holiday baking & gift ideas

If you are like me, you probably haven't started your holiday baking yet. I'm making plans but I just need a nice chunk of time to immerse myself in butter, chocolate and flour. To get myself started, I took a look at some tried and true favorites from my archives, along with a few links to other food blogs.

I also wanted to give a little something more than a bunch of links. So this year I made up a bunch of gift tags that I can package up with whatever I'm making this year. And I'm passing them along to you. All you will need is a PDF reader and a printer. Just download the pdf, print onto card stock or sticker paper and cut along the dotted lines. Attach it to your hand crafted gift. It's easy and I'm sure it will make your gift giving a little sweeter. Looking for another quick & affordable gift idea? Check out my etsy printables shop where you can print out my own original art prints on your home printer for only five bucks. Instant happiness.

When sending your gifts, package things into re-usable glass jars (I love old mason jars and even glass peanut butter or jam jars), vintage cookie tins or baker's boxes lined with wax paper and pretty tissue.

Candy
Fleur de sel caramels
Really easy chocolate fudge with toasted walnuts
Candy cane chocolate bark
Rum balls
Salted honey caramels
Chocolate covered caramel crunch
Peanut butter buckeyes & chocolate snowballs (vegan)
Sponge toffee (vegan)
Merengue mint melties

I've also really had much success with Heidi's espresso caramel. It's delicious and perfect for gift giving.


Bars + Squares
Chocolate chip walnut squares
Date & raisin squares (vegan)
Peanut butter raisin bars
Butter tart squares
Cherry oat bars
Coffee Crunch bars (vegan)
Oatmeal coconut pecan squares with chocolate chips

I've lusted after these Dutch almond bars from Whipped. Buttery goodness!

Cookies
Buttery raisin biscuit
Chocolate chip maple walnut cookies
Chocolate mint cookies
Chocolate shortbread cookies
Chocolate thumbprint jam cookies (vegan)
Crispy salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies
Double chocolate oatmeal cookies (vegan)
Flourless peanut butter cookies
Ginger gems (vegan)
Lemon cookies
Lemon cornmeal shortbread cookies
Pfeffernusse cookies

I've been looking for the perfect gingerbread cookie. I think these from David Lebovitz might be the one.

Loaf Cakes
Willie Nelson's famous banana bread (aka UBC cake)
Chocolate chip banana bread with ginger
Cranberry & blood orange loaf
Jacked up banana bread
Bill's coconut bread

While this Almond butter cake with cherries from Seven Spoons isn't a loaf cake per say, it looks beautiful and festive.

Unique Gifts
Ginger syrup for homemade gingerale (vegan)
World's best peanut butter fudge sauce
Spicy sweet glazed pretzels & nuts (vegan)
Better than bakery granola

I haven't made Joe's Gingerbread popcorn yet, but I plan on making it this year. Seriously, who wouldn't want a giant tub of this?

Cookbooks & other food books
These are just a few of my most favorite cookbooks (& food related books) and I'm sure they'd be a welcome addition to anyone who loves food and cooking.

Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook
I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence
The Gourmet Cookbook: More than 1000 recipes
Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock
A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table
Vegetarian Comfort Food: Meals Like Mom Makes, Without the Meat
Comfort Me with Apples: A True Story of Love, Adventure and a Passion for Cooking

Looking for something other than books? I love Tea & Cookie's cheap & useful kitchen gift guide.

ho! ho! ho!

Oooh, I love the holidays! Our tree has been up for weeks now, all our presents are wrapped and all the holiday baking is finished. Phew! Now, it's relaxation and celebration time. I have a slightly more detailed list of our holiday plans at my other blog and I'm pretty excited since we'll be spending 2 nights at the very lovely Ambrosia B&B in Victoria. If anyone has any Victoria tips or must-sees, please comment as I've only been to Victoria once before and am always on the lookout for great restaurants or things to do!

Happy holidays!!

have a boozy christmas

All of my Christmas shopping has been done and I just finished my last holiday sweet this evening. Phew! I love giving away pretty containers filled with homemade treats during the holidays and this year's bounty is pretty impressive. I've made a batch of pretty iced Ginger Gems, some white chocolate candy cane bark, plenty of dark chocolate salted mixed nut bark, Orangette's building blocks (with salted mixed nuts, raisins, candied ginger & dried cranberries) and my yummy fleur de sel caramels. But I felt something was missing so I dug into my bag of tricks and came up with rum balls!

I'm totally new to the world of rum balls...a recent convert so to speak. One afternoon during a long walk on Commercial Drive (a street known for it's hippies, Italian community and local food spots), Cornelius put me up to a rum ball challenge. We stopped off at 3 different bakeries and tried rum balls at all 3 just so that we could figure out which bakery made the best one. So you better trust that even though I'm new to the rum ball existance, I'm certainly no slacker when it comes to determining what makes a great rum ball. And these, my friends, are great rum balls! A great holiday cookie indeed. Since these are no-bake cookies, the rum flavour doesn't burn off and they've got enough of a kick to keep a smile on your face during whatever holiday stress you encounter.

I don't have a food processor, so I chopped all the pecans by hand. This works really well for this recipe because a nice nutty texture is best here and you don't want to end up with a messy paste of finely ground nuts. If you don't have chocolate cookies, give gingersnaps or vanilla cookies a try!

rum balls
1 1/2 c pecans
1 1/4 c chocolate wafer cookies (or gingersnaps or vanilla cookies)
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
2 T cocoa powder
2 T corn syrup
1/4 c amber rum

+ powdered sugar, grated coconut and sweetened cocoa powder

1. Toast the pecans in a 350 degree oven until fragrant (about 10 minutes). Let cool and then chop finely. While pecans are toasting, crush the cookies until fine.

2. In a large bowl, combine crushed pecans, crushed cookies, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa and stir until well mixed. Add in the rum and corn syrup and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour.

3. Roll 1 teaspoon of the mixture into balls and roll in your choice of powdered sugar, grated coconut or cocoa powder.

Makes 28 balls...so go ahead and double the recipe!

hot toddy

Last night was the first in a small batch of holiday parties that we'll be attending throughout the Christmas season. Cornelius and I dolled ourselves up, put on the sparkle and made up a batch of hot buttered rum for friends stopping by, before heading out on our bikes into the cold. I had never made hot buttered rum before but it was always something that I couldn't wait to try when I was younger. It was a very delicious drink, so I'm not sure what took me so long! It's true that adding butter to a beverage seems a bit strange but at the same time I was curiously attracted to that kind of naughtyness. And naughty it is! It's a rich, hot, sweet drink with complex flavours and a definite kick thanks to the rum. It was delicious and it warmed our insides completely. And it made the chilly bike ride to the ball a little less frigid. And yes, in case you were wondering, a girl can definitely ride a bike in heels!

hot buttered rum
1/4 c butter, softened
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1 T brown sugar

4 c water
2 c apple cider
1 large cinnamon stick, broken in 3
4 cardamom pods, slightly crushed
6 cloves
1 T brown sugar

1 t lemon juice per mug
1 1/2 oz amber rum per mug

1. Prepare the butter. Add spices and sugar to butter and mix until well combined. Put in fridge to firm up.

2. In a medium sized pot, add water, cider, spices and sugar and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. In 4 mugs, add in 1 teaspoon for lemon juice and one and a half ounces of rum to each mug. Add in 1 rounded teaspoon of the cold spiced butter and then ladle the hot spiced cider to fill each mug. Cheers!

minty fresh

What's the easiest thing to make for the holidays? Candy cane chocolate bark! Two ingredients, chocolate and candy canes. What could be simpler? Not much.

candy cane chocolate bark

1. Crush 1 package of candy canes (12 regular sized ones will do). How you crush them is a matter of preference. I've tried using a heavy duty freezer bag and a hammer but my favorite method is using a mortar & pestle and pent-up fury. Gets the job done every time!

2. Get your double boiler ready. When the water is boiling, add 500 grams of good chocolate to the double boiler and melt on low heat, stirring constantly until everything is nice and melty. The choice of chocolate is yours. I like using white Belgium chocolate cuz it looks extra pretty and festive.

3. When the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and quickly add and stir in the crushed candy canes.

4. Pour mixture onto a cookie pan lined with waxed paper or parchment paper and spread somewhat thinly with a rubber spatula.

5. Let cool on your counter until the bottom of the pan is no longer warm. Transfer to the fridge to firm up for about 30 minutes or so.

6. Break into bite sized pieces and wrap up nicely to give to someone as a gift.

* I also make this very successfully with mixed nuts. I just add a similar amount of salted mixed nuts instead of the candy canes to some dark or milk chocolate and follow the same directions. I used salted nuts because I love the sweet-salty dichotomy, but if you aren't into that, just use plain nuts!