Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I love this because it is awesome.

I made cookies to take to my family for gifts, the chocolate oat ones from VCIYCJ.

I am such a nerd, I assumed that you meant a fractal cookie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set

I am planning to make:

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chilli-jam-2692

http://www.styleathome.com/food-and-entertaining/recipes/recipe-nigella-s-christmas-puddini-bonbons/a/18992/

and

http://mixthatdrink.com/skittles-vodka-tutorial/

for work colleagues (I always make a mini treat hamper at Christmas) and some vegan Baileys:

http://vegweb.com/recipes/vegan-baileys-0 for us.

Mat.

I kind of modelled it on Delia Smith's recipe, so something like 6 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsp ginger, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg could work? I like cinnamon so I definitely added more than her stingy one stick!

Other things I really want to make:
-sriracha salt
-chai mix
-homemade crackers with some sort of spread or jam

The problem is, I don't know anyone who wants these things. Maybe my holiday swap partner will get a variety of homemade gifts.

Florentines always seem to go down well when I make them for folks. The ingredients might be a bit pricey, but I got a good deal on flaked almonds in bulk and froze most of them. My cousin was so pleased with the ones I sent her last year she wanted to commission me to make them for her to give to her friends this year.

This looks like the recipe I might have tweaked last year - http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4118 ... lorentines - I wouldn't have included the spice or chilli, would have used flaked almonds (some of them crushed up a bit), would have subbed marge for butter, dark for milk chocolate, and might have added in some lemon zest.

One of the commenters (who obviously also veganised this recipe!) says they stuck to her greaseproof paper. I find they tend to be better with silicone paper or those re-usable flexible baking mats, although you do have to work quickly to get them off anyway after they've set up just enough.

Ha, nope, we meant mandel (Yiddish for almond) bread. It's kind of like biscotti.

I'm not giving any gifts as such, but I will be making some edible stuff for guests. When I asked my dad what kind of cookies he wants me to make, he just said "Lots of them". I'm definitely making Ischoklad/Eiskonfekt/whatever you want to call a mixture of chocolate and coconut fat, since I haven't seen any without milk for sale and haven't eaten it since I was a kid. I might try chocolate truffles rolled in gingerbread crumbs. Need to hunt for white chocolate too.

Sensible man! Truffles in gingerbread crumbs sounds like a good idea, I have never seen those and would never have thought of it on my own.

I'm terrible at gift giving and my family never wants anything so edibles are the only things I give anymore! Or hand knits, but that's for another thread :)

My dad gets a jar of spicy pickled veggies (onion, garlic, jalapeño, carrot, bell pepper, cauliflower), marinated olives (those have to stay refrigerated) and usually some cookies. My mom gets cookies and fruit preserves (lemon marmalade is her fav!). My parents are pretty friendly with their neighbors so I will bring them some granola, preserves, candy, whatever I feel like. I never spend Xmas with my husband's fam but I send him to their house with a basket of gingerbread, brownies, fudge, and lemon bars.

If I'm mailing a package to a friend I like doing cookie mix in a jar. For friends that live close I've made truffles, vanilla extract (can be affordable if you buy beans online) or liquors like limoncello, etc.

That caramelized onion preserve looks amazing! I want people to start giving me food gifts!

Rad. Thank you so much!!

so many awesome ideas! i am definitely going to make a few jars of mixed butter fudge for my friends... i wonder if you can add a few tbs of cocoa and some finely ground coffee beans to the mixture and make mocha butter fudge? and i think i will be making some biscotti, and definitely some caramelized onion jam! that looks absolutely amazing.

This thread is what I need right now.

All of a sudden it's almost a week into December.... aaaah!

I am now thinking of different barks...I am going to see my packaging options to work out ideas.

So far, I've made:

Cranapple butter
Strawberry balsamic jam
Pickled jalapenos
Spicy tomato jam
Marmalade with lemon, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, and maraschino cherries

I bought the stuff to make corn relish and I'll probably also make a couple more jam-type things. I was thinking about raspberry mango jam and/or cocoa raspberry sundae sauce. We'll see how much motivation I have this weekend to get stuff done.

Had a friend text me today and say "Dammit! Your dietary requirements have made it impossible for me to bake what I wanted to for you! I was going to make you FUDGE" and I was able to give her the link to the unbutter fudge in the original post and she said "oh. I guess I may have ruined the surprise". LOL. I was even able to tell her where to find the EB. So I guess this means I am getting fudge for Christmas!!! *dances happily*

So thanks for sharing that recipe. LOL

I made this as a bridesmaids' gift when I got married. It's amazeballs!!

I'm giving my parents a food basket. I think they'll be stoked, since my mum texts me every couple of days asking me for recipes for things. So far I've made strawberry basil jam and beer mustard. Today I'm going to make black tea plum jam, and maybe some homemade garam masala or something (depending on what I already have the whole spices for, because I'm lazy). I'm also going to do roasted tomato chipotle salsa, some kind of marmalade, some kind of pasta sauce, and maybe a stir-through curry sauce or another jam (I kind of want to do something with mango, since they're everywhere at the moment). I really wanted to embroider some tea towels as well, but I don't think I'll have time.

I'm making maple-cayenne pecans to give out as gifts for work, to my hairdresser, some penpals, etc. They're so yum!

You can also stick wine in bottles after mulling it.. I use what I like to call slobberwijn for it - you know, 1.5 liter bottles of cab with a brand named after a body part or southern hemisphere animal - and make ginormous batches. That way it's a perfect gift even for lazy asparagus friends who don't cook because all they need to do is pour and nuke.

has anyone mentioned cashew truffles in origami boxes? People were super into them a few years back (god, maybe like 5 years back?!) on PPK.

These truffles are SO easy and if you buy those pound chocolate bars at trader joes, super cheap. you can add in orange zest, coconut, peppermint extract or whatever and then roll them in a variety of things. http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-truffles-33995

Origami boxes are great because they look awesome and you can make them out of old calendar pages or magazine pages or anything really. I dunno if this is the greatest tutorial, but there should be a bunch of places online where you can find instructions.

http://www.origamiway.com/origami-box.shtml

Does anyone have any idea for a food gift for someone (it's my mom!) who is doing some sort of modified paleo diet where she is avoiding sugar and limits grains and fruit? I might make some sort of pickled vegetables, or a condiment of some sort.

maybe a savory/spicy nut mix or something? you might have to use a bit of sugar, but it wouldn't have to be much.

Ooh that is a good idea. I'm sure she'll be cheating a little for the holidays anyway, but I don't want to give her something that she feels like will totally ruin her diet, even though I think it's dumb.

these look good! orange juice has to be a little better than sugar. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/five_ ... chios.html

Or maybe a little trio of spice blends in cute jars or something?

i think i am going to make the two kinds of fudge, drop the biscotti and make mini beer cakes (which taste almost exactly like gingerbread, but is baked as a loaf like banana bread), caramelized onion jam and the chai mix someone posted.
i will make a small box with an assortment for my friends.. guess i have to go buy a shiitake ton of sugar and spices and onions and beer :)