I generally make edible holiday gifts for friends and family. These offerings work on a number of levels. First, as it gets colder outside, it’s nice to have the stove and/or the oven on to help heat the house.
Second, edible gifts are perennial. We can give them to people year after year after year … once we are sure the recipients liked them the first time around.
They are particularly useful when one is searching for something to give men. I don’t know about the men in your life, but mine are difficult to shop for.
They have an aggravating habit of buying things they want all by themselves, even during the month of December.
When asked what they would like as a gift, they often mention electronics, which simply don’t have the warm, fuzzy feeling I look for in a holiday gift.
Moreover, those non-warm, non-fuzzy gifts usually cost more than I can afford. Fortunately, the men in my life happily accept anything I care to prepare for them to eat. They understand that my spending time to create their gifts is as important as, if not more important than, my spending vast sums of money would be.
I also love making food gifts because they give me a chance to spend time in the kitchen being creative with friends and family. I used to make these gifts with my late mother, who got more and more elfin as she aged.
Cooking gave us a relaxed, loosely structure time in which we could talk about almost anything, make a creative mess in the kitchen (and then clean it up), and speculate about the gifts’ recipients. It continues to give me this time when I do it with my sister-in-law and my nephew.
In addition, making food gifts helps us get into the holiday spirit. It’s a physical manifestation of the Advent season. When we bake, laugh and sing holiday music together, we are preparing not just physically but psychologically for the holidays.
The word “Advent” is from the Latin term “adventus,” or coming. I would argue that Advent isn’t just about the coming of that baby in Bethlehem, although I celebrate his birth. It’s about the coming of joy, peace and love into our hearts.
Joy, peace and love take a little time and a little preparation. Spending time doing something that is not working for pay or preparing an ordinary meal or cleaning the house or doing any of our other mundane tasks helps us prepare for those qualities of spirit, as well as for the holiday.
In fact, the laughter and memories we create by crafting our edible gifts prepare us for a lifetime of loving and giving as well as for the holidays we celebrate at this time of year. These gifts also make the house smell wonderful, another way of getting us into the spirit of the season.
Here are a couple of my favorite gifts for Hanukkah, Christmas, or any other occasion. The mustard works well for friends who prefer non-sweet gifts, although it does include a little honey. I like to buy my mustard seeds at a health-food store that allows me to purchase just the amount I need from a bulk bin.
If you prefer your mustard without a little kick, cut down on the dry mustard or add more honey. The formula below works for me as it is.
The brownies are a little over the top (they don’t really need the icing and the sprinkles), but this is a time of year when over the top works. I used Andes mints in them. I have used both the traditional and the peppermint crunch flavors; I prefer the peppermint crunch.
I recently learned that Andes makes peppermint crunch baking chips, which I am longing to try!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup yellow mustard seeds
2 tablespoons mustard powder (such as Colman’s)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup tarragon vinegar (or another herbal vinegar — or cider vinegar in a pinch)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons honey
Instructions:
Place the mustard seeds in a stainless-steel bowl. Briefly go at them with a pestle if you have one to release some of the oils; if not, use a heavy spoon to mash them slightly. Add the mustard powder, and stir in the water. Let this combination sit for 10 minutes.
At the end of the 10 minutes pour in the vinegar. Cover the mixture and let it sit overnight.
The next day, place the mixture in a blender. Add the salt and the honey.
Pulse quickly to blend, but try to leave some bits of mustard seed visible.
Pour the mustard into a clean glass jar, cover it, and refrigerate it for 1 week before using. Remind your giftee to keep it refrigerated. Makes about 1 and 1/4 cups.
Ingredients:
for the brownies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter
3 ounces (3 squares) semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
for the filling:
2 packages (4.67 ounces each) Andes mints (you won’t need quite all of them, but you will need most of them)
for the icing:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter at room temperature
confectioner’s sugar as needed (about 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil, and butter the foil.
Prepare the brownie batter: In a medium pan, heat the butter and the chocolate, stirring frequently, until the chocolate melts. Remove the pan from the heat.
When the chocolate/butter mixture is cool enough to stick your finger into it (this won’t take long), stir in the eggs, followed by the flour and then the vanilla.
Pour half of this batter into the prepared pan. Lay the mints (unwrapped, obviously) on top of the batter as lightly as you can, covering as much of the batter as you can.
Pour the remaining batter on top (use a spatula to smooth it over the mints as needed) and bake the brownies for 25 minutes.
Allow the brownies to cool completely in their pan. Remove the foil from the pan, and gently peel the foil off the brownies.
Next, make the frosting. Cream the butter, and add enough confectioner’s sugar to make a spreadable icing, adding the vanilla toward the end of this process.
Gently spread the icing in a thin layer over the brownies. Decorate with seasonal sprinkles if you like.
Allow the icing to harden a bit before you slice the brownies. Makes 16 to 36 brownies, depending on how big you want to make them. (I prefer them small as they are so sweet and rich.)
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning author and singer. Her new book is “Pot Luck: Random Acts of Cooking.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.