Gifts Cooks Love

available at: Amazon & Powells

From Orange Cardamom Marmalade and Salmon Gravlax to Rustic Rosemary Parmesan Crackers, Bollywood Coconut Curry Popcorn Seasoning, and Blueberry-Blackberry-Basil Margarita Puree, Gifts Cooks Love promises to be on the welcome end of any gift-giving occasion. Because making a handmade gift takes time—one of life’s most precious commodities—Gifts Cooks Love emphasizes that giving a handmade offering expresses something very personal. A homemade gift is a personal expression of thoughtfulness and lets friends know you care. The recipient of a handmade gift of food gets a bonus—a gift that nurtures, comforts, and warms the soul.

In this beautifully presented book, Sur La Table and Diane Morgan offer something for every level of cook, providing accessible recipes delivered with helpful kitchen tips and ingredient notes, as well as guidance for artfully wrapping and presenting these edible gifts. Gorgeous full color photographs encourage and motivate creativity, while the 40 recipes inside Gifts Cooks Love are certain to please all palates any time of year, from the sweet-and-simple to the gourmet. Some of the techniques include preserving fruits, dehydrating fresh mushrooms, smoking and curing meat and fish, and creating spirited beverages. For the beginning cook, there are even simple-to-make no-cook food gift. And because tasteful treats deserve equally tasteful presentations, each delicious recipe comes with a beautiful packaging idea. With a few slices of art paper, colorful twists of ribbon, or quick strokes of a brush, Gifts Cooks Love ensures that your hand-made, gift-given items double as a homemade hug, reflective of you and how much you care.

Some recipes that can be found within:

Backyard BBQ Rub

This big-flavored spice blend is guaranteed to ignite great taste when rubbed on shrimp, scallops, chicken, beef, lamb, buffalo, or pork. This recipe yields about 2 1/2 cups of the spice rub, which is a great quantity to divide and package for gift giving.



Cinnamon-Coated Graham Crackers

These are beyond adorable, more spectacular than any graham cracker you have ever tasted from a box, and such an unexpected gift. We made up generous gift bags but had to gift some back to the cook for snacking—we just couldn’t part with them. Give these to friends and family who have children, as the… Read More



Homemade Vanilla Extract

Anyone who loves to bake will treasure this present, and you don’t even have to bake to make these gifts! There’s nothing to it: Select attractive glass bottles; buy plump vanilla beans, rum, and vodka; slit the beans and fit them into the bottles; pour the liquor over the top; and seal. Either make the… Read More



Limoncello

The saying goes, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” We say, “When you are handed lemons, make limoncello and lemonade.” It takes 15 lemons to make limoncello, and since only the peel is used, that leaves all the fruit to juice for a refreshingly large pitcher of homemade lemonade—that’s the beauty of making limoncello… Read More



Roasted White Chocolate Dipped Apples

After a lengthy conversation about making truffles with Portland-based chocolatier David Briggs of Xocolatl de Davíd, he mentioned roasting white chocolate until it turned a luscious caramel color and using it as the center for truffles. I was intrigued; more precisely, I became obsessed. I’m not sure I have ever tested and re-tested a technique… Read More



Bollywood Coconut Curry Popcorn Seasoning

This is popcorn for grown-ups! And what a great gift to give to college-age friends or family, young couples, or those married with children who are staying in for a date night. (Suggest on their gift card to pop in a movie and pop up some fresh popcorn once the kids are off to bed.)… Read More