Hot Cocoa and Tasty Gift Ideas

This week, there seems to be a palpable excitement building in the air. An afternoon walk around the neighborhood yesterday revealed windows adorned with wreaths and neighbors perched on ladders stringing up lights. There is a steady stream of invitations to holiday parties. Store shelves are piled high with holiday confections and shiny baubles. And I'm sitting and thinking of holiday gifts that I want to give and wishes that I want to send, via e-mail or snail mail.

Giving a gift is fun and challenging in equal parts. I think gift-giving reveals how much you really know about a person. And sometimes the one thing you know about a person is that they already have two of everything.

As my darling friend Shoots said, "Turns out my family has enough shoes, hand bags, make-up, watches, wallets, perfumes and liquor to last them a life time so I was thinking of home-made food items as presents."

Excellent idea! The thing about consumable gifts is, you don't have to find a place to store the gift, dust it for eternity or remember to pull it out and display it when the gift-giver visits you. With an edible gift, you simply eat the treat and enjoy the moment.

There are still plenty of things to consider when giving homemade food gifts. Such as- Does the recipient have any dietary restrictions? How far is the gift being shipped and how long will it take to get there? Do they enjoy cooking or baking, in which case they would enjoy getting specialty ingredients like extracts and spices? Do they prefer sweet or savory foods?

A box of homemade cookies/nuts that I gave as a holiday gift a couple of years ago

Here are my top picks for gifts that are being mailed or taken long-distance. I would say that these food items have a shelf-life of at least a week or two.

1. Candy, such as nut brittle, caramels, and toffee. Candy can seem intimidating but it is amazing how easy it is- armed with just an inexpensive candy thermometer, you can whip up unbelievable confections.

2. Low-moisture cookies such as shortbread cookies and biscotti.

3. Boozy cakes such as fruitcake.

4. Mixtures such as chivda and granola.

5. Roasted and spiced nuts, like these spicy-sweet pecans (which should be accompanied by a warning about their addictive potential).

6. Spices, like a homemade garam masala or taco spice or sachets of mulling spices. 

7. Beverage mixes, such as hot cocoa or mocha mix.

One of the tastiest edible gifts I've ever received: dinkache laadu

If you're not shipping stuff but instead giving it to folks locally, there are even more options, because you can give goodies that are best stored under refrigeration, such as truffles and fudge.

A popular edible gift idea is the gift-in-a-jar. These can range from pancake and cookie mixes to lentil soup mix and its cousin, a dal mix. Also, there are the DIY gift baskets which can be endlessly customized, such as a "DIY sundae box" packed with cones, a couple of homemade ice cream sauces and candy toppings. The recipient simply buys ice cream and makes their own sundaes.

Packaging food gifts can be very fun and creative if you have the time. With ribbons, decorative paper and baskets and bows, you can come up with something that looks like it came out of the Harry and David catalog. By the way, I regularly read catalogs cover to cover not because I want to shop but because I'm looking for cute packaging ideas. Not that it matters- people will devour homemade food gifts regardless of whether they're dolled up or not.

Food gifts don't necessarily have to be homemade. If the recipient lives in another place, you can send them a food specialty from your city. My sister made me deliriously happy last year when she got me a huge supply of specialties from two famous food stores in Bangalore and Chennai- spice powders and pastes and snacks. This summer, my aunt visited the US and I gave her a large grocery bag stuffed with my favorite snacks from Trader Joe's- triple ginger cookies and Thai spiced cashews and some other things. She loved them so much that she bought more of those to take back to India for her friends. 

If the food gift is a hit with the recipient, you can send the same thing over and over again! After all, it gets consumed. One of my favorite childhood food memories comes from one of my aunts who visited us once or twice a year. Every time, she would get a big packet of fried banana chips from a shop in her neighborhood. These banana chips were crisp, salty and heavily seasoned with tons of black pepper. It was a double treat- hugging a favorite aunt and then snacking on the banana chips she got without fail.

When I visit my parents, I always take a big bag of roasted pistachios and some dark chocolate for my father. These two treats never fail to please him. A friend of mine has the sweet tradition of baking fig cookies for her father as his birthday present. This is a neat way to get around the question of "what new gift idea can I come up with every time" while keeping the other person perfectly happy.

I think over the years I'll figure out a short list of edible gifts that I am good at making and that are consistently well-received. And then that will be my tradition, to make those things year after year. For now, I tend to experiment and try different recipes every year. I made a hot chocolate mix last year and it was delicious, but when I needed hostess gifts this weekend, I couldn't resist trying a new recipe.

It is the hot chocolate mix originally from Cook's Country but I used malted milk powder instead of regular milk powder. The white chocolate chips melt into the beverage, making it creamy and irresistible. Make a batch of this and be sure to fill up a jar and decorate it with a ribbon just for yourself.

These are the proportions I used:

2 cups malted milk powder
1.5 cups cocoa powder
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1.5 cups white chocolate chips
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix together in a bowl, then process through food processor in 2 batches to make a fine powder.

To make a cup of cocoa, take 1/3 cup cocoa mix into a mug. Add 1 cup hot milk (dairy or non-dairy) and mix well. It helps to add a small amount of hot milk and then whisk all the powder in before adding the rest of the milk. Enjoy a steaming hot mug of cocoa!

Are you giving any edible gifts this year? Are you looking forward to receiving any? What are your greatest  hits? Do you have any fond memories of giving or receiving edible gifts?