made your thyme dinner rolls for Thanksgiving and they were an unqualified hit. Can’t wait to make them again soon!
The Grinch that stole Christmas – hands down. The old version, not any of the new versions 🙂 Thanks for the gift ideas – perfect timing!
Ali! Our au pair is from Sweden and she has been telling us about pearled sugar. She found some here in Abu Dhabi from another Swedish family and made cinnamon rolls – instead of icing pearled sugar is the topping. So tasty!
And the grinch is one of my favorites.
Great list! Adding a bunch of these to my holiday list. My hands down favorite Christmas movie is White Christmas.
Great roundup of gifts. My fav holiday movie is A Christmas Story 🙂 but I love White Christmas and The Santa Clause
Thanks for the great gift ideas. My favorite holiday movie is “Holiday Inn.” It has wonderful Irving Berlin songs, including “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade.” (This movie came before both of those.) it has a love story. And it has Bing Crosby singing and Fred Astaire dancing. I love it.
We just watched Elf with the kids last night. Great movie for the whole family.
A Christmas Story -mostly because my #3 son looks just like Ralphie. And The Santa Clause trilogy because I love the concept. And Home Alone, because the whole family watches and laughs every year. And the original 1/2 hr, animated, How the Grich Stole Christmas, because it is perfection in Christmas film. Hmmm. I forsee a ‘leaving the house’ issue arising soon….
I am crazy, but I love Elf to watch with the kids and a Christmas Story, not to watch with the kids… If I am by myself, Its a wonderful life! Thanks for the amazing blog and recipes!!! Merry Christmas!
My go-to, all time favorite bread recipe is your peasant bread – perfect every time and oh-so-easy! I would love a vintage pyrex bowl in which to bake it!
My favorite holiday movie, a short film, not a full length movie, is the Snowman by Raymond Briggs. It is an acurate depiction of the wonderful book set to music. It is the first film we watch every year and also the last. My kids still love it, too, and they are now 24 and 27!
I’m with June , love Holiday Inn.
Just discovered your blog this fall and am having a great time with your recipes! Thanks so much 🙂
My favorite holiday movie is A Christmas Story! I watch it at least 5 times om Christmas Day 🙂
It’s a wonderful life! It’s always been my favorite!
My favorites would be “White Christmas” or “Holiday Inn” and I’ll add “A Charlie Brown Christmas” TV special! Plus I love your peasant bread! It’s so good right out of the oven!
The past two years we’ve LOVED watching ‘Heloise at Christmas Time’ on the Hallmark channel. And I LOVE your bowls to cook that gorgeous bread in. Looks beautiful and I can taste it through the computer.
My husband is a sucker for “It’s a Wonderful Life.” We all groan and tease him about it (“Not AGAIN!?”), but do end up watching it as a family. “Love Actually” is more my style.
How do I access your label templates? They are perfect.
I love the movie The Holiday. I know it is not an old-time classic, but I just have so much fun watching it!
Without doubt, my favorite holiday movie is National Lampoon Christmas Vacation. Not only do keel over laughing, I quote it all year long, and best of all it brings back memories of watching it with my father. He laughed hysterically at the movie and it’s one of my favorite memories with him. His laugh is fondly remembered now that he isn’t with us any longer.
Great post.Love your cards and always give them as gifts. Love the cherry cutting board too–my new favorite wedding present. A great holiday film–well, not holiday in spirit, very dark indeed, is “Un Conte de Noel,” but provocative.