Tuesday December 6 5:00 to 6:00pm: Gifts from the Kitchen
Why give gifts from the Kitchen?
Examples of Gifts
A. DRESSINGS
Sammie loves this dressing and asked if I'd package it to give away to
teachers and friends this holiday.
- 2/3 c. GOOD Olive Oil (Spanish or Italian)
- 1/3 c. +/- Balsamic Vinegar with a touch of Raspberry Vinegar
- 1 T. Honey
- 1 T. Sharp or Course Mustard (Dijon or Grain) Salt and Pepper Prepared
Garlic
We collected various small brown-glass bottles for storing. Wrap a
ribbon around the cap. We design and make our own labels and spray mount
them to the glass (glue may be preferable, but as I have spray mount
handy in the studio, it's an easy option).
B. PERFECTLY SIMPLE YELLOW CAKE
This is a nice, light, moist, not-too-sweet yellow cake option. It’s a
treat and simple to alter a touch to suit (See Tips).
- 2 Cup Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Cup Veggie Oil
- 1 Cup Dry White Wine
- 2 1/2 Cup Unbleached All-purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 2 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1. Preheat the oven to 350º and grease and flour two 9-inch round
cake pans.
2. Beat the sugar and eggs together with an electric mixer on medium
speed for 30 seconds. Add the oil, wine, flour, salt, baking powder and
vanilla. Beat for 1 minute.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Place the pans on the
middle rack of the oven, and bake until the cake has pulled away from
the sides of the pans and a knife inserted in the center comes out
clean.
About 30 minutes.
4. Let the cakes cool in the pans for a good 5 minutes. The turn them
out onto wire racks and let them cool for at least 2 hours before
frosting or glazing.
We bought a few "gold" platters from the Christmas Tree Shop in
Williston (for $1.29/each). Our plan is to place the cake on the
platter, loosely wrap with cellophane, tie with ribbon and possibly a
bow. We'll include a side of cream cheese frosting.
TIPS: You can sub in some OJ for the Dry White Wine to create an
orange cake. This is great with a simple honey-glaze instead of
frosting. I often frost this with a simple cream cheese frosting.
C. FAVORITE RECIPES BOOK
We selected 30 of our favorite recipes—from apps to side dishes, main
dishes and desserts. We typed them up in QuarkXpress, decorated the
pages a bit, selected a nice cover stock and GBC bound. As the GBC bind
leaves you with a flat plastic spine, we glued ribbon to the spine for a
softer, more gifty look. (I'll bring a sample to the
station.)
D. BANANA BREAD WRAPPED IN A DISH TOWEL
This is Samantha’s favorite treat these days. We add organic milk
chocolate chips.
For best results, use a loaf pan that measures 9” long, 5” wide and 3”
deep.
- 2 Cup Flour
- 1 1/4 Cup Walnuts or Organic Choc. Chips.
- 3/4 Cup Sugar
- 3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 3 Very Ripe Bananas, mashed
- 1/4 Cup Plain Yogurt
- 2 Large Eggs,beaten lightly
- 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted & cooled
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1. Heat oven to 350.º Grease the bottom and sides of your baking pan.
2. If using walnuts, spread onto a baking sheet and briefly toast.
3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and walnuts or
chips.
Set aside.
4. Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla. Lightly
fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula
until just combined and the batter looks thick and a bit chunky.
5. Spread the batter in the prepared baking dish. Bake for about
50-60
minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool for 5 or so minutes and then transfer onto a wire cooling
rack.
We usually try to have this warm with a little butter, but the bread
keeps well, once cool, wrapped tightly in a plastic bag or in plastic
wrap.
When cool, we wrap the bread in foil or cling wrap. Then we use a
pretty dish towel as "wrapping paper" and wrap with cloth ribbon. The
nice thing about this is that while the bread will be gone, the towel
continues as a year-round and useful gift.
Drink Mixes
- Mulling Spices for mulled wine or cider
- Hot Chocolate Mix
Pancake/Muffin/Cookie Mixes
Jams and Jellies
Vinegars and Oils
Nuts
Don't forget the birds!
Packaging and Delivering the Gifts from your kitchen
- Keep your eyes open throughout the year - especially
right after Christmas.
- Save nice bottles and jars throughout the year.
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