Holiday gifts: Three cheery comestibles

Every holiday season I post gift ideas, and now we're at fourteen years of those! This year's theme is comestibles. Who needs another candle?

My latest baking passion is the bundt, the Alison Tolman of cakes: solidly beautiful, with a no-nonsense personality, and graced with hidden depths. The bundt travels well, it will absorb a bounce or two. You can make and freeze this one for up the three months. It is not iced; the cararmel sauce is dead easy. Include a jar and tell them it is for the cake. The recipe says that you can pour on the sauce immediately after baking, but we prefer it warmed and drizzled over at serving.

Photo: I Am a Baker

Recipe: Apple Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce (from Amanda Rettke's excellent blog, I Am a Baker). The only change I make is to add a bit of ground cardomom to the spices because I like it. I also double the salted-caramel sauce because certain persons will take way more than their share.

A couple of condiments, and no canning!

It's easy to overload on sweets over the season, so here are two savoury options that suit vegetarians and vegans.

Antipasto Spread (Vegetarian/Vegan)

Photo: Blue Flame Kitchen

The beauty of this fresh-vegetable spread is that does not require canning. (You can freeze it, but if given  right after making; it should be consumed within four days.) The chopping is done in a food processor but  I do like a hand chop to work out stress. Yield is two cups but it is easy to double.

Use fresh herbs, and feel free to change up the fresh vegetables— it's delicious with corn cut off the cob, or cauliflower florets. (If you're using 'hard' vegetables, cook them first to al dente and blanch before adding to the frying pan.) Wrap with with a box of those fancy-schmantzy crackers, and it's a pretty gift. Also perfect to bring to a cooperative party (aka potluck).

Dukkah

Dukkah, the Egyptian dry condiment popular in mid-Eastern cuisine, is familiar in some locales (in Australia, it is on many restaurant tables) but not as well-known here. The addictive melange of roasted seeds, nuts and spices can be made weeks before you give it, and it keeps well refrigerated. I serve it with focaccia cut in strips (or cubes of any rustic bread), a platter of crudités, and feta cubes. (Just the bread is fine too!) You dip the base food in the olive oil first, then the dukkah. 

Use it also as a rub for fish or meats, an intriguing addition to egg salad, and sprinkled on sandwiches or burgers. One of my sons eats it straight from the spoon.

Photo: Market Hall Foods Blog

A summary of uses is here, from Market Hall Foods. I found dukka via the revered David Lebovitz on his web site. He's published a recipe from his friend, Susan Loomis, who serves it for an appetizer, with feta cubes wrapped in proscuitto. 

Loomis also comments about her choice of apéritif at dinner parties: everyone is served the same thing. She says, "I have one rule for the apéritif hour: We all drink the same thing. It might be my rum and lime punch in the summer. Otherwise, I offer wine – white, rosé, bubbly, or red. My reason is simple. I want, from the minute a guest walks in my door, for the moment to be shared fully. If everyone drinks something different, we’re not sharing. Each person is having their own experience within a group."

I heartily endorse this idea, with of course an option for those who prefer a non-alcohol drink, so we also offer a select sparkling water like Ferrelle.

Cheers. dears, and if you have a favourite edible idea to share, please leave it in the comments.